Slum settlements and flood risk in Mumbai: An assessment of the integration of slums in Mumbai’s Disaster Management Plan

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Slum settlements and flood risk in Mumbai: An assessment of

the integration of slums in Mumbai’s Disaster Management

Plan.

Daniel Ouwens, Tamara Streefland and Jos Wezenberg May, 2013

Tutor: L. Rutting Expert: Dr. K.F. Rijsdijk Word Count: 6092

ABSTRACT

In this research, slum settlements in Mumbai and their inclusion in the post 2005 Disaster Management Plan will be assessed to answer the following question: To what extent is the renewed Disaster Management Plan of Mumbai suited to mitigate the effects of a possible flood event in regard to slums?

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The origin of Mumbai’s flood risk lies within it the monsoonal rains, surrounding water bodies and its inadequate drainage systems. But mostly in a combination of these factors. Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) the most vulnerable slum areas were identified, after which Dharavi was chosen for a case study. Based on the characteristics of the slums, the G-North ward DMP was assessed, which showed there is no distinction made between the slum areas and regular areas. A case is made why a distinction between slum areas and the rest of Mumbai should be made.

1. Introduction

In july 2005, the residents of Mumbai experienced the most severe urban flooding event in their recorded history (Ranger et al., 2010). These floods were merely caused by heavy rainfall: 944 mm rain fell over the course of twenty-four hours. More than 60 percent of the Mumbai city area was affected and damages were estimated at 1.7 Billion USD and 500 fatalities occurred among many other severe consequences (Samaddar,2011; Government of Maharastra, 2006).

The people that were impacted the heaviest by the 2005 floods, were those who belong to the poorer part of Mumbai’s population, living in one of its many slums. A lack of capital as well as limited social and economic resources cause slum dwellers to be more susceptible to floods than the rest of Mumbai’s population (Samaddar,2011).

Mumbai is a megacity and one of the biggest urban agglomerations of the world with 19.4 million inhabitants (Nandi & Ghamkar, 2013). An estimated 7 million inhabitants reside in slums settlements. The United Nations report that almost all of the world’s population growth in the next thirty years will occur in urban areas (Cohen,2004). Mumbai’s population will continue to grow as well and is projected to be almost 33 million inhabitants by 2025 (Davis, 2006). Hanson et al. (2007) have estimated that currently 2,787,000 habitants of Mumbai are susceptible to flood hazards and that this number will only increase in the future due to the projected increase of population, forcing inhabitants to live in area’s prone to floods.

Although Mumbai is highly susceptible to floods and experiences floods annually due to the rapid urbanization and the accompanying increase in runoff, as well as its geographic location on the western coast of India, the 2005 floods had an enormous impact compared to preceding flood events and caused much concern amongst policy makers (Gupta, 2007).

In the early 1990‘s, the Government of Maharastra developed a Disaster Management Plan in order to cope with flood events in Mumbai. However, this plan failed to effectively mitigate the impact of the flooding event in 2005 (Stecko & Barber, 2009). Subsequently to the floods, its impact and the activation of the DMP were assessed in order to develop an improved DMP and prevent an equally severe urban flood event from re-occurring.

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Under the Indian Government’s Disaster Management Act of 2005, several sub-goals were formulated in order to ensure public safety. The Indian government formulated their overall approach as follows in their National Policy on Disaster Management:

“There will be a paradigm shift, from the erstwhile relief-centric response to a proactive prevention, mitigation and preparedness-driven approach for conserving developmental gains and also to minimize losses of life, livelihoods and property ”

(Government of India, 2012).

Much has been achieved since then with regard to disaster management, not only in Mumbai but in all of India. Appendix 1 gives an overview of what has been set up, based on the Disaster Management Act of 2005.

As mentioned above, the 2005 floods have had the most severe impact on slum dwellers. Although, informal settlements are most vulnerable to flood risk, they often lack inclusion in the mitigation measures that are in place. Furthermore, slums differ greatly to formal

settlements in their physical, social and economic characteristics (Stecko & Barber,2009). With urban population growth and the increase of monsoonal activity caused by climate change in scope, a functioning disaster management plan and the inclusion of slum settlements is paramount.

This research will elaborate on the flood risk of slum settlements in Mumbai and their inclusion in the post 2005 flood Mumbai disaster management plan. The main research question is: To what extent is the renewed Disaster Management plan of Mumbai suited to mitigate the effects of a flood event with regard to slums?

