The Times of India  20.08.2010

CHENNAI: Natural disasters have not battered the city so far, but if one such calamity were to hit us, which neighbourhood would bounce back the fastest? Nungambakkam takes the podium.

A mapping of the city carried out by Chennai Corporation, University of Madras and Kyoto University under a Climate and Disaster Resilience Initiative (CDRI) has found that Nungambakkam (zone VII) is the most resilient. Giving the neighbourhood the distinction are good roads, awareness of natural disasters and optimal distance from the coast. Ice House, just about 5km away, ranks the least resilient because of its poor drainage, illegal structures and lost greenery. Saidapet (zone IX) and Mylapore (zone X) have been rated second and third in the resilience index.

"We carried out the study in each zone based on five dimensions - physical, social, economic, institutional and natural. These dimensions were broken into five parameters, which were further adjudged based on five variables each. So we had a total of 125 variables to define the overall resilience of a city," said Rajib Shaw, associate professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University.

In Nungambakkam, the study found that people tried to deliver shared interests and participated in the zone's decision-making process. The high-income level and the central location from the coast also worked in its favour.
The study is one component of the 'Safer Chennai' campaign launched as part of the civic body's commitment to the 'World Disaster Reduction Campaign: Making Cities Resilient (2010-2011)', organised by the United Nations-International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Detailing the steps that the civic body plans to take to further reduce risk during a natural disaster, corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said a GIS (geographical information system) mapping exercise was being carried out on every building in the city to ascertain if the structure is earthquake-safe.

In keeping with a checklist proposed by United Nations-International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UN-ISDR) for local governments, Chennai Corporation will attempt to improve the participation of citizen groups, prepare scientific data on hazards and vulnerabilities and invest in infrastructure to reduce risk. Corporation mayor M Subramanian will also highlight the steps taken by the city at an international meet to be held by UN-ISDR in South Korea on October 27, 2010.

"We are studying buildings in the 'ground plus two floors and more' category. This exercise should conclude in about two months. Next, we will check the safety of buildings in the 'ground plus one floor' category. After this, we will consult professors of civil engineering to find out how we can ensure safety of these buildings," Lakhoni said.

Subramanian added that water bodies were being renovated at a cost of Rs 1,438 crore under JNNURM to prevent flooding after the project's completion over the next two years.

The Deccan Chronicle  20.08.2010

Kovai Semmozhi park plan stays pipedream

Aug. 19: Despite Rs 8 crore being allocated from the corporation’s 2008-2009 budget to develop 40 new parks called ‘Semmozhi Poonga’ in Coimbatore the green spaces are yet to be completed. The project was undertaken to enhance the city’s greenery and the parks were to open just ahead of the World Classical Tamil Meet. Two months after the meet concluded, most of the parks remain closed and work on some of them remain unfinished.

CPM councillor of Rathinapuri N.R. Murugesan alleged that work is very slow. “Lighting facilities are yet to be provided in the park and there is no play area for children either. It will take at least two months more for the work to finish,” he said.

The chairman of the Coimbatore corporation council’s standing committee on education, parks and playgrounds, R. Kalyanasundaram, confirmed that work is almost complete in 23 of the 40 proposed parks. “The other parks will also be finished soon,” he said. “The committee has put pressure on officials to open the parks as soon as possible.”

The chairman explained that work is progressing at a slow pace because some of the contractors are new and do not have experience constructing parks.

“The civic body should at least open the parks that are almost complete. All the money spent on developing the parks is going to be wasted if the parks are not opened,” said N. Muralidaran, a resident of Sivananda Colony.

The commissioner of the corporation, Mr Anshul Mishra, said that the civic body has proposed to open the parks in another ten days. He also refuted the charges that work in several parks was yet to be completed.