Risks like floods by extreme climatic conditions is a function of the magnitude of the hazard, the degree of exposure to the hazard, and the vulnerability of society against damage due to the hazard. Vulnerability is a combination of a complex and interrelated set of mutually reinforcing and dynamic factors that increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards. The nature of these factors can be physical, economic, social, political, technical, ideological, cultural, educational, ecological and institutional. Tanks in the South Indian context act as flood moderators and drought mitigators. The flood moderation capacity of tank systems are to be improved by desilting of tank beds and supply channels, maintaining the tank bund and other structures etc. through regular maintenance. Breaches in tank bund especially the breaches adjoining the sluices can cause more damages to standing crops and farm lands. Therefore assessment of risks need to be done at all stages of flood, i.e. preparedness, response and post flood rehabilitation

Thrumanimuthar river sub basin is located in south TamilNadu. There are about 25 tank cascades with over 450 tanks situated in this basin benefiting livelihoods of about 25000 to 30000 families. The Dhan Vayalagam (tank) Foundation (DVTF) has promoted around 100 tank associations in the basin so far. Two block and one District tank federations are functioning to monitor the institutional sustainability of the tank associations. These two Taluks are prone for frequent floods and caused a lot of damages to the tanks and related community assets. Because our DHAN’s presence there for the last 10 years in the project area it is relevant to study the flood prone tanks and set up the early warning system to protect the valuable command area of tanks and there by protecting the livelihoods of the farming families from the risk.

• Conducting a reconnaissance survey and vulnerability mapping to assess the vulnerability of the tanks for flood and prepare a map.
• Trying out different communication methods to respond to the situation at the time of the disaster and to protect the community assets.
• Orientation training to members and people in the vulnerable areas of flood disaster about the rescue methods.
• Organising a mock trill with the selected leaders and members to build their capacity to prepare for the rescue operation.
• Documenting the process and share it with other stakeholders in the pilot.

• Early Warning System (EWS) would be in place with the trained pool of community representatives.
• Mapped out tank Vulnerability data.
• A process documentation of the whole initiative and learnings from them.