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WHEN CHENNAI WAS CAUGHT BETWEEN NATURAL AND MANMADE DISASTER!
Shrinidhi Adiga
Two major coastal cities of the country Mumbai and Chennai will remember the Year 2015 for next few decades for a single reason; i.e. rain furry followed by flood mayhem! Mumbai which witnessed worst ever flood of the history in the year 2005 was able to recover from the flood furry bit easily as it was prepared in advance. But Chennai yet to learn any lessons. Both cities encountered similar calamity and terribly suffered from unregulated urbanization!
Every year Tamil Nadu receives more rain fall between October and December due to North East Monsoon. But this time North East Monsoon caused heavy rainfall and affected Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Union territory Puducherry. What made this year’s North East Monsoon different was heavy rainfall which was caused by the low depression level in Bay of Bengal, devastated Chennai city one of the Metro cities of the country. Coastal districts of Tamilnadu mainly Cudalore, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur were also terribly hit by the rain and water overflow.
According to an official estimation in Chennai alone flood and rain havoc caused 169 deaths. More than 14 lakh people took shelter in relief camps. Atleast 57,000 homes in the city had suffered structural damages. Schools have been declared holidays for two to three weeks. Standing crops have been ruined completely. IT companies too declared holiday and crores together worth of industrial production was drown in the water. Few companies forced to shift their operations either to Bengaluru or Hyderbad. IT major Wipro made an unusual announcement that its Q3 result will be overshadowed by the Chennai floods. Till now we used to hear that standing crops destroyed in rain. But not the revenue of an IT major. But Chennai flood hit one and all! Thanks to the mindless urbanization, poor preparedness to disaster management.
Following the heavy rain first time in the history, The Hindu newspaper cancelled its print edition in Chennai, Vellore, Tirupati and Puducherry on December 2. First time in its 137 year’s history, The Hindu cancelled its edition in Chennai which is its headquarters.
What happened in Chennai? Areas surrounded by the river Adyar is one of the worst flood hit localities. As a result of heaviest rain, water flow increased in Chembarambakkam reservoir and that water released to Adyar River which flows through heart of Chennai. Overflow of water in the river submerged the land over the banks of the river. On the top of it intensity of rain and ill prepared town planning system further worsened the situation in the surrounding areas of river Adyar.
Army was called for relief operations. As much as 5,000 soldiers joined their hands to help victims. They dropped food, medicine and water through helicopters. Through boats they tried to rescue the children, women and senior citizens and safely ferried them to Relief camps. Around 14 lakh persons were rescued from flood affected areas and accommodated in Relief camps. There were 5,554 relief centers. Including government officials, police personnel and volunteers 80,000 persons engaged in relief and rescue work.
Vasanthi Rao a resident of Chennai describes her experience with the flood. “Water entered to our house. Thus we went to our tenants house which is in the first floor and stayed there. It was very difficult for us to manage our daily needs. Shops were closed in the city. When here and there one or two shops got opened people used to rush there. ATM machines stopped working in our area. Conditions of ATM machines were same in almost all localities. Finally we found one but there was a large queue”.
The great tragedy within the tragedy was storm water entered the private hospital on the banks of river Adyar in Manapakkanam. As much as 18 people died in the hospital due to flood inside the generator room. There was no electricity. Patients used to receive ventilator and oxygen with the backup of generator. As generator room was filled with flood it stopped working and hence the supply of oxygen to the patients was blocked.
Disturbed Transport system:
The rain which referred as `heaviest rainfall of the century’ suspended all transport systems which connects other part of the country to Chennai. Airports forced to shut down due to the downpour in the runway. Railways halted due to storage of water in lanes and road transport was completely cut down.
Airlines suspended their flights and airport authorities shut down the airport between Dec 2 and 6. Passengers were stuck in the airport without knowing their flying details. Water from Adyar River entered to airport’s second runway and flights were diverted to Bangalore. Adding to the woes of passengers few airlines started demanding hefty fare from passengers between Bengaluru (Bangalore) and other cities. On December 23, an air ticket between Bengaluru and Kolkota was crossed Rs. 1 lakh with a private air service provider demanding Rs.1,03,000 per ticket!.
Railways cancelled their service to Chennai till overflow comes to normalcy. As city submerged vehicles which were on their way to Chennai were stopped in between. A huge traffic jam was found in the way to Chennai. Thus buses found it very difficult to enter Chennai. Later Karnataka State Road Transport Commission (KSRTC) provided free service between Chennai and Bangalore for three days.
