Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153

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Case study

Non-structural ¯ood mitigation measures for Dhaka City

I.M. Faisal a,*, M.R. Kabir b,1, A. Nishat b,1
a
Department of Environmental Studies, North South University, 12 Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh
b
Department of Water Resources Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Received 7 September 1999; received in revised form 7 January 2000; accepted 25 January 2000

Abstract
After the disastrous ¯ood of 1988, Dhaka Integrated Flood Protection Project (DIFPP) was undertaken as a part of the national
Flood Action Plan (FAP). However, DIFPP focused primarily on the structural measures for ¯ood damage mitigation. When the
city was hit by another major ¯ood in 1998, it became evident that non-structural measures contributed signi®cantly to ¯ood
damage reduction. This paper explores existing and proposed non-structural measures as a part of the long-term ¯ood mitigation
strategies for Dhaka City. The options examined in this paper include ¯ood forecasting and warning, preservation of retention
ponds, land use planning, ¯ood zoning, emergency services, shelters, ¯ood proo®ng, ¯ood ®ghting and post-¯ood rehabilitation
measures. Moreover, experiences from 1998 ¯ood indicate that coordination between agencies responsible for ¯ood protection and
drainage of the city can signi®cantly reduce the ¯ood damage. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Non-structural measures; Flood forecasting and warning; Retention pond; Flood proo®ng; Flood ®ghting; Flood zoning; Flood
insurance; Inter-agency coordination; Integrated ¯ood protection; Dhaka City

1. Introduction Flood Protection Embankment along the Turag and the

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, has a popu-
lation of about 8 million and it is expected to become a
mega city by 2010. The city is surrounded by a network
of rivers ± the Turag on the west, the Buriganga on the
south, the Balu on the east and the Tongi Khal on the
north (Fig. 1). Water level in all these rivers rises in the
monsoon (June±September) due to seasonal rainfall and
transboundary ¯ow and makes the city vulnerable to
¯ooding. In 1988, a disastrous ¯ood hit the country,
including the capital city, causing enormous damages to
life, property and income. During this ¯ood about 80%
of the area in Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) went
under water. Consequently, a number of studies specif-
ically addressing this issue, have been carried out within
the general framework of the Flood Action Plan (FAP)
(FAP-8A, 1991; FAP-8B, 1991). These reports suggested
a combination of structural and non-structural measures
for ¯ood protection and mitigation. As of 1998, Phase I
of the recommendations, that include the Dhaka City
* practices, ®eld visits, interview with key professionals,
Corresponding author. Fax: +880-2-883030.
E-mail addresses: msdh@bdcom.com (I.M. Faisal), mrkabir
@wre.buet.edu (M.R. Kabir), iucnbd@citechco.net (A. Nishat).
1
Fax: +880-2-863026.
Buriganga rivers and improvement of internal drainage
system of the city, has been mostly completed. However,
the eastern part of the city remains unprotected.
In 1998, another catastrophic ¯ood hit Dhaka, which
a€ected both the protected western part and unpro-
tected eastern part of the city. During this ¯ood, almost
the entire eastern block and about 20% of the western
block were inundated. As a result, city life was severely
a€ected and the government was under serious pressure
to undertake long-term ¯ood protection and mitigation
measures to prevent such disasters in future.
One very important lesson that has been learned from
the ¯ood of 1998 is that completion of structural mea-
sures alone cannot guarantee ¯ood protection to the
city. A variety of non-structural options can make im-
portant contributions in ¯ood protection and mitiga-
tion. This paper will speci®cally examine and explore
these options in the context of ¯ood mitigation for
Dhaka City.
The study has been carried out in a number of steps
which include review of existing documents on ¯ood in
Dhaka City, evaluation of current ¯ood management
people's representatives and general public, and synthe-
sis of the long-term ¯ood mitigation strategies, of which
the non-structural options will be presented in this paper.

