Summary:
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A joint team of World Bank and Asian Development Bank that conducted a damage assessment has pegged the flood damages at Rs 25,046 crore as the preliminary assessment. Regarding the damages to houses, the team has recommended that a post-disaster housing reconstruction policy should be adopted by the state government. The team has also recommended revising panchayat building rules and develop panchayatlevel land use plans. Regarding public buildings, safety audits should be conducted and replacement programmes must be introduced for old buildings.On tourism, the bank team has recommended branding of ‘Resilient Kerala’ as a strategy to restore confidence of travellers and to contribute to state’s recovery. Also, the state should come up with innovative financing techniques like land-pooling and future reconstruction of houses should have bio-fences in rural areas and permeable fences in urban areas.Among long-term measures, the World Bank team has recommended setting up authorities to protect ecologically fragile regions..