Man-made disaster: Look how Chennai built its way to floods
In the pic: Chennai in 2000 to Chennai in 2015. Google Earth shows us what went wrong and resulted in the Chennai floods. Read the full story in India Today : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chennai-floods-man-made-disaster-building-construction/1/537094.html
If there are trees, plants and open areas around, rain water will be absorbed by the Earth, but if we continue to build concrete jungles, flooding should not surprise you. Chennai floods is not a natural disaster, it is solely man-made!
Chennai claimed to be Monsoon ready even before it set in. The Corporation of Chennai ensured more than 6,200 metric tonnes of silt from the 1,860 km-long water drain network was removed. But all the apparent efforts by the corporation seems to have been flooded with the city being in a state of disaster. The problem not only lies with the inefficiency of the civic body but also the unplanned and improper development of the city.
Chennai's original terrain consists of many lakes and marshes which now is covered with innumerous buildings. Over 5,550 hectares of wetlands in the IT Corridor of Velachery, Pallikaranai and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) have been developed into commercial real-estate because of which the rain water has nowhere to go and thus, settles instead on the road. There are areas in Chennai which are flooded even during normal Monsoon season.The capital city of Tamil Nadu is going through inevitable growth and the situation will remain the same. The only way to stop the flooding is to cut on the construction process which has made Chennai populated and which acts as a hindrance to settling down of water. A cautionary plan that goes well with the original geography of the city needs to implemented by the state government when the officially recognized 'disaster zone' is to saved from the doom.
What resulted in the Chennai floods?
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Filling up lowlands without proper planning, little space for stormwater to drain and heavy encroachment of the river banks was one major reason for Chennai floods.
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Illegal constructions, mostly multistorey apartments and huge industries, played the next big part in making way to the floods.
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Over 300 water bodies disappeared due to this.