1462-0758/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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146 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153
Fig. 1. Rivers surrounding Dhaka City and average ¯ooding pattern before 1988.
2. Causes of ¯ooding in Dhaka
The historic reason of ¯ooding in Dhaka City is the
rise in water levels of the rivers bordering the city and
heavy seasonal rainfall. Recently Dhaka City experi-
enced two major ¯oods, one in 1988 and the other in
1998. The former was primarily caused by excessive
transboundary in¯ow and lack of any ¯ood protection
structure for the city. The latter was primarily caused by
heavy rainfall all over the catchment areas of the major
rivers ¯owing through Bangladesh.
In addition, internal drainage congestion induced by
heavy rainfall, leakage through buried pipes, culverts
and ¯oodwalls, untimely gate operation, inadequate
pumping and lack of institutional coordination have
signi®cantly contributed to worsening the ¯ood situa-
tion.
2.1. Rise in river water level
In the recent past (between 1979 and 1998), rivers of
Dhaka approached their danger levels in the second half
of July and receded in the last 10 days of September.
Peak ¯ows occurred typically in the last week of August
and the ®rst two weeks of September. Flood peaks of
1987, 1988 and 1998 followed the same pattern as shown
in Figs. 2±5. However, the rivers may cross the danger
level early on due to the heavy onrush of water from the
upstream areas and concurrent heavy rainfall. This may
prolong the duration of ¯ood and considerably increase
the ¯ood damage, which was the case in 1998.
The main di€erence between the major ¯oods of 1988
and 1998 is that the former peaked very quickly and had
a duration of about three weeks whereas the latter
showed a smaller early peak which prevailed until the
second peak that arrived in the second week of Sep-
tember. Thus, duration of the 1998 ¯ood was more than
two months making it the longest ¯ood in the history of
Dhaka City. In terms of ¯ood height, 1988 ¯ood peaks
were higher compared to the same of 1998. Essential
statistics of the ¯oods of 1987, 1988 and 1998 are sum-
marized in Table 1, where the ¯ood duration is mea-
sured by the number of days a river remained above its
danger level. The entry ÔNAÕ means that danger level
was not de®ned as in the case of Balu, which ¯ows along
the low-lying ¯oodplains.
Another noticeable di€erence between the ¯oods of
1988 and 1998 a€ecting Dhaka City is that the former
 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153 147

Fig. 2. Flood hydrographs at Milbarak. Fig. 5. Flood hydrographs at Mirpur.

Table 1
Floods peak and duration in the rivers surrounding Dhaka City

Year Location Peak height Duration

(m-PWD) (days)

1987 Tongi khal (Tongi) 6.9 23

Balu (Demra) 6.46 NA
Turag (Mirpur) 8.35 35
Buriganga (Mill-barak) 6.64 17
1988 Tongi khal (Tongi) 7.84 25
Balu (Demra) 7.09 NA
Turag (Mirpur) 7.97 31
Buriganga (Mill-barak) 7.58 25

1998 Tongi khal (Tongi) 7.5 66

Fig. 3. Flood hydrographs at Demra. Balu (Demra) ± NA
Turag (Mirpur) 7.26 68
Buriganga (Mill-barak) 7.23 57

rain in the months of July and August, respectively,

compared to the same of the average year. These ®gures
are about 101% and 233% higher compared to the sta-
tistics of 1988. In 1998, rainfall in September was 3% less
compared to the same of an average year but 14% higher
than the same of 1988. This is probably true for other
regions of the country. This heavy seasonal rainfall and
subsequent runo€ might have contributed to the early

Fig. 4. Flood hydrographs at Tongi.

was mainly caused by in¯ows from the upstream areas.

