INTEGRATED FLOOD EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN THE GANGA BASIN

Central Government regularly reviews the effectiveness of disaster preparedness and emergency response mechanisms in flood- prone States including Bihar, in view of increasingly frequent extreme rainfall events. Based on the reviews, advisories and alerts are also issued to States/UTs for preventive measures.

The issues of flood and river management are discussed between India and Nepal through established bilateral mechanisms. These mechanisms

include, inter alia, Joint Team on Flood Forecasting on rivers common to India and Nepal (JTFF), Joint Committee on Kosi and Gandak Projects (JCKGP), Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management (JCIFM) and Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR).

Several steps have been taken to issue evacuation planning, resilient communication systems and emergency logistics in vulnerable districts, including flood emergency management framework for the ganga basin:

(i) India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Central Water Commission (CWC) monitor various parameters based on Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Models to forecast rain and likely floods, including flash flood in different parts of the County for facilitating preventive actions by functionaries responsible for disaster management and taking preventive actions, alerting general public, etc.

(ii) Rain flood forecasting alerts are regularly generated by Central Water Commission (CWC), India Meteorological Department (IMD) and these are disseminated to the concerned States/Districts through State Emergency Operation Centres.

(iii) Communication of these alerts to general public and officials dealing with disaster management is also done through Sachet App, SMS based Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Cell Broadcast System.

(iv) Multi stakeholders and multi-State level Mock exercises are conducted by NDRF and NDMA to enhance preparedness.

It has been stated by Bihar government that the state follows an integrated flood emergency management approach through coordinated action of the line departments such as Disaster Management Department, BSDMA, District Administrations, Water Resources Department, Home Department etc. The framework combines structural measures such as embankments, anti-erosion works and drainage improvement; with non-structural measures including flood forecasting, early warning systems, GIS- based monitoring, digital reporting, emergency response and inter-departmental coordination.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Shri Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

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