In order to effectively research the main question, the following sub-questions need to be answered.

Subquestions:

1 What are the physical aspects of Mumbai’s susceptibility to floods?

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3 Which characteristics that distinquish slum areas from other areas affect evacuation possibilities and risk mitigation?

4 Does the Disaster Management Plan take notice of the social/physical characteristics of slum areas?

Approach

First, to acquire a better understanding of the problem, the physical aspects of Mumbai’s susceptibility to floods need to be described. Second, we need to identify the slums at high risk of flood events. These areas will be identified with the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a computer tool that can be used for analyzing geographical data and making maps. Furthermore, the characteristics of these areas will be addressed in order to understand if the DMP that is in place fulfills the purpose of mitigating risk in these areas. Finally, the

functionality of the DMP will be elaborated upon.

Flood risk in Mumbai has been widely assessed by different researchers. Bachu et al (2010) have predicted future precipitation and the accompanying increase in flood risk. Furthermore, research on governmental policy and management concerning the 2005 floods has been conducted (Gupta, 2007).

Also, flood risk in relation to slums has been addressed. Chatterjee (2009) elaborates on how slum dwellers in Mumbai have recovered from flood events and how the slum settlements can be altered on a structural level in order to effectively mitigate flood risk. Furthermore,

Sammadar et al. (2011) elaborate on household vulnerability patterns in flood prone slum areas.

The relevance of this research lays within the need to protect the most vulnerable communities to flood risk and, ensure their future through analyzing the inclusion of their unique

characteristics in a functional Disaster Management Plan. The research will be conducted from an interdisciplinary perspective. Complementary views from the disciplines Earth Sciences, Human Geography and Artificial Intelligence enables us to adequately assess the functioning of Mumbai’s DMP with regard to slum dwellers.

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Figure 1 reflects the interaction between the disciplines. Earth sciences and human geography interacted through the creation of GIS maps based on both social- and physical geographical data. Human geography and Artificial Intelligence interact through the characterization of slum areas, comparing them to regular areas within Mumbai and then assessing whether the current DMP takes notice of the possible issues.

Figure 1. Interaction between different disciplines

Overview

The following paragraphs will provide answers to the sub-questions and ultimately the main research question. First, paragraph 2 will provide a short background on the physical aspects of Mumbai’s susceptibility to floods. Flood risk in Mumbai is due to human activities as well as its geographic location. Mumbai was originally situated on seven islands. Land reclamation has resulted in a peninsula over the years. The majority of the reclaimed land is located under high tide level and thus prone to flooding (Gupta, 2007) .

Second, physical and social characteristics are used to create a map using GIS. (3)

The time limitations enforce a strong and limited focus with clear and definite borders. We attempted to maintain a broad overview of the situation for all slums in Mumbai, but in order to make a proper comparative assessment we required one slum to be the subject of a case study. We would however, advise that each slum undergoes a similar case study. One of the largest slums of Mumbai, Dharavi (figure 2/3) was chosen as the main focus for the

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comparative assessment. Limited as it was, Dharavi, out of all the slums we considered, was the subject of most scientific studies we could find. It is a densely populated slum in the heart of Mumbai. It is prone to flooding and portrays the characteristics we anticipated to find in a slum area, which are described further along.

Figure 2. Orange dot: location Dharavi Figure 3. Zoom Dharavi

Furthermore, in paragraph 4 and 5, the integration of slum characteristics in the Disaster Management will be assessed. Mumbai was ordered by the Maharashtra state government to comply with the Disaster Management Act of 2005. This included forming a new Disaster

Management Plan(DMP) on the municipal level, based on the Maharasthra guidelines. This plan includes the duties and responsibilities of high ranking officers during an emergency situation and should contain a plan of action for different scenarios. It covers floods, seismic activity and acts of terror. We focused on the plans regarding flooding and the integration of slum

characteristics in particular. But before a proper comparative assessment of the DMP can be made, the characteristics that separate slums from the regular city areas have to be identified and described. Additionally, a causal description of why slums are more susceptible to floods is given. These descriptions both entail social- and physical geographical causes. Based on that

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information the most important aspects will be assessed in the DMP and possible problems are addressed.

2. Mumbai’s flood risk: The origin

It is important to understand physical aspects of flood risk to gain understanding on the

foundation of some decision made in the DMP. In the next paragraph these physical aspects are elaborated upon.