Areas surrounding Dhaka City received less than aver-
age rainfall in 1988 whereas in 1998, rainfall was sig-
ni®cantly higher than the average. Fig. 6 shows monthly
cumulative rainfalls for the July±September period for
an average year, 1988 and 1998. In 1998, Dhaka City
and its neighborhood received about 43% and 67% more Fig. 6. Cumulative monthly rainfall in the monsoon.
148 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153
crossing of the danger levels by all the rivers surround-
ing Dhaka City in 1998.
2.2. Internal drainage congestion
Internal drainage congestion is usually caused by
heavy short-duration rainfall. Fig. 7 shows daily rain-
falls for the months of July±September 1998. Periods of
sharp peaks in this ®gure were the ones that caused short
duration ¯ooding in di€erent parts of Dhaka.
The areas particularly vulnerable to waterlogging
include Shantinagar, Nayapaltan, Rajarbag, Dhan-
mondi, Azimpur and Greenroad. Dhaka Water and
Sewerage Authority (DWASA) has taken initiatives to
alleviate this problem by renovating and constructing
box culverts and installing pumps of sucient capacity
to drain out the storm water. The problem of internal
¯ooding and drainage congestion is further exacerbated
by poor maintenance of the surface and underground
drainage network of the city.
2.3. Leakage of ¯oodwater
During the disastrous ¯ood of 1998, several leakage
points, which contributed to the partial ¯ooding of the
western (protected) part of the city, have been identi®ed.
Two types of leakage were identi®ed in 1998. The ®rst
one was due to incomplete construction of the ¯oodwall
along the Buriganga River in the southern part of the
city. During implementation of Phase I of Dhaka Inte-
grated Flood Protection Project (DIFPP), some existing
structures could not be removed due to public pressure
or other diculties. One such prominent structure is the
inland river port of Dhaka at Sadarghat. During high
¯ood, water entered into the protected area through this
facility. In a number of places, people removed parts of
the ¯oodwall for easy movement creating openings for
¯oodwater. It was also noticed during ®eld visit that
there were many buried sewerage pipes that passed under
the ¯oodwall disposing domestic sewage directly into the
river. During ¯ood, water ¯owed back through these
pipes into the city. All these openings have to be sealed
o€ to ensure complete ¯ood protection in this area.
Fig. 7. Daily rainfall in July±September 1998.
The second type of leakage occurred due to the entry
of ¯oodwater through open underground pipes and
open culverts in the northern part of the city (Nikunja,
Cantonment and Baridhara area). These pipes were not
monitored or maintained by any particular authority.
After completion of about 80% of Phase I of DIFPP,
areas such as Banani, Gulshan, Baridhara and Tejgaon
should not have been ¯ooded in 1998. Field investiga-
tors of DWASA and Bangladesh Water Development
Board (BWDB) found that there are four drainage pipes
of about 4 feet diameter near the Cantonment Railway
Station. These pipes connect the Nikunja area with the
¯ood plain on the eastern side. Divers veri®ed that these
pipes were buried under 15 feet of water during the peak
¯ood. The Roads and Highways Department placed
these pipes sometime in 1978 and these were supposedly
open during the ¯ood allowing ¯oodwater to enter in-
side the protected area. Lakes of Banani and Gulshan
are hydraulically connected to the low-lying areas of
Nikunja and water eventually back ¯owed into these
areas causing ¯ood. DWASA ocials indicated that
there may be a few other open pipes and culverts along
the Biswa Road that have to be identi®ed and closed
before the next ¯ood season to provide better ¯ood
protection to the Baridhara±Gulshan±Mohakhali area.
3. Current ¯ood management practices
3.1. Institutions
Flood protection and drainage of Dhaka City is
provided by a number of organizations, which include
BWDB, DWASA and DCC.
BWDB is responsible for ¯ood protection and miti-
gation for the entire country, including Dhaka. It con-
structs and maintains embankments, ¯oodwalls,
regulators and pumping stations. BWDB also provides
¯ood forecasting and warning through the Flood
Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC). DWASA is
primarily responsible for water supply and drainage. A
small part of the drainage network in the southern part
of the city is maintained by DCC.
3.2. Dhaka Integrated Flood Protection Project (DIFPP)
After 1988 ¯ood, DIFPP was formulated as part of
the national ¯ood action plan. According to Phase I of
DIFPP, the western and southern parts of the city have
been brought under ¯ood protection by constructing
31.67 km of embankments, 4.3 km ¯oodwalls, three
pumping stations (about 70 cumec), six sluice gates and
improving the drainage network of the city.
The unprotected eastern part of the city is subjected
to annual ¯ooding in the monsoon (Fig. 1). Due to
population pressure and land scarcity, rapid urban-
 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153 149

ization is taking place in this area. As a result, there is

a growing public demand for immediate implementa-
tion of Phase II of DIFPP that will bring this area
under ¯ood protection. Completion of Phase II will
require construction of about 29 km (Tongi ± Demra)
embankment along the Balu River and Tongi Khal,
along with ®ve sluice gates and at least two large
pumping stations. Currently, this plan is being updated
into a multi-purpose road±railway-embankment project
(GOB, 1998).
The non-structural measures speci®ed in DIFPP in-
clude upgrading of the existing ¯ood forecasting and
warning system, development of a ¯ood evacuation
system and future land use regulations. Compared to the
structural part, the non-structural part has received less
attention in the FAP documents. However, experience
from previous ¯oods, particularly from the ¯ood of
1998, which was the longest lasting and most damaging
in the history of Bangladesh, indicate that many factors
that contributed to increasing the ¯ood damage were
related to non-structural aspects of ¯ood management.

