Flood mitigation and flood plain management in the Brahmaputra plain A case study

India is one of the most disaster prone countries of the world. Floods are more frequent disasters in northern India and yet we still do not have an integrated disaster management policy. Flooding has been the trend for the past few years, a significant part of the losses to life and property is due to climatic variability, and extreme vulnerability of risk in flood disasters. In 1998 Assam flood, the tentative estimation of the flood damages is around 10,000 million rupees, covering an area of 0.97 million hectares in 21 districts. The number of villages affected area 5292 hectares and number of cattle lost around 8 thousand and human life lost are 156 in number. The damage could be attributed more to socio-economic factors, since despite warning, human occupancy and anthropogenic activities could not be moved from flood-prone areas. While warnings and forecasting networks are well developed, and nodes of dissemination of warnings varied, in most cases, public acceptance was poor. Flood plain management through prevention and mitigation are more appropriate than flood control. Thus, for its management, the important management areas are wasteland, water storage, embankments and the construction of small scale integrated projects, to be given priority. Another effective method is the collaboration of states for Integrated Watershed Management for effective use of water. Flood control measures include channel flow regulation and intensity reduction by various measures. This problem should be considered as an integral part of National Forest and Water Policy. Flood mapping has been operational in India and management plans are drawn up for each flood risk zone, so as to arrest extensive damages consequent to extreme floods. Scientific land use planning of the upper reaches of the rivers with emphasis on discouragement for use of forest land for any other purpose. Identification of erosion prone areas along the rivers through multi-year satellite data to delineate river reaches for flood mitigation measures. Protection of natural drainage system all over the river basins while planning for development of roads, railways, townships and industrial plants; watershed management for proper use of water resources; construction and revival of tanks etc. The Government of India has declared the Brahmaputra River a National River-way. For a waterway, channel improvement work at large scale will be necessary for improving navigability of the channel system round the year. The projects like Subansiri Dam Project, Dehang Dam Project Tipalmukhi Dam Project are in the final stages of investigations. The investigations have been carried out by the Brahmaputra Board an Organisation under Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. So far the Brahmaputra Board has failed to establish a long tern understanding among the member states of the region due to half-hearted and luke-warm approach. So the Brahmaputra Board requires efficient team and needs monitoring at central level.