Context: A recent global study highlights how flood risk disproportionately affects vulnerable communities, especially slum dwellers in the Global South.
Relevance of Topic: Prelims: Urbanisation trends Mains: Flood Vulnerability in Informal Settlements - reasons, consequences, suggestions.
According to a 2024 Moody’s Report
- More than 2.3 billion people are exposed to flooding every year.
- In India, more than 600 million people are at risk of coastal or inland flooding.
According to Nature Cities Study:
- In the Global South, around 33% of informal settlements (housing over 445 million people) are located in flood-exposed regions.
- India has the world’s largest number of slum dwellers living in vulnerable settlements in floodplains (over 158 million), most of them concentrated in the naturally food-prone delta of the Ganga river.
- The largest concentrations and largest numbers of such people are in South Asian countries; northern India leads in absolute numbers, followed by Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
- Other notable ‘hotspots’ include Rwanda and its neighborhood, northern Morocco, and the coastal regions of Rio de Janeiro.
Regional Urbanisation Trends:
- Latin America & Caribbean: Highly urbanised (80%); most settlements are urban.
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Less urbanised; 63% of informal settlements are rural.
- In India, 40% of slum dwellers live in urban and suburban areas.
Why do people settle in Floodzones?
People settle in, or are forced to settle in, floodplains due to a combination of factors including :
- Access to jobs, social vulnerability, and financial constraints.
- In the Global South flood zones offer cheaper land and housing, pushing low income households into more vulnerable areas.
- Absence of inclusive urban policies.
- Flood-prone localities are not preferred by large builders for gated communities or IT parks, so those areas are available for migrant workers and informal settlements as they are cheaper.
- However in wealthier regions like Europe, subsidised flood insurance premiums in high risk areas promotes the desirability of floodplain areas like beachfronts and water views.
Consequences of Living in Flood-Prone Areas:
- Floods result in the loss of livelihoods for vulnerable residents, especially those in informal employment.
- Flooding disrupts essential services, such as sanitation, water, and electricity.
- Poor drainage and waste systems heighten vulnerability to infectious diseases.
- Informal settlements are typically tin-sheet, tent, or tarp housing, which are structurally weak and highly exposed to flood damage.
Way Forward
- Adopt a human-centric approach instead of location-focused to improve inadequate infrastructure.
- Governments should collaborate with communities, rather than relying only on traditional disaster preparedness.
- Skill improvement in areas like sanitation, waste management, and installing drainage systems. It could enhance the resilience to not just foods but also other risks like infectious disease, while providing jobs.
- Use data and machine learning for early-warning systems and future flood risk prediction.
The need of the hour is to prioritise action as the 2030 SDG deadline nears, especially goals on poverty, clean water, and climate action.