Urban Flood and Heat: Is Kochi Equipped?
How vulnerable is the city of Kochi to water logging and extreme heat?
Kochi, the queen of the Arabian Sea, is no stranger to rainfall. While every year, the coastal city experiences whirling, billowing rains, the 2018 southwest monsoon was unprecedented. Over a period of 30 days, 339 people perished, thousands of homes were destroyed and more than 1.5 million people were relocated to relief camps.
Kochi is rapidly urbanizing. As its population rises, it is critical for growing infrastructure to take the region’s distinct geographic constraints and limited resources into consideration.
Kochi's Climate Profile
A coastal city, Kochi (formerly Cochin) has a tropical climate with three main seasons. Summer begins in March and ends in May, with temperatures rising to about 35 °C accompanied by high humidity levels that result in a very high heat index. Winter, which is mild with occasional rainfall, stretches from November to February. Monsoons occur twice a year. The southwest monsoons, predominantly responsible for heavy rainfall and flooding in the city, occur from June to September, while the northeast monsoons (also known as retreating monsoons), characterized by occasional rainfall, occur from October to November.
Kochi also lies in the path of tropical cyclones, which typically hit the southernmost parts of India between November and December. Occasionally, cyclones also develop near the Lakshadweep Islands, in the southwest, and bring Kerala significant rainfall, before moving north in the month of May.
For a better perspective of Kochi’s climate vulnerabilities, it is vital to understand Kochi’s topographic, demographic, social, economic, infrastructural and geographic profile.
Deep Dive Assessment of Kochi: Some Critical Factors
Potential Flooding Risk Areas
Almost 50% of Kochi’s built-up area, which houses more than 25% of its population, is in floodplains.
Land Surface Temperature 2017-2020
More than 30% of the city's population is exposed to temperatures above 30°C during summer (Data: January-February, 2017-2020), exacerbated by high humidity (about 70%), resulting in an effective ‘feels-like’ temperature of more than 50°C.
About 7% of Kochi’s population is vulnerable to both floods and heat risk.
Evidence of Heat Stress in Kochi
Mean Land Surface Temperature versus Land Cover
Urban land use patterns impact regional temperatures. In Kochi, commercial localities like Edapally junction, JLN Junction and industrial areas like Earaveli, are almost two to three degrees hotter than residential neighborhoods like Edakochi and Manassery that have more than 50% green cover.
Access To Essential Services
Access to Open Spaces and Playgrounds
Only 36% of the city's population lives within a 10-minute walking distance from playgrounds and parks. The bulk of the population lacks easy access to open spaces for recreational activities.
Access to Fire Stations
Roughly, 55% of the total population and 75% of the population living in the demarcated flood susceptibility zones ( NCESS, 2010), are located outside of the 5-minute response time of the city's fire stations , which affects immediate rescue and recovery operations.
Access to Hospitals
As per the Indian Ministry of Road Transport & Highways , the national average response time for emergency care services should be under 10 minutes. The city of Kochi has a well-connected hospital network, with 70% of the population having access to a hospital within 1 kilometer of their homes.
Access to Relief Camps
20% of Kochi’s population, including infants, toddlers, the elderly and their caregivers, that live in flood susceptibility zones, do not have access to relief camps within this radius.
Vulnerable Areas
Within the city, wards 15, 16 and 22 are the most susceptible to flooding, are located more than 3 kilometer from the nearest fire station, and do not have an authorized flood relief camp within a 5-kilometer radius.
Wards 46, 48, 50 and 56 are vulnerable to heat and flooding yet have no access to a green space within a 10-minute walk. Wards 46 and 48 are also difficult to reach from the nearest fire station.
It is necessary to address these service gaps and build the required infrastructure before the monsoon season to avoid further loss of life and livelihoods.
Kochi is highly susceptible to multiple climate vulnerabilities, including coastal erosions, urban flooding and the heat island effect. Evidence suggests that Kochi’s unplanned infrastructural development is contributing to increased climate vulnerability . The lack of easy access to green spaces and fire stations further reaffirms the need for a sustainable and climate-resilient development plan for the city.
Resilience Road Map for the City
Kochi Municipal Corporation, with the technical support of WRI India, has developed a guidance document, ‘ Shaping a Climate Resilient Kochi’ that offers a comprehensive and long-term disaster management plan for the city.
The document lays down a 10-year roadmap for creating a climate-resilient city. The recommendations are divided into three categories. The first category, immediate measures, includes mapping of climate-vulnerable communities, which can be achieved in less than a year. The second category, measures for disaster preparedness, includes developing swift and effective flood-resilient infrastructure, which can be achieved over a few years (1-3 years). And finally, long-term resilience planning measures (3-10 years), that can bring about systemic changes, such as building resilient businesses like urban community gardens to prompt a shift in community behavior.
Key strategies like increasing green infrastructure in the city and adopting Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have been identified as priorities in the document, as these can help mitigate multiple climate vulnerabilities like heat stress, flooding and erosion. Furthermore, they can provide diverse co-benefits, including improved air quality, better livability and recreational spaces.
Increase in Green Infrastructure
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have been strategically integrated into a step-by-step process to build Kochi’s resilience capacity over a period of 10 years. This includes immediate, short-term disaster preparedness, as well as long-term resilience-planning measures.
Immediate measures (Less than a year)
The following recommendations can be implemented by the urban local body with its current capacity and resources:
- Mapping and geo-referencing of existing open spaces for identifying potential nature-based solutions through community involvement.
- Formation of community groups for safeguarding green spaces.
Disaster Preparedness (1-3 years)
Resilience-building actions that have the potential to deliver swift and tangible results for the urban local body during climate-related disasters can be carried out by implementing the following recommendations:
- Developing a ‘Knowledge Hub’ with Kochi Municipal Corporation as the coordinating body to pool together global best practices, ideas and experiences of disaster resilience techniques/ technologies.
- Identifying deforested localities and restoring/reforesting them
- Conducting Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities for better community engagement.
Identifying and earmarking green spaces for conservation and nurturing.
Developing/Rejuvenating/Replenishing ponds, rain pits and wetlands to create flood-resilient infrastructure and turn Kochi into a sponge city.
Implementing immediate maintenance measures to remove waste and debris and make open spaces accessible and usable.
Resilience Planning (3-10 years)
The recommendations in this category focus on creating long-term systemic change:
Including NbS in city master plans and other city development plans.
Creating green jobs in the region by developing climate-resilient urban greening projects and programs.
In 2021, the city also developed a customized data-based green infrastructure solution (Kawaki Initiative) for climate resilience which addresses multiple climate vulnerabilities.
Kawaki Initiative: A Nature-Based Solution (NBS) Success Story in Kochi
The Kawaki initiative was launched by the Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) with the technical support of WRI India, under the Cities4Forests program, to convert available open spaces in the city into urban groves. Kochi Municipal Corporation is developing micro-urban groves , similar to traditional groves, that aim to provide multiple ecosystem benefits, including reducing the impact of heat stress in the city and acting as rainwater sinks for groundwater recharge and flood mitigation.
Way Ahead
In 2022, Kochi Municipal Corporation officially launched the Cell for Climate Action to make climate resilience a key priority of the city administration. Setting goals and yearly action points, based on the resilience roadmap, will be critical to shaping the city’s climate action.
The guidance document, ‘ Shaping a Climate Resilient Kochi ’ lays down a broad pathway that needs to be bolstered with consistent political will, engagement with stakeholders, mobilization of resources and capacity building of government officials to achieve effective climate resilience for Kochi.
