Varsities to survey flood mitigation

CHENNAI: To help Mylapore residents evacuate safely in the event of floods, MLA R Nataraj is holding talks with youth from the fishing hamlets in his constituency to form a volunteer team.
Nataraj said that strengthening community response was the only way to improve flood mitigation tactics. He was speaking at a consultative meet organised by a research team from the University of Madras and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who are to study and assess the recovery outcomes of the Chennai floods 2015, one year on.The project will also identify potential barriers to community involvement in the recovery process.
The project is a comparison study of Mylapore and Velachery constituencies. Jonas Joerin, the research partner from Switzerland, said that the survey will be undertaken during the months of October and November. "The detailed findings will be presented in a stakeholder's meet on December 6. The findings will include comparative analysis of both constituencies as well as recommendations developed with inputs from residents for improving disaster preparedness," he said.
"The study should help reduce exposure of Chennai to climate related disasters," said RR Krishnamurthy, professor and head of department of applied geology, University of Madras.