City needs attention on sanitation, managing solid waste and health system
Puja Bhattacharjee | April 11, 2015
Varanasi, the oldest living town on planet, is prone to small-scale disaster as the frequency of small-scale disasters and natural ecosystem vulnerabilities has increased in five years. This was revealed in a study jointly conducted by Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Kyoto University in partnership with the Varanasi municipal corporation under the Kyoto Varanasi Partnership agreement.
The study, Climate and Disaster Resilience of Varanasi: City, Zone and Ward profile, also disclosed that the city has not been able to secure specific budget for the disaster related issues.
The study was aimed at measuring city’s resilience to climate related hazards such as floods in the river, urban water-logging, heat wave, cold wave and water scarcity. This was measured from all the 90 wards of the city spread in five zones of the VMC. It was revealed that the natural resilience index remained at 3.08 from 2011 to 2015. It was measured in terms of intensity and frequency of natural hazards, ecosystem services, land use and environmental policies.
The study was conducted based on five dimensions namely, natural, physical, social, economic and institutional and these five dimensions are connected to five sets of variables.
The overall resilience of the city has increased to 2.86 in 2011 to 3.20 in 2015, on a scale of 1 to 5. Meanwhile the economic resilience was lowest among the five dimensions. It further said that city needed much attention on sanitation, solid waste management and health care system. At the same time, social capital, water supply system and household assets are the strength for the town.
Overall findings:
Issues that need attention:
Issues which need to be sustained and can be considered as an asset for Varanasi:
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