Climate change and disaster

3.1) CANALPY in Kerala Floods, 2018

August 2018

When Kerala was hit by heavy floods in August 2018, CANALPY relied upon the social capital built up in the region to quickly mobilize a volunteer team to support the rescue and relief activities. Using mobile applications deployed in Winter and Summer Schools (OSM tracker and ODK collect), the CANALPY team carried out activities such as georeferencing remote camps and bringing them into the public domain to coordinate logistics of relief goods to help in volunteer rescue and rehabilitation activities. The team coordinated with the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) and National Health Mission in this endeavour. In the flood camps, the team carried out epidemic prevention training including safe sanitation practices for the displaced, supplied incinerators and helped with the construction of temporary aerobic bins (for food waste management) and temporary toilets.

3.2) Rapid flood impact assessment in Kuttanad region

September 2018

In the aftermath of floods that severaly affected Kerala in 2018, CANALPY initiated rapid flood impact assessment exercise as part of the flood mitigation measures. For the post-flood impact assessment, questionnaires were prepared to carry out surveys on socio-economic parameters, structural damage of households and public institutions and to understand the impact of the floods on water and sanitation services, and public health in various panchayats of Kuttanad. The data collected was shared with a team of experts for analysis. Despite lack of expertise and minimal training, CANALPY’s assessments were not far off from expert findings, of assessments of structural damages. Open-source tools such as Open Data Kit (ODK), QGIS (Quantum GIS), OSM Tracker (Open Street Maps) were used for this assessment. CANALPY apped flood data a month after the floods to prepare a flood map of the Kuttanad region.

3.3) Kerala’s first community disaster management plan in Nedumudy panchayath

December 2019

CANALPY collaborated with Nedumudi Grama Panchayat to prepare India’s first community disaster management plan. This activity was supported by KILA and KSDMA. As part of the “Nammal Nammukkai” mass campaign by the Government of Kerala, all the Gram Panchayats and Municipalities of the state participated in the preparation of a disaster management plan with the help of the local community. The contents of the planning document included general information on the panchayat, climate change and disaster risk analysis, disaster response plan, mitigation measures, social empowerment, resources and capabilities, and project proposal for disaster mitigation. The data was collected from ward members, volunteers, Asha workers, Kudumbasree members, government agencies including the local government, agriculture office, hospitals, civil supplies office, schools etc.

3.4)Ward level Urban flood study of Alappuzha town

Recent floods in Alleppey have started affecting parts of the town that had never witnessed flooding earlier. Overflowing canals, sewage entering houses, and extended period of water stagnation have become more frequent. It is in this context that CANALPY, in cooperation with the Alappuzha Municipality, formulated a comprehensive flood relief plan for 6 of most flood-prone wards in the town. The CANALPY team worked with municipal councillors and local volunteers of respective wards to make the exercise participatory. Currently, the team is working on incorporating these ideas into the annual plans of the Municipality to arrive at context-relevant interventions.

3.5) Flood Risk Assessment for Local level disaster management- Kainakary Panchayat

After the 2018 floods, the state government initiated risk assessment and preparation of disaster management plans at the local government level. However, this initiative failed to look at micro-level risk assessment required to reduce the negative impacts. CANALPY undertook risk assessment of Kainakary Grama Panchayat of Kuttanad Region, one of the worst affected regions in the floods of 2018. The study highlighted the importance of understanding the concept of risk, familiarizing with the context of the region, and the involvement of the local community and the local authorities for an efficient assessing the risk. As an outcome of the study, a methodology was devised to assess the risk rooted in the jurisdiction of the lowest administrative units of the gram panchayat.

3.6) Sustainable housing solutions for flood-prone areas: Case study-Kuttanad region

CANALPY conducted a study, in the aftermath of 2018 floods, to develop adequate, affordable, and ecologically sustainable housing solutions for flood-prone regions in the Kuttanad region. This involved examining the tenets of sustainable housing and developing a framework for gauging housing sustainability in the area. The preliminary phase of the study concentrated on the pre-existing issues within the geography, related to housing and socio-economic conditions. Nedumudy and Kainakary panchayats in Kuttanad taluk were selected for the preliminary study as they are the most vulnerable areas in Kuttanad. In the second phase, an in-depth study of present housing conditions and construction patterns of houses built under the LIFE mission in the Kainakary region post-2018 floods were carried out. The team developed a better understanding of technical and financial challenges, and the team developed a detailed proposal for affordable housing in the study area.