There are several factors that contribute to the exuberance of water and the resulting floods. ·First, Mumbai is prone to monsoonal rains. On average Mumbai is liable to 2050 mm

rainfall annually. However, due to the monsoon 70 percent of the annual rainfall occurs in June and August (Gupta, 2007). Precipitation in Mumbai is a problem because it often comes in very intense events. Normally 50 percent of the total annual rainfall, comes in three events. The floods in 2005 were caused by such an event. A record rainfall of 940 mm in twenty-four hours was recorded (Jemanani et al, 2006).

·Second, the Mumbai peninsula is surrounded by water bodies, the Arabian sea and the Thane creek amongst other creeks and rivers. Mumbai experiences a rather large tidal range of 1.6 meters at neap to 3.9 m at spring tide, resulting in a 2.3 m sea level rise at spring tide (Murthy et al., 2001).

·Third, Mumbai’s inadequate drainage system is a major cause for flooding. The drainage system is a complex network of rivers and creeks as well as simple drainage channels (Gupta,2007). The construction of the drainage system took place between 1860 and 1900 and is seriously outdated. The high urbanization has increased the city's run-off threefold over the last decades, the system is unable to cope with current run-off (GoM, 2006) (Ranger et al., 2011). Another failure of the drainage system which attributed to the severeness of the 2005 floods, was the fact that the system was clogged by plastic bags and litter, caused by overpopulation and poor waste management (GoM, 2006).

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Furthermore, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) predicts sea level rise, an increasingly intensive monsoon and an increase in extreme precipitation events in the future, further increasing flood risk (Meehl et al., 2007). Finally, heavy flooding will not be caused by one of the factors described above. However, a combination of all the factors described above will form a large threat to Mumbai. An extreme precipitation event, inadequate drainage and high tide will prevent water from properly discharging, and will cause many areas in Mumbai to be submerged. Dharavi and Coloba represent two Mumbai areas that contain slums that are at high risk of being flooded. In paragraph 3, a GIS map is provided on Dharavi’s and Coloba’s susceptibility to floods. Also, social aspects of slum flood risk will be assessed

3. Physical and Social aspects of Slum flood risk

This paragraph will provide insight on the flood risk of Dharavi and Coloba through the use of GIS maps. First, some technical information on the use of geographic information systems. Then then a flood risk map of Dharavi will be presented. Furthermore, an assessment of the social factors that are at the foundation of slum flood risk is provided, and a map of the Coloba area is provided as illustration.

GIS

Geographical Information System are used to identify the areas that are liable to the greatest flood risk. The lower areas are situated, the higher their risk of being flooded. Thus areas at risk in Dharavi and Colaba will be identified based on their elevation. The digital elevation map (DEM) for Mumbai was derived from ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), a collaboration between Japan and the USA. The DEM data has an accuracy of 1m elevation. Elevation differences smaller than 1 m cannot be assessed, since there is no DEM data available with a higher detail of elevation.

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Flood risk in Dharavi

FIgure 4. represents a flood risk map of Dharavi. It is located between a higher elevated area (red) and a lower elevated mangrove area (green). It is evident that water will flow from a higher to a lower area, and thus finds its way through Dharavi to the mangrove area. Due to the densely populated Dharavi and its encroachement on the bank of a mangrove, vital for

drainage, the runoff will concentrate and submerge the Dharavi area.

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Poverty and vulnerability

When looking at the Colaba district (figure 5), it is seen that in many of the areas indicated by risk, slums are situated. This phenomenon will be explained using the theory of urban political ecology. Work on 'natural hazards' in the 1980s (like drought, floods or earthquake)

demonstrated the centrality of political economy in determining who suffers their impacts (Hewitt 1983; Blaikie et al. 1994.) Risk is therefore the combined product of physical hazard and human vulnerability (Adams 2009). Geological or meteorological events may occur

independently of human action, but their effects are very directly mediated through human institutions, and societies that are structurally unequal. The distribution of hazard and risk is therefore the outcome of those processes that determine poverty (Ibed). In an urban setting, the question of who is at risk and who is not depends on their ability to evade or adapt to the hazards threatening welfare. Above all, this is affected by where they live. It is the poorest people who live on the steepest and most failure-prone slopes, the areas liable to flood, and who live in the most polluted urban environments. These are the basic parameters of urban political ecology (Pelling 2003).

