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Planning and Rebuilding for Uttrakhand

Effective Disaster Management Framework

India is vulnerable to droughts, floods, cyclones and earthquakes. Landslides, avalanche and forest fires also occur frequently. Among the 32 States/Union Territories in the country, 22 are multi-disaster prone. As much as 40 million hectare of land in the country has been identified as flood prone, and on an average 18.6 million hectare of land is flooded annually. About 57% of area of the country is vulnerable to seismic activity. 18% of country's total area and about 68% of total sown area is drought prone, affecting approximately 50 million people. India has a long coastline of 8040Km, which is exposed to tropical cyclones and tsunami.

Uttrakhand in June 2013 underwent one of the most severe disasters in India. It is said to have killed more than 10,000 persons, affected 4000 villages and 50,000 houses. 292 villages need to be rebuilt or relocated. This ecologically sensitive and fragile Himalayan State is exposed to multi hazards-floods, landslides, earthquake, cloudburst and storms. At present rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts are going on. The reconstruction and rebuilding of the villages, pilgrim towns, public buildings, roads, and restoring communication channels, and ravaged infrastructure in this Himalayan region pose a daunting challenge. It is necessary to prepare a Disaster Management Plan and a strategic framework which is eco- sensitive, inclusive and safe.

Kedarnath

An effective disaster management framework should address the urgent and pressing issues, while keeping a long range vision. It can be a set of 5 interrelated telescopic eco-sensitive plans based on rigorous eco-analysis, comprising a) Regional Plan, b) Redevelopment and Conservation of pilgrim towns, tourist centres and villages, c) Plans for roads, transport, communication, infrastructure, water, health and hygiene, energy, d) Local Community Plans, and e) Retrofitting and Rehabilitation Plans of shelter and buildings. The plans should be based on the scientific studies- satellite imagery, laser scanning and forensic analysis. The plans should facilitate community participation and mobilization of resources of the government, international agencies, corporate and the NGOs. The disaster management requires a 3 pronged strategy:

An integrated framework of eco-sensitive Disaster Management Plans for Himalayan Region, focusing upon safety, livelihoods, rebuilding roads and transport network, basic services, hygiene/ health, public facilities, shelter and communications.
Guidelines for location and development of roads, infrastructure and buildings; with mandatory safety provision for every building/structure.
Action Plans for reconstruction, rehabilitation and retrofitting of buildings.

Planning needs a support system comprising accurate and up to date base maps, information, documentation and analysis pertaining to meteorology, micro-zonation, vegetation and forest, landslides, geology, floods, traffic volumes and road network, bridges and culverts, population and tourists/pilgrims flow, health profile, morphology, land use, infrastructure services, etc. Technological systems can help in this task and the areas of vulnerability can be identified so as to develop strategies to safeguard against disasters (floods, hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, etc.) and environmental hazards, such as global warming and climate change, disturbance in river flow regime due to dams, bunds, hydropower stations, irrigation canals, buildings construction, roads, etc. and water and land pollution including emissions of green house gases, toxins and wastes.

Natural disasters, such as earthquake, hurricane, floods and landslides cannot be prevented. Fire, traffic accidents, outbreak of infectious diseases, collapse of structures, stampede, etc. are some of the man-made disasters. The hazards of these disasters are manifolds-loss of human lives and property and disruptions in the services and daily life. These disasters take place mainly due to the carelessness of the man, improper planning and not observing the preventing measures. By eco-sensitive planning and design, it is possible minimize the loss of property and human lives to a great extent.

It helps in identifying the adverse impacts, which can be mitigated at an early planning stage to achieve a sustainable and safer development.

Safety specifications and standards should be the basis of the development, design, construction and location of the buildings. Broadly the following protocol should be adopted for safer development and construction:

Discourage indiscriminate speculative urban growth, ban all constructions in eco-sensitive, flood prone areas, landslide and high earthquake danger prone zones.
Safety oriented planning, design and construction specifications and norms.
Upgrading transport infrastructure, roads, bridges, culverts, drainage, etc.
Improve security information infrastructure CCTV, GIS, traffic signals and signage, road markings, information about helpline numbers and persons to be contacted in case of emergency.
Provision of essential public utilities, safety shelter and clean toilets on all public roads/streets and in the schools, markets and public buildings.
Ensure adequate infrastructure, drinking water, power, street lighting, police posts, dispensaries, trauma centres, emergency medical help, etc

The design, development and provision of services have to be different than Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai. It needs an eco-sensitive sustainable approach for drainage and flood control, sewerage, water supply, waste water recycling, rainwater harvesting, solid waste management, power, roads, etc. No compromise be made to build in high earthquake zone, mountains landslide areas, river front, canals, drains, water bodies and forests.

