About the project India is urbanizing rapidly – it is estimated that by 2030, 50 percent of India’s population will live in cities. But cities are often ill-equipped to deal with this influx of people, in terms of services or infrastructure. Experiences such as the floods in Chennai and Mumbai underscore how disasters can stress already strained resources, failing those who most need help. The Ministry of Home Affairs recognizes this, and has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to build cities that are more resilient – by enabling them to reduce the risks posed by disasters and climate change. Currently, the project is being implemented in six cities across India: Cuttack, Navi Mumbai, Shillong, Shimla, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
The current phase began in September 2016 and will culminate in May 2020. It builds upon the learnings and work done in phase 1, which ran from September 2012 to September 2016 in 8 cities.
What we aim to do Enhance risk-sensitive city development planning through disaster risk assessments and structural safety audits;
Strengthen early warning systems via pilots;
Enhance capacities of local governments and communities to respond to disaster and mitigate risks; Strengthen the knowledge base of urban managers and other stakeholders;
Explore innovative pilots to enhance private sector investment in risk reduction
Phase 1
Phase 2
Climate Risk Management in Urban Areas through Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation
Budget
US$1,735,000 (2012 - 2016)
8
cities
Bhubaneswar, Gangtok, Madurai, Navi Mumbai, Shimla, Thiruvananthapuram, Vishakhapatnam and Vijayawada
Developing Resilient Cities through Risk Reduction in the context of Disaster and Climate Change
City disaster management
Action plan developed to
plans prepared in 8 cities
strengthen Early Warning Systems (EWS) in 8 cities based
6
cities
on analytical studies
Facilitate enhanced risk-sensitive city development planning through disaster risk assessments and city disaster management
Communities in 520 wards trained to respond to disasters
trained in Incident Response System (IRS) to effectively respond to disasters
Four sectoral plans in each of the 8 cities to integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate
Knowledge management
Cuttack, Navi Mumbai, Shimla, Shillong, Vishakhapatnam and Vijayawada
change adaptation (CCA) in planning and policy
Enhance capacity of local government and communities, including private sector, to respond to disasters and mitigate risks
plans in 6 cities;
analysis conducted in 5 cities
Municipal officers of 8 cities
US$2,500,000 (2016 - 2020)
OBJECTIVES
KEY RESULTS
Hazard risk and vulnerability
Budget
Conduct hazard risk and vulnerability analyses
Enhance private sector investment for risk reduction through innovative pilots
Strengthen critical buildings based on detailed structural assessments Strengthen early warning systems through implementation of pilots for specific hazards
Create a pool of master trainers on psycho-social care Improve knowledge management, especially through the development of online data management portals
BEST PRACTICES
MAPPING RISK: Using data to plan urban resilience As cities face risks due to extreme weather events, it is essential to use geospatial data to map hazards and vulnerabilities and plan risk reduction using different urban development schemes. Geospatial data and other baseline information today is fragmented and unstandardized. Through this project, UNDP and the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS) conducted a city-level baseline study in Shimla, Shillong, Navi Mumbai, Cuttack, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam.
What we did: City-specific analytic reports: Created reports for all six cities, analyzing the key challenges and gaps in implementation and capacity in each city, with appropriate options for action, to achieve its resilience needs.
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o How we did it: We used strategic quantitative, qualitative and spatial data to understand past trends and development pathways.
urban observatory: Developed an online • Digital portal to publish various types of spatial information to improve the accessibility and effective use of data across various stakeholders. The portal successfully integrates publicly available data from multiple sources, such as topographic maps, thematic maps and field surveys derived from interpretation of satellite images at one place. Spatial risk data was also integrated as available. The data portal focused on three components: a) baseline data; b) infrastructure layers; and c) disaster-specific layers. We then trained government officials from six cities on how to use the portal for a better risk-informed decision-making. The observatory was also used to focus on integrating disaster risk resilience into development planning and programmes.
The observatory is: helping municipal corporations do proper risk-informed planning. It hosts information like the number of railway stations, hospitals, educational institutes, national highways and major roads, etc. Such analysis at the municipal level had not been done before.
BEST PRACTICES
PREPPING FOR DISASTER: Psycho-social preparedness through community-based support Recent responses to disaster such as the floods in Uttarakhand, Cyclone Phaillin in Odisha, and the Chennai floods underscore the need to strengthen psychosocial support in disaster settings. Despite significant strides in psychosocial support there still exists a large gap in terms of professionals, infrastructure and service delivery.
targeted training psychosocial and • We mental health care providers in the six partner cities, to develop human resources capable of providing effective psychosocial care in the designated vulnerable and disaster-prone states/ cities of the country. What we did: Partnered with NIMHANS (National institute of Mental health and advanced neurosciences) to assess institutional capacities vis-à-vis psychosocial care. Different levels of governmental and non-governmental officials were interviewed on their understanding of the need for psychosocial care and support before, during and after disasters.
in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh • Officials approached NIMHANS for a residential
cials from various sectors, reaching a total of 247 participants in 6 cities. The goal is to develop master trainers who can take their learning to the community.
and municipality authorities, the Ministry of Home Affairs and NIMHANS, for quick mobilization in the face of future disaster.
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Our impact:
training, for a deeper understanding of psychosocial care and support in disasters. This led to a second level of training, where 21 officials underwent a five-day intensive immersive training in which they were asked to conduct different sessions as well.
a three-day training on psychoso- • We have made available a robust data• Held cial care in disasters was provided to offibase of trained participants to district
Looking to the future Expand the programme to multiple cities
Share project experiences with the Central government
Explore synergies with government flagship programmes such as the Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
Leverage private sector partnerships to attract additional funding for urban resilience
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Photo Cour tes y: United Nations India/Ruhani Kaur
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)