As stated before the Municipal Government has set its goal to minimize losses of life, livelihoods and property during the event of a flood. Logically the effect of the measures undertaken to realise these goals (including the renewed early warning system and evacuation plan) is as strong as its weakest link. With the use of the theory of urban political ecology, we have just defined the slum dwellers to be the weakest link. Therefore, in order to investigate the effectiveness of the measures, we first have to define which characteristics of the slums contribute to their vulnerability.

Slums in Mumbai

Before we look at the characteristics of the slums, it is important to first paint the bigger picture. In Mumbai over half of the population live in slums, which means around 6,53 million people, and it is growing larger by the year (2011 census). This is largely explained by the fact that because Mumbai's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is higher than anywhere else in India, migrants from all over the country relocate to the business capital of India in search of a

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better future (Parasuraman 2007). However, the Municipal Government has not been able to provide sufficient housing for all this rural-urban migration, causing informal settlements to develop (Nijman 2008). In some cases in Mumbai slums arose in areas neglected by urban planners due to their vulnerability to floods or their function as vital drainage areas (Stecko and Barber 2007). Logically these areas are positioned in low-lying areas prone to flooding (Ibed). Our results in Fig. 5 illustrates these findings. It is shown that the slums are situated on the margins of the peninsula in areas with risk to floods. The idea is further backed by research done by Perkins in 2008, who made a map of the locations of annual floods and the location of the slums, shown in Fig. 6. Again it is seen that slums are situated at the low-lying areas and that they are at risk of flood. These maps provide an affirmation of the theory of urban political ecology.

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Figure 5. GIS Map

In this example we look at the most southern part of Mumbai, the Colaba District. The purple areas are slums and it is shown that they are situated on the margins of the peninsula in areas with risk to floods. The lowest areas (0-3 Meters) are coloured with red (critical risk), then areas with high risk (orange 3-5 m) and moderate risk (yellow 5-10m).

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We have now defined why slums are located in areas liable to flood, but the characteristics of slums make the slum dwellers also more vulnerable to the effect of a flood. In order to verify if the DMP is suited to mitigate the effect of such an event, we have to find these characteristic that distinguish slum areas from other areas. We identified six groups of aspects in which the difference could affect an area’s ability to mitigate risk, properly evacuate and most

importantly; rehabilitate after a disastrous event. Some groups interact on different aspects but we tried to sort the aspects based on their coverage (or lack thereof) in the DMP.

The following characteristics are covered: Lack of basic amenities (1), health (2), infrastructure (3), drainage (4), housing material (5) and social psychological differences(6). Before we

examine these groups of characteristics in relation to the DMP, we first have to present our first findings in the DMP.

4. The Disaster Management Plan assessment

After investigating the Indian Government’s plans-, the State of Maharashtra’s plans- and Mumbai’s Ward plans for Disaster Management(DM), there appears to be a gap in its coverage of certain issues that are present in previous finds in literature on social studies. Slums are treated the same as any other part of the ward or city. Several departments are assigned responsibilities that best suit the capabilities of that department and who that department answers to in the hierarchy, mostly the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. There is an absence of slum-specific treatment in the municipal plans available online. Maharashtra’s Disaster Management Monsoon Plan(MCGM, 2012), for instance, only mentions slums as a more vulnerable group to disease in the statement of responsibilities of the Health Department. This is however, the same as in non-emergency situations. Slums are inherently more susceptible to disease due to a lack of (public)bathroom facilities and polluted water supplies.

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That is at state-level, which is expectedly vague to allow local municipalities to form their own plans and policies based on the state plans and hierarchies. However, the local level plans are also not entirely compliant with the needs we have found are unique to Dharavi and require special mentioning in the plans. Dharavi is situated in Ward G-North of the Maharashtra Mumbai Disaster Management Plan.

A comparative assessment of the G-North Ward Disaster Management Plan and the unique characteristics of Dharavi was made, based on the six aspect groups mentioned earlier. This assessment can be repeated for every ward within the Mumbai Plan

1 &2 Lack of basic amenities & Health

Because many of the slums are built on land, owned by public or private companies, they are denied formalized access to water, sanitation and electricity (Stecko and Barber 2007). A recent study states that in the dharavi slums there are 75–246 persons per public toilet. These kind of conditions cause many implications for health and hygiene. (Tatano & Samaddar 2010).

