Parliamentary panel flags critical gaps in Kerala’s disaster management framework

Even as recurring extreme-weather events continue to bring Kerala to its knees, with back-to-back disasters striking the State during successive monsoon seasons, a report on disaster management tabled in the Rajya Sabha by the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has identified gaps in Kerala’s disaster management framework.

Despite Kerala’s vulnerability to multiple hazards, including floods, landslides, coastal erosion, lightning and cyclonic events, the committee found that gaps persist in the last-mile dissemination of early warnings in landslide-prone and remote areas.

Technological limitations remain in areas such as hyper-local weather prediction, landslide early-warning accuracy and real-time flood-inundation modelling. High population density, environmental degradation and urban encroachment in ecologically sensitive areas continue to exacerbate disaster risks. Enforcement of building regulations, land-use planning norms and coastal regulation provisions also remains uneven, particularly at the local level, the committee observed, while it suggesting to strengthen the public awareness on multi-hazard warning systems.