Achieving disaster risk reduction in the construction sector in India

Gagan Anand
Legacy Law Offices, New Delhi, Delhi

In July 2024, the coastal region of India faced unprecedented rainfall, which led to severe landslides, resulting in a great loss of people and property. The district of Wayanad in Kerala was set to receive its annual rainfall, when an increase of approximately ten per cent of downpour brought about catastrophic results where, in addition to the gross devastation of infrastructure due to the practical submerging of the entire city, two complete villages washed away.^[1] Three months later, November 2024, proved to be a landmark as a high-level delegation led by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India represented the interests of the nation in the meeting of the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG) held in Belém, Brazil, in furtherance to which, a ministerial declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction was finalised. This meeting was strategically important to India’s commitment towards disaster risk mitigation owing to the fact that the foundation of the DRRWG was laid during India’s G20 presidency in 2023.

The meeting acted as a wake-up call to countries across the world to invest in areas of disaster risk reduction in order to provide a better and sturdier infrastructural future to their citizens. For developing countries, like the founding member India, which continue to rely heavily on the growth of the construction sector and are prone to disasters due to their unique positioning, the declaration offered a further push to dedicate a portion of their revenue or financing towards the inclusion of disaster resilient methods in the construction sector. Through such a push, hope would be offered to the countries towards the prevention of severe inadvertent financial losses, which would result from any future man-induced or natural calamity, like the one in Kerala.

India and its disaster-prone areas

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR) highlighted a dramatic increase of 151 per cent in direct economic losses from climate-related disasters from 1998 to 2017. India ranks fourth, with economic losses worth over $79.5bn.^[2] In the Global Climate Risk Index, India is ranked as the seventh most disaster-prone country, with Mozambique being the most affected country on the list.^[3] As per the estimates provided by the National Disaster Management Authority of India, the country, due to its unique geo-climatic and socio-economic conditions, is vulnerable in varying degrees to floods, droughts, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, urban flooding, landslides, avalanches and forest fires.^[4]

In consideration of the devastating disaster in Kerala, along with those that occur in other prone states, like Assam and Gujarat, the aforementioned statistics have additional importance in calling on the need for the country to invest heavily in climate-resilient infrastructure (CRI). Such investment may prove to be necessary for facilitating the smooth development of the country, with little to no loss of gross domestic product (GDP). That said, it may be relevant to mention that, while the road continues, India has had adequate realisation of this need and has been taking various calculated steps to mitigate the risks.

Even though India has gone a long way towards the development of a strong disaster response system, with a number of technological advancements, the complete inculcation of the methods in the most important sector of the economy, that is, the construction sector, still remains to be achieved.

Climate-resilient infrastructure and smart city integration

Resilient infrastructure is not just about the safe transfer of goods and services across roads, bridges or railways, it is about the people, households and communities that depend on these systems as a lifeline to better health, education and secure livelihoods.^[5]

The importance of CRI cannot be understated in a country as disaster prone as India. Considering the fact that the 2024 landslides of Wayanad were not the first rain-related incident to have occurred in the state and that many other regions in India continue to be prone to a varying number of disasters, the criticality of the adaptation of CRI is ubiquitous in terms of protecting the infrastructural growth of the country at large.

In terms of the adoption of CRI measures, India may be able to take a hint from within by adopting the example of Kolkata, which is on the path to developing the country’s first climate smart city as part of the Climate Smart Cities Program (CSCP) of the UN. With the objective of delivering an ‘evidence-based plan for rapid deployment of energy-efficient technologies, and investment in climate-resilient infrastructure at the local level’,^[6] the city of Kolkata shall be working towards the mitigation of climate risks associated with the state’s climatic positioning, while simultaneously reducing energy costs by $430m by 2050.^[7]

An adoption of the aforementioned distinctive plan at the national level may aid India in bringing about transformational change and making considerable progress towards disaster risk reduction. An efficient way to achieve this objective may also be through a strategic coupling of a portion of either the ‘National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change’ or the ‘Climate Change Action Program’ with the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ of India. The combined objectives of all such policies may facilitate the optimum utilisation of funds and resources towards the attainment of the Sendai framework goals, thereby bringing about a realisation of the Ministerial Declaration finalised by the DRRWG.

Working towards a common goal

It is an undisputed fact that the various states and union territories of India have been collectively working towards disaster risk reduction for a long time. Responses towards disaster-stricken infrastructure have also been evident in the ‘Rebuild Kerala Development Plan’, which was established by the state government after the rain-induced floods of 2018 washed away the roads and bridges of low-lying areas of the state. As the plan paved the way for the inclusion of the values of sustainable CRI during the redevelopment of the state, Kerala offered a roadmap to other parts of India for institutionalising the concept of climate resilience and establishing an Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Policy (Eco-DRR).

These policies may proficiently deal with the structural inefficiencies of India’s infrastructure, in line with the ecosystems of the various states and union territories, thereby offering a site-specific approach towards the attainment of climate-resilient construction. Such approaches may include the utilisation of different forms of raw materials, specific to the climate, as well as the manner of construction, wherein, in many cases, the financial burden of adopting such approaches may not be as considerable as other technological approaches.

It may, however, be manifest to note that part of the Eco-DRR project is already in place in India, where the government, in association with the UN Environment Programme, has been working towards the rejuvenation of ponds and restoration of wetlands in the areas of Odisha, Bihar, and Gujarat. Considering the vital role played by the construction sector in the Indian economy, along with the severe threat to infrastructure posed by extreme climatic calamities, a specific Eco-DRR policy or project focusing the construction sector may prove to be beneficial.

Even though it may be undeniable that the occurrence of disasters is beyond human control, the active inclusion of policies, plans and a committed effort towards the latter’s implementation may bring about the efficient realisation of India’s struggle to attain disaster risk reduction and climate resilience at a larger level, thereby reducing the severe toll on human lives and infrastructural damage, as was caused to the coastal region of Kerala.