One of the most significant effects of flooding is the impact on health; Handmer et al. (1999) argues that ‘effect on human health in developing countries, and especially among the residents of informal settlements ‘are a particular concern of any increase in flooding that might result from climate change. Disease outbreaks may be associated with the spreading of waste by floodwaters, disruption of safe water supplies and the persistence of water in low-lying areas creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes (Blaikie et al., 1994; Kolsky, 1999)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) plans to structurally improve the sanitation in slums with the Slum Sanitation Program. They do however have reservation about whether the program will reach the entire population.(Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, 2005) The PowerGrid company has been structurally improving their own grid and receiver-stations under the Green Grid program under Community Development Works(PowerGrid, 2013)

The DMP mainly focusses on casualty situations and emergency treatment. It fails to address the large amount of waste(both material and organic) that is carried out of the Slum area and into the streets. It does however mention that NGO’s are vital in this part and that the

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communities are to watch out for each other. In Article 4.1.3; During Relief and Rehabilitation. It states: - Enlist assistance in maintaining sanitation standards and disposal of waste, which means that people are responsible for cleaning up their own waste when the flood event has passed.

This is insufficient. It should clearly warn people for the dangers of improper waste management and its implications during floods. Educations is a large part of disaster preparedness. Also the Mumbai Municipality should increase their efforts to ensure proper sanitation is provided to slum areas. It is a basic amenity.

During the flooding events, there is a provision of food in some of the main transit camps. The plan covers the needs of victims during a flood event, however it does not cover what happens after that. It has a small section (4.1.3) which basically states people should fend for themselves and help each other. This shows the strong relation between poverty and compromised resilience. There are rehabilitation programs,this is mainly covered by NGO’s but they each have their own strategy and plans but they collaborate with the Ward Officer to ensure proper distribution of required goods. The fact that the NGO’s are not regulated is also seen as its primary strength in the DMP: “Their strength lies in the choice of their manpower, the informality in operations and flexibility in procedures. These organisations enjoy a fair degree of autonomy and hence can respond to changing needs immediately.” (Mumbai G-N Ward Plan, 2013) The need for educations is also higher in Slum areas, which is recognized by prominent NGO’s such as the Times of India Relief Fund(2013) which states that it is crucial to instruct all dwellers how to treat food and water and properly dispose of waste. Not only during emergency situations, but also after.

3. Infrastucture

The main road is a prominent evacuation route. But both the Dharavi Main Road and the Dharavi Loop Road are mentioned as accident prone in section 2.4. These are generally congested roads which stands in the way of a quick evacuation. The small dirt roads that form the internal infrastructure are not designed for a quick and safe getaway, but rather in the most efficient way with regards to space available for living and working.

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The focus in Slum areas should be on providing as much information as possible through signs and word of mouth to ensure accessibility for all. Not everyone has access to a Public

Announcement System in Dharavi. In the traffic section, there is no distinction between regular and slum parts but this could also be specific to certain scenarios which the Police departments develop themselves, but there seems to be no record of that online. There should be a strategy to keep the small roads accessible and connected to the larger roads, to ensure proper flow of people during an evacuation.

Rail tracks between Sion station and Matunga station get submerged during heavy rains. This is covered in section 3.7 Responsibilities of Railway Station Master, Dadar, Matunga and Mahim Railway Stations

- Monitoring level of water on the railway tracks

· Coordinating with engineering branch staff posted at the flood prone locations at railway tracks

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Fig. 7 Map of railroad tracks surrounding Dharavi.

The evacuation possibilities of the people of Dharavi is significantly lower when the access to the railroads is compromised. As shown in figure 7, the Mahim junction and the Sion railway are the most prominent stations for Dharavi. The traintracks on the lower side and the mangrove on the upper side fully envelop the Dharavi slum.

4. Drainage

Due to lack of space available in Mumbai as well as poor land policies and regulations, slums are often situated on vital drainage area’s (Stecko & Barber, 2009). As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, poor drainage is one of the main causes of floods in the city. The encroachment of slums and the absence of a proper waste disposal system prevent proper drainage for the whole city and increase floods risk throughout, especially in the low lying slums (Chatterjee, 2010).

