WHY INDIA NEEDS TO BUILD DISASTER RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE?
This past month, amidst relentlessly high temperatures, electricity demand in Delhi repeatedly broke records. The unusually high demand also led to frequent power cuts in Delhi and neighbouring areas.
Several places in central and eastern India faced similar or worse situations. The lack of electricity, combined with abnormally high night temperatures, made lives miserable, and could have even contributed to several heat-related deaths.
THE IMPACTED INFRASTRUCTURE
The unprecedented surge in electricity demand is just a glimpse of the kind of stress that critical infrastructure faces from extreme weather events and resultant disasters. Power systems are not the only ones that are vulnerable.
- Telecommunications,
- Transportation,
- Health services, and
- Cyber systems face disruptions due to disasters, complicating an already difficult crisis situation.
The breakdown of essential and emergency services not only hampers relief, rescue and recovery, but also amplifies the risks and sometimes adds to the devastation. Making critical infrastructure resilient to extreme events and disasters is, thus, a crucial component of climate change adaptation.
THE COSTS INVOLVED
While early warnings and quick response have significantly reduced human casualties in disasters, economic and other losses from extreme weather events and disasters have been rising.
BUT WHY?
This is mainly due to the increase in frequency and intensity of such events. Government data show that in the five years between 2018 and 2023, states together spent more than Rs. 1.5 lakh crore on dealing with the aftermath of disasters and natural calamities.
THE LONG TERM COSTS INVOLVED
- Long-term costs, in terms of livelihood losses are huge.
- A 2022 World Bank report projected that the decline in productivity due to heat-related stress could take away around 34 million jobs in India by 2030.
- Reduction in the fertility of agricultural land are big and projected to worsen over time.
- Just the food wastage, on account of transporting food items in non air-conditioned trucks and containers, was already worth about $9 billion annually. The impact of disasters will further worsen the scenario.
INCORPORATING RESILIENCE
Almost all the infrastructure sectors now have disaster management plans in place to prepare and respond to these events. Examples in this context are:
- Hospitals in disaster-prone areas are equipping themselves with backup power supplies.
- Airports and railways are taking steps to avoid, or quickly drain out, waterlogging.
- Telecommunication lines are being taken underground.
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