Another face of the disaster:
Being a coastal city Chennai is not new to floods. City has witnessed several floods. But poor urban planning made it as a manmade disaster. Though the downpour started in the month of November itself, ill equipped disaster management system created hell to the city dwellers.
According to the sources, soon after receiving the warnings about predicted heavy rainfall in the first week of December, civic authorities decided to bring down the level of water in Chembarambakkam reservoir. They suggested to release the water to Adyar River. However river Adyar was dry due to insufficient rainfall. Even authorities also agreed for this solution. Unfortunately civic authorities were unable to receive the permission before the rain started. When rain fall started storm water filled the reservoir within few hours. Officials decided to open the gate and unfortunately they opened it around midnight. It further deteriorated the plight of inhabitants of Chennai.
Experts points out real estate boom, uncontrolled encroachment and illegal constructions across the river Adyar as a major reasons for this disaster. According to them flow of rain water has been affected due to encroachment of water bodies including big lakes and ponds. High raise buildings, malls were built over these lake beds.
A senior professor of civil engineering M S Mathew who has studied studies on disaster preparedness at IIT Palakkad says that Chennai is highly prone to floods. As city is in a flat zone water can’t be drained here naturally. The clays which we find in the soils on this area doesn’t absorb the water in a very fast manner.
Scientists of the state Water Resource Organisation (WRO) says that they cautioned the government about the flood hit well in advance. WRO’s research wing `Ground and Surface Water Research and Data center’ conducted a study soon after the 2005 floods. They warned the government that the city would not be able to resist 10 cm rainfall along with the surface water discharged from the Chembarambakkam Lake on the same day. Scientists suggested diversion of surplus water from Chembarambakkam reserviour to Palar river inorder to avoid such disaster. But government didn’t take this report seriously.
According to a civic officer in Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) storm water management planning is very poor in Chennai. It has been planned in the absence of topographical data of yester years and other detailed related reports. Work has been completed very urgently just to receive allocated funds before it gets lapse. Thus city faces the heat of incorrect urban planning during every monsoon.
Refusing the blame on City’s Corporation for the lack of crisis management initiatives Chennai Corporation commissioner, Vikram Kapur says that `we don’t admit the allegation that corporation was unprepared. We started our preparation from last six months. But the intensity of rain was very high. Even Metrological department failed to estimate the amount of rainfall’.
During her visit to rain hit areas Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha said that three days rainfall was equal to three months rainfall. In three days rain lashed like anything and our preventive measures were inadequate to deal with this disaster. Thus damage became unavoidable. She promised of taking a relief work in the affected villages on a war footing. Her government announced Rs 500 crore relief funds to the victims.
Later chief minister ordered compensation packages for the flood victims as follows. Rs 10,000 to a victim those who lost his hut and Rs 5,000 for the flood hit living in a permanent house. She also declared compensation for crop loss, loss of cow, pig, sheep and poultry hen.
Another face of the city: At the ground level, many appreciated the determination of the Chennai residents while fighting the flood. People voluntarily helped their neighbors who lost shelter, food etc by offering boarding and lodging facilities. Tamil Nadu is known for its sensitive caste based division. But flood united everyone at least for a short period.
People across the country extended their support to the flood victims in Chennai. People from neighboring states collected needy things like biscuit packets, bed sheets, water bottles and made an arrangement to send these goods to Chennai.
Kaliwood stars were not back in rendering service to the victims. Well-known cine stars of Kaliwood such as Allu Arjun and Siddharth served food, medicine and blankets to the people. They also requested their fans to help the needy. Super star Rajanikanth decided to cancel the celebration of his 64th birthday due to Chennai floods and donated Rs 10 crore to Chennai flood relief fund. Even Hindi cine star of yester years Dilip Kumar also decided to call off his birthday celebrations. Actor and Filmmaker Kamal Haasan donated Rs 15 lakh cheque to relief fund. Hindi film actor Shah Ruk Khan also donated Rs 1 crore to Chennai flood victims.
Climate change claims: Chennai flood was followed by Paris convention on Climate Change. So few scientists and experts attributed the Chennai floods to climate change. But Union Environment Minister Mr. Prakash Javedkar clearly delinked the impact of Climate Change and Chennai floods. Majority of experts endorsed him saying if city had a proper flood management system; this situation could have been avoided.
After Bombay, Chennai which will be the next city? These disasters are lessons to a mankind. Man should stop his greed and should stop exploiting nature. Government should enforce law related to land encroachment, CRZ violations and civic laws very strictly. Otherwise be alert it may be the turn of your city to submerge for the next time.
