Topic : Disaster and disaster management.
5. “Floods have been a recurrent phenomenon in India and cause huge losses to lives, properties, livelihood systems, infrastructure, and public utilities.” In light of the above statement, critically analyze how unplanned urbanization induces problems in India. (250 words)
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The question talks about the correlation of unplanned urbanization and floods in the country.
Key Demand of the question:
Explain in detail the issue of floods in the country and its relation with unplanned urbanisation.
Directive:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Urbanization in flood plain areas increases the risk of flooding due to increased peak discharge and volume.
Body:
Start by explaining how urbanization affects flooding? – Urbanization generally increases the size and frequency of floods and may expose communities to increasing flood hazards. Urbanisation means more surfaces of concrete and tarmac which are impermeable. Precipitation cannot infiltrate these surfaces and is channeled into drainage networks and gets to the river very quickly, making it more likely to flood.
Present case studies to justify and suggest way forward to overcome the challenge.
Conclusion:
Conclude with suitable solutions to address the concerns caused by Urbanisation directly on the flood factor in the country.
