11 distts at very high risk of flood, drought

A new report has mapped districts across India that are vulnerable to climate hazard events such as floods and drought.

- Jayashree Nandi

NEW DELHI: Around 51 districts in India are at a "very high" risk of floods and another 118 are at "high" risk, whereas 91 districts are at a "very high" risk of drought and 188 are at "high" risk, according to a new study by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), and the Indian Institutes of Technology at Guwahati and Mandi.

The study, supported by the Centre's department of science and technology as well as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, has found that 11 districts are at "very high" risk of both flood and drought, including Patna in Bihar; Alappuzha in Kerala; Charaideo, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, South Salmara-Mankachar, and Golaghat in Assam; Kendrapara in Odisha, and Murshidabad, Nadia, and Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal.

"This study is an effort to integrate vulnerability assessment with proneness to two hazards: flood and drought, and exposure to these hazards, to gain a comprehensive understanding of risk, using the framework proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change," said the study, titled District-Level Climate Risk Assessment for India: Mapping Flood and Drought Risks Using IPCC Framework.