GS Paper III
News Excerpt:
The recent unprecedented surge in electricity demand highlights the stress critical infrastructure faces from extreme weather events and resultant disasters.
More detail about News:
- Recently Delhi experienced relentless high temperatures, causing electricity demand to break records repeatedly.
- This unusual demand led to frequent power cuts in Delhi and neighboring areas, with central and eastern India facing similar or worse situations.
- The combination of power outages and abnormally high night temperatures made life miserable and likely contributed to several heat related deaths.
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About Critical Infrastructure:
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Building resilience in infrastructure
- Power systems aren't the only ones vulnerable to extreme weather. Telecommunications, transportation, health services, and cyber systems also face disruptions during disasters, complicating crisis management.
- The breakdown of essential and emergency services not only hampers relief efforts but also amplifies risks and exacerbates devastation.
- Building resilience in critical infrastructure to withstand extreme events and disasters is crucial for climate change adaptation.
Mounting losses
- Early warnings:- While early warnings and quick response have significantly reduced human casualties in disasters, economic and other losses from extreme weather events and disasters have been rising. This is mainly due to the increase in frequency and intensity of such events.
- Government data show that in the five years between 2018 and 2023, states together spent more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore on dealing with the aftermath of disasters and natural calamities.
- This is just the immediate expenditure. Long-term costs, in terms of livelihood losses for example, or because of a reduction in the fertility of agricultural land, are much bigger and projected to worsen over time.
- World Bank report:- A 2022 World Bank report projected that the decline in productivity due to heat-related stress could take away around 34 million jobs in India by 2030.
- Just the food wastage, on account of transporting food items in non air-conditioned trucks and containers, was already worth about $9 billion annually.
- Damage caused to critical infrastructure:- The damage caused to critical infrastructure like transportation, telecommunications, and power supply by disasters and extreme weather events is often not counted in government figures, particularly when these services are privately owned. But this damage causes massive disruptions and makes the disaster worse.
Incorporating resilience:
- Disaster Management Plans
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- Almost all infrastructure sectors now have disaster management plans to prepare for and respond to these events.
- For instance, hospitals in disaster-prone areas are equipping themselves with backup power supplies, airports and railways are taking steps to prevent or quickly drain waterlogging, and telecommunication lines are being taken underground.
- Current Status of Infrastructure
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- Despite these efforts, progress has been slow, and much of India's infrastructure remains extremely vulnerable to disasters.
- In a pioneering exercise in Odisha, a state highly susceptible to cyclones, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) studied the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure.
- The study, published last week, found the state's infrastructure extremely fragile. Similar vulnerabilities likely exist in other coastal states.
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)
- It was founded in 2019 by the Government of India with the help of The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
- It aims to make critical infrastructure resilient to natural disasters.
- Its headquarter is in India.
- Over 30 countries are now part of this coalition, working with CDRI to strengthen their infrastructure.
- It is a multi-stakeholder global cooperation of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks, the commercial sector, and academic institutions.
- The following are CDRI’s strategic priorities:
- Technical Support and Capacity-building: This includes disaster response and recovery support; innovation, institutional and community capacity-building assistance; and standards and certification.
- Research and Knowledge Management: This includes collaborative research; global flagship reports; and a global database of infrastructure and sector resilience.
- Advocacy and Partnerships: This includes global events and initiatives; marketplace of knowledge financing and implementation agencies; and dissemination of knowledge products.
- However, only a few Indian states have sought CDRI's expertise and collaboration.
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PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP)
National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP)
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Way Forward:
- India is still developing its infrastructure, with much of the proposed infrastructure for 2030 yet to be built.
- Incorporating disaster resilience during construction is easier and more cost-effective than retrofitting later.
- All upcoming infrastructure projects need to be climate smart, energy efficient, and resilient to disasters.
- Having initiated the creation of CDRI for global benefit, India needs to set the standard for resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding multi-hazard disasters.
