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The Shelter and Disaster Risk Resiliency (SDRR) component focuses on assessing current mechanisms for addressing the shelter/housing and livelihood conditions of the most vulnerable segments of the population, as well as the delivery of essential services to such marginalized groups and the rest of Mumbai, with the aim of improving the disaster resiliency of the process and systems for the delivery of shelter and other critical services to Mumbai’s most vulnerable populations. The component focuses on six areas, namely:

• Disaster resiliency of slum shelter and housing policies and slum reduction programs
• Disaster resiliency of social support systems to the poor and most vulnerable, analyzing support from NGOs and government institutions
• Access to information on risks and hazards and stakeholders’ level of awareness
• Development of indicators that can establish benchmarks for measuring resiliency and tracking the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction programs
• Resiliency of core services to the slums and the poor (water, sanitation and drainage, transport, and health)
• Development of risk communication tools to facilitate access to risk information and to raise awareness of populations and institutions

The SDRR investigations are carried out in the context of three inter-related subcomponents:

• The Shelter subcomponent seeks to investigate the living conditions of vulnerable populations and their exposure to the aftermaths of disasters in terms of both their livelihoods and their shelter. Such an analysis supports MCGM’s target of attaining international standards of practice for local emergency management and establishing a long-term process for reducing Mumbai’s vulnerability and risks to natural hazards.

• The subcomponent for Water, Sewer, and Storm Drain Systems studies MCGM’s existing water supply, sewerage and storm water drainage networks, as well as their inter-relationships and interactions, with the aim of improving the city’s capacity to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and storm water disposal through assessments of the systems’ vulnerabilities and their implications on post-disaster service, system repair, and socio-economic impacts.

• The Transport subcomponent analyzes MCGM’s transportation system in order to assess network vulnerabilities and provide key technical inputs to the DRMMP for Greater Mumbai for incorporating DRR-related transport interventions.

The SDRR component will contribute to the DRMMP for Greater Mumbai by:

• Ensuring that the vulnerability of marginalized groups is accounted for in the development of the plan through the provision of specific data and information related to the living and livelihood conditions in slums
• Reviewing existing policies and programs for shelter and housing, and recommending relevant actions to improve disaster risk resiliency in these areas
• Provide recommendations on how slum support groups can incorporate risk resiliency in their programs and actions
• Provide indicators for social resiliency and coping capacity that can be used as initial benchmarks and measure future performance
• Provide recommendations for improving access to risk information by the poor and to integrate such recommendations in awareness and preparedness programs
• Provide technical recommendations on the protection of structural facilities for water distribution, sanitation and drainage systems to improve their resiliency to disasters, particularly earthquakes

In fulfillment of such objectives, the SDRR component has accomplished the following:

• Formation of SDRR Focus Group
• Identification of relevant stakeholders, assessment of their roles, and conduct of preliminary consultations
• Initial assessment of social and institutional vulnerability to disasters in the areas of shelter, livelihood, and the delivery of essential services (water, sanitation, health, education, power, and transportation), as well as recommendations on how these can be improved
• Gathering of relevant information, through document reviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and site visits, on government housing policies and programs, with an emphasis on slum eradication, social housing, slum upgrades, and other related policies on poverty alleviation as they relate to integrating disaster risk reduction and resiliency to hazard events
• Conduct of document reviews, meetings, interviews, surveys and site visits to gather information relating to water supply, transmission and distribution systems; collection and disposal systems for sewerage and storm water, other inter-related systems, and storm and earthquake-related hazards that may impact them
• Initial assessment of the resiliency of the water, sewer, and storm drain systems to flood and earthquake hazards
• Review and assessment of data on transport policies, as well as inventory and evaluation of transport facilities
• Preliminary identification and analysis of transport policy gaps, vulnerability and evacuation capacity, and mobility and accessibility
• Development of draft framework reports for each of the SDRR subcomponents