The discharge of wastes and pollutants should be minimised and wastes should be recycled. To secure a clean environment, it would be necessary to ban plastic bags, packed snacks/foods and smoking. CNG powered vehicles can help in the reduction of nitrogen oxide and carbon emissions. Denitrification equipment, incineration plants and use of low-emission vehicles should be promoted. Even more critical is to reduce the volume of traffic by compact and smart development, e- governance, public transport, cable cars, etc.

Local technologies like reed bed, charcoal filter, etc. can help to improve the quality of water. The use of fossil fuels can be reduced by local grids of green and renewable energy. It is necessary to involve NGOs to tackle environmental problems by a sustained technical cooperation, civil engagement and public participation. Public campaigns for Clean and Green State, Save Himalayas, Forest, Chipko Aandolan, Zero Emission Industry, etc can be very helpful. This requires government support and help and training of the leaders for environmental awareness and protection, together with holding exhibitions, studies and discussions.

Key Strategies

The following are the key strategies for planning, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the disaster affected Himalayan Region:

(a) Micro-zonation surveys should be the basis of referred for land use planning, particularly potential areas of urban growth.

(b) The key communication centres should be protected from natural disasters, i.e. flood, fire, earthquake, etc. and services restoration should be taken up on priority.

(c) Building bye-laws should incorporate the aspects of multi-hazard safety and retrofitting. Priority should be given to public buildings such as hospitals, educational, institutional, power stations, infrastructure, heritage and religious structures, lifeline structures and those which are likely to attract large congregation for their ability to withstand earthquake of the defined intensity. Suitable action should be taken for retrofitting and strengthening of structures identified as vulnerable as per earthquake manuals and National Building Code. A techno-legal regime has to be in place for multi-hazard safety.

(d) Disaster Management Centres be established in every city or district to deal with the disasters. Sensitize people by media campaigns and publicity about emergency procedures and promote safety culture and behavior.

It is generally not the natural disaster and hazards per se that kill people; rather unsafe buildings and construction that lead to loss of life and property. A major area of focus should be to check and retrofit the non-engineered buildings, which exist in all the cities and villages in Uttrakhand. The approach has to be preventive not curative. This needs sustained action, which involves collecting information and analyzing forensically where things have "gone wrong" and also where a high performance has been achieved in terms of safety.

The common failures of a structure need to be scientifically investigated and analysed. There could be failure of foundations, erosion of base earth due to landslide, inundation, flood or earthquake. Roof sheets or tiles may fly off, joints, connections and anchorage may get broken and the structure may collapse. Due to failure of frame, columns, beams or wall the structure may collapse. Diagonal crack in the walls, beams, slabs, lintels, etc. give warning of structural failure.

As a fundamental engineering imperative, the following are the key elements of safe construction:

A - Anchorage

B - Bracing

C - Connections

D - Detailing

E - External Environment

The following general guidelines may be followed for all building projects in the Himalayan States which are prone to high winds, flooding, earthquakes and landslides.

Safe Building Requirements in High Hazards

Type of Hazards	Building Design Criteria
A. High Wind	The building should be so located to avoid forming a wind barrier. Its form and length should allow high winds to cross over. The structure and all elements, including connections between components should have sufficient strength to resist wind forces including the fatigue effects of sustained repeated loadings. The design must provide for both for normal and overload conditions. Sufficient structural integrity should be provided to minimise the possibility of progressive collapse due to local failure of structural elements. Ability to absorb impact forces and to resist penetration and destruction of flying debris. Positions of local weakness such as windows and doors should be protected. Bracing and general stiffness of the structure should minimize the deflection and deformation.
B. Flooding	No building should be built within 200 m of HFL (last 25 years) of a river. The structure must be capable of resisting and/or transmitting all loads induced by the flood waters. The structure should be capable of accommodating and adjusting ao all variations such as swelling, expansion, settlement and contractions that may result from flooding Cavities which may retain mud and water borne contaminations should be reduced to the minimum and all spaces cavities should be accessible for clearing The construction should allow rapid and thorough drying after inundation
C.Earthquake and Landslides	Where possible buildings should be constructed on solid rock foundation, with floating raft foundation elsewhere. Avoid slopes prone to landslides. Buildings should have a suitable frame structure with a seismic belt, interlocked walls and floors that can withstand lateral forces during an earthquake. Materials should have sufficient ductility to withstand the stresses during earthquake shaking. Reinforcement of structure and columns must contain sufficient transverse, tied or spiral arrangements to withstand repeated distortion during earthquake. Follow BSI Codes.