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Matunga Labour Camp, Kunchikurve Nagar, Shahu Nagar, Jasmin Mill Road, Transit Camp, Dambar Compound, Babbu Jagjivan Nagar, kalyan Wadi, Poonawala Chawl, V.K. Wadi, Kumbhar Wada, Subhash Nagar, Muslim Nagar, Anna Nagar.

There is however no mention of any mitigation intentions. This is a statement of warning; plan around it. There is no quick way to resolve this drainage problems because they are mainly caused by the people who build the encroachments that prohibit proper drainage. In order to ensure the safety of the slum as a whole, there should be more control of the build of

encroachment on drainage sites. If not by local police, then through community watch programs.

5. Housing Material

The poor quality of housing material in slums (for example polythene bags, straw, corrugated zinc, cardboard boxes, rocks) make the slums extra vulnerable to floods. Dwellings are easy to break into while the owner is being evacuated. This seems to pose a real security problem in the slum areas. There are several reasons found in a study by Samaddar et. al. in 2012 why some people did not leave during the floods of 2005; one of the most surprising, at first, was that, of the respondents, thirty five percent would not leave because of the possibility of theft from their unprotected residences. This shows that even if everyone is aware of the imminent threat, still some will choose to stay, even if that means they go down with that which they wanted to protect. They have insufficient trust in the local law enforcement to protect their belongings for them.

In the DMP, article 3.2, it is the responsibility of Deputy Commissioner of the Police(DCP)(law and order) to guard the property/valuables in the affected area. They can enlist members of the community, according to article 4.1.2; Help police, if requested, to maintain law and order and watch the evacuated property during the disaster.

After the flood has subsided, an inventory must be made of damaged or lost goods. Here, the DCP again relies on the community’s assistance through article 4.1.3 · Enlist (the community’s)

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assistance for updating records of damages and losses. It is a good thing that the people are involved in the reporting of damage to their dwellings, there is no guarantee that they will ever be compensated for the damage. In addition to the loss, it is incredibly hard to acquire a loan with a slum address. This strongly impairs the resilience of the slum dwellers. There should be a micro-financing department set up within the state bank, with a low interest rate, especially for disaster-related loans. Dharavi is an economical machine based on labour so the loans will be repaid through the services they provide to the city of Mumbai, which they could not deliver if they are unable to repair the damage sustained during a flood. This creates a win-win-win situation. The bank receives interest, the city receives services and the slum dwellers recieve a repaired shop and or home.

6. Social psychological differences

We found no early warning procedures in the DMP, but we have found that even if people receive an early warning, they are still hesitant to leave. Because they distrust the local authorities with their possessions as mentioned earlier, or they think they are used to the circumstances and underestimate the danger of the flood. The rationality that an early warning system counts on in people in order to save them, is not always adequately present in the people it is trying to save. Not because they do not want to leave but because there are too many uncertainties if should they choose to leave. There is no guarantee they will survive the evacuation and the risk of theft and or damaging of their property weighs in heavier for some individuals. This opposed to the people in regular housing who simply lock the front door of their apartment and proceed to the nearest transit camp designated for their area, and simply returns home when the water has subsided. None of these issues are addressed in the DMP. There should be a mention of the problems the slum dwellers face in the DMP because if you do not face them yourself, either as a volunteer for an NGO or as a wealthy citizen of Mumbai, they fail to come to mind when dealing with emergency situations. It are not just the slum dwellers who have to be educated on how to save themselves, the rest of the population should also be more aware of the reasons behind certain behaviour slum dwellers show during

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emergency situations and their state of mind. Only if we understand each other can we truly provide relief and properly rehabilitate victims of disasters.

Unexpected This is perhaps the most surprising thing we found. Both the sections: 4.2 Response Structure on receipt of warning

and

4.3 Response Structure on occurrence of disasterare blank. The Mumbai Ward-G-North plan does not have any (publicly available) response structure, apart from knowing who is

responsible for which aspects of the response. It looks as if there should be information there, but that there simply is none. This should be designed and implemented as soon as possible. There is an excellent early warning in place with a large amount of rain-gauges, one of which is located on top of the Dharavi Fire Station. It would increase the survival rate and allow for better preparation for pending floods.

5. Discussion

It appears that the government does not want to invest in supporting the Slums in the current state they are in because they are fighting to redevelop most of them, eliminating the issues completely. But while they are not yet redeveloped(assuming they will be), there the necessary steps listed above should be taken to ensure the safety of every resident, regardless of wealth. There might be a slum specific plan formulated by the communities/slum dwellers themselves, based on or with help from the municipalities. Microfinancing like Kiva.org?

