Slums in Flood Prone Areas Highest in India, Key Issues and Solutions

Context: India has the world’s highest number of slum clusters in flood-prone areas.

Key Issues for Slums in Flood Prone Areas

• High Exposure to Flood Risk: Over 158 million slum dwellers in India live in floodplains, especially in the Ganga delta.
  • Slum settlements are 32% more likely to be located in flood-prone areas due to cheaper land.
• Lack of Comprehensive Data: In the Global South, including India, there is a scarcity of accurate data on flood exposure for vulnerable communities.
• Unplanned Urban Expansion: Cities are expanding into high-risk flood zones without adequate risk assessments or planning regulations.
• Socioeconomic Vulnerability: People settle in such areas due to job access, poverty, and lack of affordable housing.
  • These settlements often have limited education, no flood insurance, and inadequate services.
• Poor Infrastructure: Basic infrastructure like drainage, sanitation, and solid housing is lacking, worsening the impact of floods.
  • Informal housing (tin sheets, tarps) is fragile and temporary.
• Inequitable Urban Development: Real estate pressures and gentrification push the poor into riskier zones.
  • Builders avoid flood zones, which are then occupied by migrant workers and the urban poor.

Impacts of Floods on Slum Dwellers

• Direct Impacts: Loss of shelter, belongings, and lives during floods.
  • Damage to fragile housing in informal settlements.
• Indirect Impacts: Loss of jobs, access to education, health services, and other essential services.
  • Increased risk of diseases due to poor sanitation and water stagnation.
  • The cycle of poverty worsens with repeated flooding events.
• Social and Institutional Marginalisation: Limited access to disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery measures.
  • Exclusion from insurance schemes and climate resilience planning.

Possible Solutions for Slum Dwellers

• Policy & Planning Measures:
  • Integrate Slums into Urban Flood Risk Management: Recognise informal settlements in official planning maps.
    • Include them in early warning systems and relief programs.
  • Implement Human-Centric Development: Shift focus from just flood-prone “locations” to people’s vulnerability.
    • Create inclusive infrastructure plans addressing the unique needs of the urban poor.
  • Affordable and Resilient Housing: Promote flood-resilient construction and affordable housing schemes in safer areas.
• Local Collaboration & Empowerment: Work with slum communities to co-create disaster response strategies.
  • Encourage community-led infrastructure improvements, like local drainage or waste management.
• Skill Development and Employment: Generate jobs in sanitation, drainage construction, solid waste management, which also build flood resilience.
• Technological and Data-Driven Solutions: Leverage machine learning on satellite data to map risk-prone zones and track slum expansion over time.
  • Use this data for better urban planning and targeted interventions.

Sharing is caring!