4. Non-structural measures

In the sections to follow, the non-structural aspects of

¯ood damage mitigation are elaborated in the context of
Dhaka City.
4.1. Forecasting and warning
Flood forecasting and warning is the responsibility of
FFWC of BWDB in cooperation with Surface Water
Modeling Center (SWMC), Bangladesh Meteorological
Department (BMD) and Space Research and Remote
Sensing Organization (SPARRSO). FFWC was estab-
lished as part of FAP activities with the help of the UN
and the Government of Bangladesh (GOB). Fig. 8
shows the procedure followed by FFWC.
FFWC is a permanent facility, which operates a ¯ood
information centre from 1 May to 30 September. If
necessary, its operation continues through October.
Three hydrologic forecasting techniques are employed
by FFWC, namely, MIKE11 Simulation Model,
Muskingum/Cunge Flood Routing and Gage-to-gage
correlation. FFWC provides ¯ood and river forecasts
for 16 locations for 24-h and 48-h periods. Additionally,
it also provides daily river level and rainfall summary
for 50 rivers and 49 rainfall locations. All these inf-
oramtion are released as Flood Bulletin (Kachic, 1998).
In future, extended Digital Elevation Model (DEM)-
based predictions should be made to provide forecast in
terms of inundation area instead of rise of water level in
the rivers. FFWC is planning to install color-coded
posts in di€erent parts of the country where di€erent
color will correspond to di€erent levels of ¯ooding. This
Fig. 8. Flood forecasting and warning procedure of FFWC.
will allow people to relate color-coded DEM forecasts to
the ¯ood warning posts and take appropriate actions.
Additionally, to facilitate real time data acquisition,
telecommunication and wireless links between the ®eld
stations and FFWC are being established.
4.2. Retention ponds and the drainage network
Dhaka City has a number of lakes and natural
depressions, which serve as retention ponds after a
major storm and prevent water-logging in the city.
Many of these retention ponds are being encroached
by developers leading to severe drainage congestion in
the city. Currently the total area of retention within
the urbanized part of DCC is about 365 ha. This area
is less than 4% of the western part of Dhaka. Ac-
cording to the city development authority, 12% of the
urban area should be set-aside as retention ponds
(RAJUK, 1995). Since the western part of the city has
already been urbanized, RAJUK should ensure that
this recommendation is followed through in the east-
ern part of the city. One economically feasible way of
doing this would be to purchase private land in this
area and develop the retention ponds as ®sheries-
cum-recreational spots. The locations of existing and
150 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153
proposed retention ponds in Dhaka City are shown in
Fig. 9.
An important reason for internal ¯ooding of the city
in 1998 was that the drainage network in many parts of
the city was silted up (to as much as 70%) and was
unable to carry the design discharge. This was due to
indiscriminate disposal of solid waste in both the surface
and subsurface drains and runo€ from construction sites
heavily loaded with sediments. Fig. 10 shows a couple
of city drains nearly clogged and the approach canal
almost ®lled up due to indiscriminate disposal of
solid waste. Only public awareness and active public
participation can help eliminate this problem in future.
4.3. Land use planning
Land use planning is carried out to optimize the use
of land based on its geographical, topographical, cli-
matic and soil characteristics. In the context of city de-
velopment, it means delineating land for residential,
Fig. 9. Location of retention ponds in the Dhaka City Master Plan (shown as circles).
business, industrial and natural uses. Developed coun-
tries such as the US have introduced the concept of
¯ood zoning where land is categorized based on risk of
inundation. This is followed by appropriate regulations
to ensure that highly ¯ood prone areas are spared from
intensive capital investments and dwellers of that area
are covered through ¯ood insurance. In the US, ¯ood
insurance program is federally funded and provided
through large private companies such as AARP Insur-
ance Program, AmericaÕs Flood Services, Fidelity
National Flood, and Proctor Financial Insurance
Company, to name a few.
In the context of Dhaka City, RAJUK can make two
important contributions through land use planning. One,
RAJUK, with the help of BWDB, can locate and protect
the potential sites for retention ponds in the eastern part
of Dhaka. RAJUK has already prepared the guidelines
for minimum ground level elevation of the land®ll and
development ranging from 4.5 to 6.0 m (PWD datum).
Additionally, RAJUK can carefully design the drainage
 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153
Fig. 10. Clogging of city drains due to solid waste dumping.
network for the eastern part so that the problems
encountered in the western part are not repeated.
4.4. Insurance
Introducing ¯ood insurance in developing countries is
dicult for a number of reasons. First, accurate ¯ood
zoning and depth-damage relationship have to be pre-
pared to determine the risk of ¯ood damage and cor-
responding premium. Second, insurance agencies are
not well developed in the LDCs and these companies
face the `adverse location' problem. What it means is
that if only ¯ood insurance is provided by a company, it
is likely to receive many claims after a particular ¯ood,
which will make its operation ®nancially impossible.
Thus, ¯ood insurance has to be provided by large in-
surance companies, which have the leverage of diverting
funds from other forms of insurance policies. The loss is
thereby distributed across di€erent communities and
regions. Another problem, common to all locations is
the `moral hazard' issue, where the clients make exag-
gerated and false claims. This is partly related to the
education and awareness of the community being in-
sured and may cause serious monitoring and assessment
diculties. Finally, due to voluntary nature of the so-
lution, its e€ectiveness is always somewhat doubtful. In
short, it is unlikely that private companies of Bangla-
desh will introduce ¯ood insurance in the near future.
The government may collect special ¯ood protection tax
and use the money for compensation. Such initiative is
practically the same as imposing additional tax for
public bene®t.
151
4.5. Other non-structural activities
Individuals, groups of people, NGOs and the gov-
ernment practice a variety of other non-structural means
to mitigate ¯ood damage. Limited information is
available on the extent of use of these means, which are
summarized in Table 2.
5. Feedback from experts and general public
In order to incorporate views on long-term ¯ood
mitigation strategies from di€erent sectors of the society,
several key professionals, public representatives and a
random sample of general public were interviewed after
the ¯ood of 1998. The key professionals are with
DWASA, BWDB, Bangladesh University of Engineer-
ing and Technology (BUET) and Dhaka University
(DU). This group was involved in planning and imple-
mentation of various ¯ood mitigation activities and their
opinions are summarized in Table 3.
It is evident from Table 3 (answer to question 5) that
non-structural measures such as ¯ood forecasting and
warning, ¯ood zoning and ¯ood shelter have been
identi®ed as important means of ¯ood mitigation by all
the experts interviewed. Additionally, inter-agency
coordination has been strongly emphasized. In fact, one
of the reasons for ¯ooding of the western part of Dhaka
was miscommunication between DWASA, BDWB and
Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation
(BADC). Speci®cally, the lack of coordination between
DWASA and BWDB had contributed to a month-long
152 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153

