Avoiding natural disaster in megacities – Case study for Urban Drainage of Mumbai / Att undvika naturkatastrofer i megastäder – Fallstudie av dagvattensystem i Mumbai
“Nature’s fury, Man’s folly!” As people of Mumbai were getting ready for work and children’s for school on morning of 26 July 2005, they had no idea what is coming for them in next 48 hours. It rained heavily leading to massive floods and other related damages to life and property. We still are helpless to the forces of nature when it comes to natural calamities. Can we mitigate the human catastrophe and loss of property with better management techniques? Can computerized models help us in predicting and managing/minimizing losses due to calamities? Could this disaster be prevented in future? This is indeed a hurdle to be tackled by researchers.
The present study has shown that improvement in drainage system could help avoid such disasters in the future. Better management practices should be applied along with disaster management programmes. People should be made aware of the civic sense by imparting education and a detailed map of drainage system should be prepared for future studies.