INTEGRATED DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT (IDRiM) APPROACH FOR COASTAL AREAS USING PARTICIPATORY GIS: A CASE STUDY OF INDIAN SUNDARBANS

This work has implemented An Integrated Disaster Risk Management IDRiM approach on the disaster events of Indian Sundarbans, a world heritage site where the ecosystem and livelihood are threatened by frequent cyclonic disasters originating in Bay-of-Bengal. The inhabitants encounter tremendous economic losses as well as losses of lives due to direct cyclonic storms and the storm surge water flooding. In recent past, the forestry and aquaculture dependent economically backward inhabitants of Sundarbans experienced the devastating hit of Sidr (2007), Aila (2009), Phailin (2013), Hudhud (2014), Bulbul (2019), Amphan (2020), Yaas (2021), Sitrang (2022) which left them with severe losses.  The habitants started to change their work pattern and intended to migrate toward the mainland. Land use / land cover also changed with some changing scenario of the mangrove ecosystem.

All these adverse effects of the coastal cyclonic events claim the need for a proper and effective disaster damage reduction plan. Here, the proposal has been given to formulate a web-enabled platform for near real-time cyclonic path and surge height prediction and rescue and rehabilitation planning with the stakeholders to make the execution effective and successful. This is a platform where; various government departments will update the cyclone related earth observation and hydro-meteorological data on near real-time basis during the emergency period. Ground information and infrastructural spatial database are to be regularly updated by the concerned departments. The access to the platform will be secured to the planners and stakeholders whereas a selective accessibility can be allowed for the community people for community awareness and live situation tracking. The purpose is to minimize the loss as much as possible by taking prompt actions by the administration. The platform also helps to monitor the disaster preventive measures with the hand-to-hand cooperation of local people and administration. In some cases, administration needs the authentication of the relief claims which can increase the transparency of the government strategies and schemes. Rehabilitation management can be more effective where the temporal high resolution remote sensing optical data as well as high resolution surface elevation data with the predicted flood risk zones can be accessed. Pre and post event temporal dataset are to be incorporated in the platform for recovery and reconstruction management. Thus, this platform can effectively minimize the adverse impact of coastal cyclonic disaster by the participation of community, stake holders and the planners.

Key-words: community-based capacity, Integrated Disaster Risk Management, storm surge water flooding, web-enabled platform, participation of community.