Current infrastructure and resilience. London has extensive infrastructure in place to protect the city from tidal floods (GLA, 2012). The Thames Barrier is the key piece of infrastructure, protecting 125 sq. km of central London from tidal surges. It stretches 520 metres across the River Thames near Woolwich and was opened in 1982. The combined tide and surge had to be of a 1 in 1000 (0.1 per cent chance in any given year) to overtop the Thames Barrier. Additionally, there are eight other flood barriers across the London urban region, 36 industrial flood gates, 400 smaller movable structures and 330 km river walls and embankments to protect the city from tidal floods. Fluvial flood protection is currently provided by bridges, tunnels, culvert structures, raised river walls and widened river channels (GLA, 2009d). Additional GBP 52bn (EUR 77.1bn) would be needed compared to the initial GBP 22bn (EUR 32.6bn) estimated to manage flood risk by both flood defences and urban drainage and additionally a number of non- engineering measures (GLA, 2007). These figures were revealed by research into the use of hard engineering. Thames Water is currently working on a London Tideway Improvements programme, with upgrades taking place to all five major sewage treatment works in London, costing GBP 675m (EUR 809m), as well as construction of two tunnels to combat the problem of regular emergency sewage discharges into the River Thames and River Xxx, which can be caused by as little as 2mm of rainfall (Thames Water, 2012). The construction of the Xxx Tunnel has been allocated GBP 635m (EUR 761m), and should prevent the more than 16m tonnes of sewage mixed with rainwater overflowing into the River Xxx annually. The Thames Tideway Tunnel is estimated to cost a total of around GBP 1.6bn (EUR 1.9bn), and prevent the average annual overflow of 39 million tonnes of untreated sewage into the Thames (Thames Water, 2014). Heatwaves affect public transport systems - particularly the London Underground due to very limited cooling systems (Transport for London, 2013). The Metropolitan line trains are air-conditioned; and new air-conditioned trains are now being rolled out on the Hammersmith & City and Circle line. There are 6,100 double xxxxxx buses which have air conditioning in driver’s cabs, automatic heating and ventilation, opening windows, tinted windows, white roofs, and insulated roofs. Station cooling systems are available for the tube stations at Green Park and Oxford Circus. The Heatwave Plan for England (2012)...
Current infrastructure and resilience. Bogota has implemented a number of policy measures with respect to disaster risk management (Xxxxxxxxx, 2012). Since the mid-1980s the local and national authorities have been promoting more effective coordination among different actors involved. Furthermore, national policy is placing more emphasis on moving away from responding to emergencies to planning policies protecting the city from future events. Bogota has developed a ‘District Emergency Prevention and Relief System’ (Sistema Distrital para la Prevención y Atención de Emergencias, SDPAE) (World Bank, 2011). Like its national equivalent, the SNPAD, the SDPAE is a multi-sector and inter-agency network of public and private entities. This system is coordinated by the Directorate of Emergency Prevention and Relief (Dirección para la Prevención y Atención de Emergencias, DPAE) . The main objective of the SDPAE is to achieve integrated risk management to prevent natural disasters. Through the adoption of the ‘Emergency Prevention and Attention Plan’ (PDPAE) by the city of Bogota, a ten-year risk management policy has been formulated (World Bank, 2011; Lampis, 2013). This ‘Master Plan’ is a pioneer in the country; it notably includes risk management policy for the period 2005-2015 and names responsible sectors institutions and agencies as well as strategic areas. The stakeholder involved with flood control and water management is the Bogota Water and Sewerage Company (Empresa de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Bogota - EAAB). The Low-income Population Housing Agency (Caja de Vivienda Popular –CVP) is responsible for resettling families who live in high-risk areas. A number of international agencies have also been involved with risk management in Bogota. Both the United Nations and the World Bank have provided substantial technical and financial assistance to Colombia through the GFDRR (Xxxxxx et al., 2011).
Current infrastructure and resilience. In 1908, Hyderabad suffered a major flood from the Musi river. Consequently, two dams were constructed to reduce the risk of river flooding in the future: the Xxxxx Xxxxx dam constructed in 1920 and the Xxxxxxx Xxxxx dam in 1927 (Kit et al., 2011). In contrast, more recent flooding events such as the August 2000 flood have resulted mainly from heavy rainfall combined with poor urban planning (Geological Survey of India, 2013). The August 2000 flood completely washed away 77 slums, indicating that slums are particularly vulnerable areas in the city (Kit et al., 2011). Another important observation is that while many movable and immovable properties were lost or damaged due to torrential rainfall, the water level in the Musi had not risen significantly, and districts near Hyderabad were in fact experiencing drought-like conditions. Had there been better urban planning, the surface runoff could not only have been diverted more effectively, but would also have benefited the adjacent states which were dry at the time (Geological Survey of India, 2013). The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) recognises that construction and maintenance of storm water drains, under the responsibility of the GHMC and urban local bodies, have historically been a low priority, without a strategic plan (GHMC, 2005). Primary and secondary drains carry storm water into the river Musi or the lakes located in the city. In total there are 140km of these drains leading to the Musi. In addition, roadside tertiary drains discharge into the primary drains. Their total length in 2005 was approximately 800km, covering around 30% of roads, and a drainage capacity of 12mm per hour. The GHMC has stated that their aim is to have drains covering 130% of the length of roads. However there are many problems with these drains, for instance they are being used to discharge sullage and septic tank overflows and because many of them are open, they often get clogged up with rubbish and silt.
