[Reader-list] Chronicle of a disaster foretold

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All

With a steady rise in number of people inhabiting urban environments,
perhaps it comes as no surprise to find an increase in level of a
urban crisis discourse. As the story below indicates, Calcutta, it
seems, is going to be a 'vulnerable city' in years to come.

Regards

Taha

India:  Chronicle of a disaster foretold
Source:  Copyright 2009, Telegraph
Date:  April 19, 2009
Byline:  Jayanta Basu
Original URL

http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124944

In another 60 years, Calcutta will be the most vulnerable city in the
world with respect to climate change, claimed a report released at a
United Nations climate conference in Bali in 2007.

It was followed by Mumbai and Dhaka. The prediction about Calcutta
looks likely to come true. The initial findings from a World
Bank-supported study on climate change impact on Calcutta, presented
at a Bangkok conference recently by the state’s chief environment
officer, Debal Roy, identifies the reasons that may lead to the city’s
collapse. The study lists:

* High population density (almost 25,000 per sq km in the Calcutta
corporation area)

* Construction on reclaimed wetlands

* Incomplete drainage network

* Presence of industries with high pollution potential like tanneries
and secondary lead smelting and galvanising

* Low road space

* Inadequate treatment facility for solid and liquid waste;

* Presence of hazardous installations in the city such as mobile phone towers.

Natural factors have been listed too, such as:

● The occurrence of several cyclonic storms after the monsoons
(showing increasing frequency over the years)

● The rise of the bed of the Hooghly because of silt deposition, which
is being aggravated by the gradual lessening of fresh water flow from
upstream

● The city’s proximity to the coast (it’s 180 km away)

● The fact that the city is connected by a major river to the sea. The
analysis of data over the last 50 years shows that the groundwater
level in the city has depleted consistently, while saline water has
entered the city’s water-table.

But above all, the study mentions the presence of a large slum
population (nearly 50 lakh) living under severe conditions, which
faces the greatest risk.

Urban environment expert Tapas Ghatak, who was involved with the
project, says that the explosive urban growth in low-lying areas where
water collects easily, such as in Behala or near Kalyani, over the
past three decades has not only put this huge population at the mercy
of natural disasters, but also impacted the natural drainage of the
city.

It is no coincidence that most of these people belong to the
low-income bracket. “If one takes a close look at the analysis, it
seems as if by design the poorer people living in greater Calcutta are
most vulnerable with respect to all kinds of climatic extremes,” said
an expert associated with the analysis.

A few “strengths” of Calcutta were identified by the study as well.

The all-weather underground Metro railway network in the city, the
natural sewage treatment facility in the East Calcutta Wetlands that
does not require any energy and the mangroves in the Sunderbans are
stated to be key warriors against extreme natural calamities. But the
strengths are under threat, too.

“It is a pity that the key strengths of the city, such as the East
Calcutta Wetlands or the Sunderbans are being systematically weakened
by the actions of a group of individuals with vested interests, more
often than not being supported by the government’s inaction,” an
environmentalist said.

Copyright 2009, Telegraph