"International Journal of Geography, Geology and Environment"

Author(s): Sneh Gangwar

Abstract: and the city of Indian people. The paper therefore makes a comparison of the impacts and vulnerabilities of floods in four geographic settings, that is, mountain (Mandi), coastal megacity (Mumbai), coastal South (Chennai), and riverine/deltaic (Kolkata) settings, and the semi arid inland (Ahmedabad) setting to derive both region specific, and cross cutting strategies to reduce flood risks in a city setting. The research operationalizes a multi criteria Urban Flood Vulnerability Index (UFVI) which encompasses both hazard (pluvial, fluvial and coastal/tidal drivers) and exposure (people and assets) and sensitivity (socio economic fragility and vulnerability of infrastructures) and adaptive capacity (early warning, institutional preparedness, and nature based buffers). The framework mixes geospatial analysis, hydrologic hydraulic modeling, and stakeholder-derived weights (AHP), and is tested in sensitivity analysis through entropy weighting. Ward/zone levels of analysis of case studies with publicly available datasets and municipal records are used. These findings identify unique risk signatures with flash flood/landslide couplings in Mandi, tide locked drainage with compound flooding in Mumbai, cyclone-linked pluvial fluvial surges in Chennai and Kolkata and pluvial flooding due to short duration extremes falling on solid surface in Ahmedabad. Constraining factors despite their disparate causes remain recurrent, such as drainage that is undersized, encroachment into blue-green networks, and inequality in the service coverage of informal settlements. It ends by following a portfolio of structural and nature based interventions, reforms in governance and community focused preparedness measures depending on the typologies of cities.

Pages: 30-40 | Views: 35 | Downloads: 26

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