No system in place to alert Bengaluru to disasters

Worldwide, alerts go out ahead of extreme natural events. So why were citizens not alerted to the deluge in the city earlier this week?

The simple answer: Bengaluru has no system in place to send out disaster alerts to people.

In the early hours of Independence Day, Bengaluru received 128.7 mm of rainfall. In just a few hours, the city was flooded. And in that short, intense spell, the rainfall had exceeded the highest for August in recorded history. Records exist for 127 years, since 1890.

Many government and municipal institutions are mandated with monitoring and preparing for natural disasters. What were they doing on August 15 then?

Task force exists

Bengaluru has a dedicated monsoon force called Be-Ready Bangalore Group. Few outside official circles have heard of it.

The group meets every fortnight to take stock and plan ahead, and comprises heads of various civic agencies under the urban development department. It is headed by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

“We have members from the (state) disaster management centre also. Any information about the weather is shared and immediate action is taken,” N Manjunath Prasad, BBMP Commissioner told DH.

Shared with officials, that is. In effect, no warning goes out quickly to newspapers and other media. No system exists to get the word out on radio, TV and mobile phones. The viral power of the Internet is not tapped either.

Day before downpour

On Monday, hours before the rain battering, the BBMP received a forecast map from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).

“It did not show any rainfall for the day. But there was a sudden movement in the night because of changes in the (weather) system,” said Prasad. The downpour began at 3  am, and by the time people in some neighbourhoods woke up, their basement car parks were looking like swimming pools.

“The monitoring centre sent messages late in the night. There was no information informing us in advance ofthe intensity ofthe rainfall. Had we got it, the BBMP staff, members of the disaster management cell, National Disaster Response Force and the fire and emergency services would have been pressed into action,”Prasad said. The forecasts only talk of ‘light, moderate, heavy and very heavy rainfall’ and come with colour codes. “But it takes time to analyse there adings and maps,”Prasad said.

Only 277 on list

The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell sent automated alerts to 202 registered mobiles on Monday night. In other words, it gave a heads-up to the BBMP officials on its list. But the alerts only give details of rainfall,and no forecast.

Shubha Avinash, hydrologist, is working on a project on BBMP urban flooding.The KSNDMC has trained BBMP officials to read their alerts and draw inferences, she said.

“If an alert is coming to the mobile every 15 minutes indicating an increase in rainfall, it is a clear indication of an impending disaster,”she said. Just 277 people are now registered with KSNDMC, and of them, 250 are BBMP officials. Some on the list are ward level officials, such as chief engineers and superintending engineers. Just 27are citizens and officials from other departments.

Wettest in 127years

In the morning hours of August 15, Bengaluru received 128.7mmof rainfall, the highest in a day since1890.