Towards Operational Rapid Flood Mapping to Improve Emergency Response
by Dr Antara Dasgupta originally published in Jan 21st, 2019 on GROW's website . The national sentiment about the Indian summer monsoons is rapidly morphing from eager anticipation to severe trepidation, as horrifying floods brutally ravage our lands and our people. The catastrophic floods currently washing across India further underline the importance of timely warnings and the building of resilient communities. Hundreds of people have already lost their lives to floods in 2018 and more than a million have been rendered homeless in their wake. From Jammu and Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south, and Maharashtra in the west to Assam in the north-east, our fellow citizens across the country have been reeling under the impact of widespread flooding. While disaster preparedness has evidently improved, given that the number of fatalities caused by floods of similar magnitudes has declined over the years, what has been accomplished is not nearly enough to cope with ...