In flood-prone Vyasarpadi, kids take cost earlier than the rains

In Vyasarpadi, a working-class neighbourhood in north Chennai that always bears the brunt of monsoon flooding, a bunch of schoolchildren from J.J.R. Nagar is taking up a brand new function this Northeast monsoon aslocal weather volunteers.

Equipped with classes in native hydrology, they’re mapping flood-prone areas, spreading consciousness about emergency helplines, and coordinating with zonal officers to deal with waterlogging earlier than it turns extreme.

Every yr, when heavy rain or cyclonic storms trigger flooding, volunteer teams — largely made up of younger folks — mobilise throughout Chennai to rescue stranded residents and distribute meals and provides. But in Vyasarpadi, the strategy is shifting from reduction to resilience. Instead of ready for floods, these kids are studying how their space drains, why water stagnates, and whom to contact when assist is required.

The six-member ‘Youth Climate Resilience Movement’ — Okay. Kavya (15), D. Tharani (15), V. Dinesh (16), S. Rishitha (15), S. Harish (12) and D. Vigneshwari (18) — was skilled by the Chennai Climate Action Group (CCAG) and Palluyir Trust, with assist from Vyasai Thozhargal, an area non-governmental organisation. 

According to Sakthi, an expert photographer and member of Vyasai Thozhargal, the initiative grew out of a small tuition centre for kids from marginalised households. “We inspired them to ask questions — why water stagnates for days after rain, the place the reduction camps are, and whom to name throughout emergencies,” he says.

Training programme

The coaching launched the kids to how city flooding works and the way Chennai’s drainage methods join. They have been taken to key websites throughout the town — from Ennore and Pulicat within the north to the Buckingham Canal, Pallikaranai marsh, and the coastal stretches of Kovalam and Muttukadu — to grasp the town’s hydrology.

“Earlier, I didn’t even know what ‘local weather change’ meant. I learnt all the pieces from the start. We additionally learnt that our space [J.J.R. Nagar] just isn’t marked as a flood danger zone within the metropolis catastrophe administration plan for Zone IV,” says Dinesh.

The workforce recognized encroachments alongside stretches of the Buckingham Canal, together with at Captain Cotton Canal and close to the CPCL Manali bridge, that are stated to be blocking stormwater circulation and worsened flooding in Vyasar Paadi, MK.B. Nagar, Kodungaiyur, and Manali.

As a part of their venture, the workforce surveyed about 80 households in Vyasarpadi to gauge consciousness of emergency contacts and flood preparedness. “Barely just a few knew the contact numbers of officers past the police or electrical energy workplace. Some didn’t even know these,” says Kavya. Tharani provides that additionally they recorded residents’ lived experiences, from meals shortages to days-long energy cuts, to focus on the on a regular basis influence of flooding.

On October 22, the group visited the zonal workplace and submitted a letter requesting recognition of J.J.R. Nagar as a flood-prone space and entry to particulars of native reduction camps, medical officers, and public well being officers.

Need for local weather schooling

Prasanth from CCAG says the trouble reveals how local weather schooling can construct group preparedness. “A volunteer from exterior can solely go to this point. But when kids who dwell right here perceive how the system works and whom to contact, they will take that data again to their very own streets,” he says.

Next, the workforce plans to ship a letter to the Mayor and Corporation Commissioner together with their survey findings, urging motion to clear encroachments and enhance stormwater drainage.