India: GIS used in the Flood Mapping Project to prevent damages

The Indian State is strengthening efforts towards flood mapping using GIS to assess the vulnerability of selected areas and therefore, be able to prepare the necessary disaster mitigation activities to prevent negative impacts of future floods.

“We are currently analysing the spread of water when released from dams", said an official from the State Government, "Suppose one lakh cusecs of water is released, we must know where it will spread and to what extent will it cause flooding. Similarly, we will study the changes when larger volumes are released”.

To this purpose the State Government of Gujarat will launch a pilot trial of its flood mapping project at the Mahi river basin. Once this is completed the flood mapping project will also be implemented for the Tapi, Sabarmati and Damanganga basins. "This is an important step towards mitigating the threat of floods.”