Over 34% of India’s current population lives in urban areas, rising by 3% points since 2011. The 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, projects India’s urban population to rise to 52.8% in 2050.

Indian cities are vulnerable to many natural and man-made disasters such as – earthquakes, urban flooding, epidemics, terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, etc.

Urban India is especially vulnerable because:

1. Unplanned and rapid urbanization has led to congestion, which increases the chance of mass casualties.
2. Poor enforcement of disaster-resilient building standards and codes.
3. Location of critical infrastructure in urban areas that may get crippled.
4. Concretization and encroachment of wetlands and the drainage systems leading to increasing water run-off, floods and urban heat island etc. For example, the Uttarakhand floods of 2013 and Chennai floods of 2015.
5. Location in high-risk seismic zones, coastal areas and other disaster vulnerability.
6. Lack of institutional capacity and adequate powers and responsibilities at the local government level to deal with disasters.
7. Rising number of urban poor in risk-prone areas, who are more vulnerable in the face of disasters.
8. Unsustainable environmental practices in urban areas such as deforestation, sand mining, building on flood plains etc. contribute to flooding and landslides. For example, recent Kerala floods.

Disaster resilience is the ability of the society to withstand the disaster without incurring massive loss and damage. The measures to develop disaster resilient cities are:

• Risk and hazard mapping by using an urban risk assessment framework.
• Mitigate risk by planning critical and multipurpose safe and resilient infrastructure
• Develop a risk-financing scheme to provide immediate liquidity in the aftermath of disasters and to build financial resilience, e.g. Sri Lanka
• Build strong institutions at the local level with focus on capacity building and adequate delineation of powers and responsibilities.
• Collect, share, and disseminate disaster data among organizations and public alike.
• Strict enforcement of land zoning, building standards and encroachment policies.
• Participation and capacity building of local communities – via mock drills, training etc.
• Investment in climate modeling, early warning systems, intelligence/ cyber security measures to pre-empt and avert a potential disaster.