Climate risk turns focus on need for disaster-resilient infrastructure

ICDRI 2022, global conference on building tough assets, begins in Delhi this week

On May 3, 2019, when Fani, a rare summer cyclone and one of the strongest to hit India in 20 years, came raging down the Odisha coast, the state was prepared. The storm, with wind speeds touching over 200 km per hour, damaged power lines, uprooted trees, blew roofs off buildings and left 64 people dead. But it could have been many times worse – as experience from the 1999 Odisha super-cyclone had shown; that storm had claimed over 9,600 lives and caused damage worth $2.5 billion to the state. Today, the Odisha model of disaster preparedness is globally lauded and emulated.

Preparedness. That, says Kamal Kishore, member secretary, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), is the key word. “When a disaster strikes, the impact and long-term effects are far-reaching. But when a disaster is averted, no one gets to know,” he adds. “For every disaster that strikes us, there are 10 that have been prevented.”

Kishore is speaking with Business Standard ahead of the fourth edition of International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI 2022) to be held in New Delhi from May 4 to 6. ICDRI, the flagship event of the India-headquartered Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), brings together policymakers, researchers and practitioners from across the world to strengthen the global discourse on disaster and climate resilient infrastructure.

CDRI was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Climate Action Summit in New York in 2019 – the year Fani struck Odisha and the state demonstrated what being prepared could achieve, or avert. CDRI is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks, the private sector, academic and knowledge institutions.

“It’s time to focus on how we can make transitioning infrastructure systems more resilient to physical and climate disaster risks. And, we need to foster a more people-centric approach to ensure the assets that are built can deliver,” says Kishore, who is also co-chair of the CDRI executive committee.

But what is resilient infrastructure in the context of India, which has a diverse landscape? Kishore explains: “If you are building a power transmission line in a cyclone-prone area, we must have the analysis on the maximum wind speed that is experienced there, and the design standard should be able to accommodate that.” For example, infrastructure like airports, transmission lines, telephone towers that can withstand wind speeds of 150 kmph won’t be able to hold ground if the speed hits 160 kmph. “Hence, the assessment is extremely critical.”
 

As is a cost-effective analysis before embarking on such a project.

“If an area experiences earthquakes of a certain magnitude once in 100 years, we need to study if there is any need to construct buildings to withstand that. In this case, we must realise that the life of a building is 50-60 years,” he says. “The cost difference in building structures that can withstand earthquakes of the intensity of 10 and of 12 is enormous. Infinite resilience will cost infinite money.”

But what happens in the unfortunate event of a catastrophe that even a resilient infrastructure is unable to withstand?

“Assets should be built in a way that they can take the impact of maximum hazard. However, there will be situations where a structure faces more than what it has been designed to endure,” he says. “In case of such an unfortunate situation, we must have enough response mechanisms to restore the structure.”

As an example, Kishore draws attention to the Maldives: “If they are building a coastal protection system to protect their island from sea-level rise, the cost implications of building to counter a 40-cm rise and 60-cm rise are hugely different. What we must understand is that infrastructural investment locks you in for a very long time. CDRI has been playing a key role in this study.”

During the three-day session, officials from 30 participating countries, including the US, Australia, Peru, Chile, Fiji, Bhutan, Bangladesh, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and seven member organisations, including Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, UNDP and UNDRR, will come together and share ideas and studies.

Those who will attend the event include Samantha Power, administrator, USAID; PK Mishra, principal secretary, Prime Minister’s Office; Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president, European Commission; Yasmine Fouad, minister of environment, Egypt; Aminath Shauna, minister of environment, the Maldives; Kwaku Afriyie, minister of environment, science, technology, and innovation, Ghana.

CDRI, says Kishore, brings developing, middle- and lower middle-income countries on the same platform as the developed ones. “It is the first global initiative of its kind on resilient infrastructure.”

On how developed countries stand to benefit from CDRI, Kishore says, “It is not just about countries that are building infrastructure now, it is also about nations such as Japan and the US, where the infrastructure in place is completing its life cycle, and there’s the increasing need to replace it.”

Moving forward, the CDRI will work on a global risk assessment of infrastructure, “an ambitious, first-of-its-kind initiative” which is slated to be launched next year. It is also working on studying the infrastructure of 150 airports across the globe. “In India, we have worked with the Odisha government and the power systems there, on the basis of which we came up with advisories, which we used during last year’s cyclone Tauktae,” Kishore says.

CDRI works on “an open partnership”, meaning “anyone who supports its agenda can become a member” and there are “no funding obligations for any country”.

The initiative has received commitment of funds from various countries. While India committed Rs 480 crore to the CDRI corpus for a period of five years, the UK contributed 1 million pounds initially, and was followed by a pledge of $10 million for projects in small island nations. From the US, the initiative received $9.2 million, while Australia has promised AUD 10 million for small island nations. The EU has promised 5 million euros, while the Netherlands has also contributed a little under $1 million.

“Apart from monetary support, CDRI has received logistical support from countries, UNDP, World Bank and various countries,” Kishore says, adding that CDRI fellowships were being given out to build a strong network.  

On the objective of this year’s summit, Veena Reddy, mission director, USAID/India, says, “Engaging the global community is the only way we will tackle the climate crisis. We expect the ICDRI 2022 to not only demonstrate the urgency of the challenges we face, but to also inspire action on disaster-resilient infrastructure around the world.”