Possible redevelopment projects, but are they worth destroying the current unique systems? One could argue that the people living in slums choose to do so.That if they would settle for a smaller village land inward, their housing options would improve. The people living in the Slums are also of vital importance to the economic processes that make the rest of Mumbai so

prosperous. They had no opportunity for work where they used to live, that is why they took to the big city; in search of a job. There are large redevelopment plans approved by the Indian

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Government which would transform the Slum area into a modern Township. But in order to do this, the entire slum has to be destroyed. Because of the unregistered nature of the Slums, there is little to no way of knowing who owns anything. So who would still have a place in the new Dharavi and who would be forced to relocate to a possibly worse location? The BMC will have to be very meticulous with this to ensure the future cooperation of other Slums they wish to redevelop. Redevelopment is the most sought after answer because the urbanization itself and the illegal placement of encroachments create these problems for themselves in search of a better life. The people will keep coming, so unless there is a structural affordable housing-plan coming soon, the problems will continue to grow.

Reflection

The group process of an interdisciplinary makes a research more difficult because you have to incorporate each major/discipline equally and different views have to be mitigated and bridged in order to produce a solid report. However, this process contributes greatly to the objectivity of the project and each individual is forced to view issues from multiple perspectives, which in turn provokes new ideas and increases how much you learn from the project. Once we

discussed each other’s majors/ disciplines we immediately started formulating the project as an interdisciplinary one, searching for complimentary theories and methodologies, which allowed us to focus more on the research itself than on the merger of theories through Repko.

The limitation of our research is that a similar assessment should be made for every slum in every ward and also compare the way they each handle their own issues. This in turn can be used to mitigate risk in other slums. Also the direct input from the municipalities and the people of Dharavi; how they experience disaster situations and how they think they could/should be assisted in the future would be a great contribution to the process of understanding the situation as a whole.

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6. Conclusions

The lowest areas of Mumbai are most susceptible to flooding and the areas that developers chose not to build on because of the risks are now filled with slums who subsequently

experience the negative effects of their location. The topographical location of Mumbai makes it prone to monsoon rains which strongly increase the chance of flooding of those lower areas. The reason the slum dwellers live on those locations is because they are among the poorest of the city; they are the least resilient and the most vulnerable at the same time.

There is enough reason to suggest slum area specific aspects of the Disaster Management Plan in the following categories: lack of basic amenities & health, infrastructure, drainage, housing material and social psychological differences. More sanitation; The capacity of the system has to be increased and the current system has to be maintained better. better education of the dangers of infections; people have to be aware of the dangers they face during disaster situations. Not just from the event itself but also during the aftermath.. Better road design; Even if that means less people can be housed in the area, safety of the residents should be a higher priority. No building encroachments on drainage sites; people are directly put at risk by others blocking the drainage sites. Health issues and faster flooding are a direct effect of these encroachments.

More real protection of property during floods and the trust of the people in that protection; As long as people don’t feel they can leave without fear of theft and destruction of livelihood, they will most likely stay to protect their belongings, making sure the life that the municipality is trying to save is worth loving after the disaster has passed. A better mutual understanding of the behavior and decision patterns between slum dwellers and the rest of the population would strongly contribute to the effectiveness of the Disaster Management Plan. Having said that, although the inclusion of special characteristics of slums in the DMP might be essential in order to save more lives during a flood event, it is questionable if the municipality of Mumbai will actually do this. The fact that the municipality has been unable to provide structural solutions to the city’s housing problem throughout the years might indicate that the position of slum

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dwellers is not their highest priority. Instead of taking slum characteristics into account in the DMP in order to reduce the slum dwellers vulnerability to floods, the underlying problems that have caused them to be vulnerable should be addressed.

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APPENDIX 1

Network of Developments in Disaster Management Planning in India post 2005 see attached file Appendix 1.pdf

The Indian Government formed the Disaster Management Act which is filled in with more and more details as you move down in the network. At the same time RIMES provides the entire country with Early Warnings in return for structural funding. Our research focusses mainly on the elements in the red circle.

Slum settlements and flood risk in Mumbai: An assessment of the integration of slums in Mumbai’s Disaster Management Plan