Table 2
Non-structural activities practiced by various groups

Activity Description Participants Remarks

Emergency services Medical care (water born diseases,
snake bite, etc.), potable water, food,
candle, fuel, clothing, temporary
housing, shelter
Flood proo®ng Raising the plinth level of the house,
building on tall pillars, ¯ood walls
along properties, raising important
roads and some power stations above
the 1988 ¯ood level, special embank-
ment for the international airport
Flood ®ghting Temporary ¯oodwall (brick or sand
bags), pumping, moving assets to
upper ¯oors, roof or dry places such
as high roads and embankments
Flood shelter Community centers, schools,
colleges, public buildings, roads,
embankments
Recovery and Vulnerable group feeding, food for
reconstruction work, building materials, soft or
interest-free loans for business and
agriculture
Hospitals, DWASA, Red
Crescent, GOB, NGOs,
Defense forces, Political
groups and general public
Individuals and some
businesses and industries,
GOB
Individuals and some
businesses and industries
Flood victims, community
volunteers, emergency service
providers
GOB, NGOs, banks and
private initiatives
Widely practiced. Usually limited
to accessible places
RAJUK has proposed minimum
ground elevations for the eastern
part of Dhaka City
People try to ®ght ¯oods till they
are forced to evacuate
Facilities used as shelters are not
designed as such and do not have
sucient capacity
A€ected group have very limited
access to such help. Pilferage of
relief and rehabilitation material
or fund

Table 3
Summary of opinions of the key professionalsa

Question BWDB DWASA DU BUET

1. What are the main causes of 1998 ¯ood? HR, PS, HT, TBF HR, SM, Tsu HR HR, TBF
2. What do you think are the main causes of IP, DC, HL HL, GOF, IP DC DC, HL, GOF, IP
¯ooding in Dhaka City?
3. What major damages were caused by 1998 Rd, Em Rd, H H, Rd, I Rd, H, I
¯ood to Dhaka City?
4. How can Dhaka City be freed from Phase I, II, TGO, HL, TGO, AP, Phase II Phase I and II, IDE
¯ooding in future? AP, IDE IDE, Phase II
5. What other things can be done to FW, FZ, IAC, FSh PAA, IAC FW, FSh FZ, FSh, FW, IAC
minimize ¯ood damage in Dhaka City?
6. How can the costs of ¯ood protection for FA, SL, GOB LDT, DSr GOB GOB, LDT
Dhaka City be ®nanced?
a
Notes: AP: adequate pumping; DC: drainage congestion; DSr: drainage surcharge; Em: embankment; FA: foreign aid; FSh: ¯ood shelter; FW:
forecasting and warning; FZ: ¯ood zoning; GOB: government of Bangladesh; GOF: gate operation failure; H: housing; HL: hydraulic leakage; HR:
heavy rainfall; HT: high tide; I: industry; IAC: inter-agency coordination; IDE: improved drainage eciency; IP: inadequate pumping; LDT: land
development tax; PAA: public awareness and activism; Phase I and II: phases of DIFPP; PS: Peak synchronization; Rd: road; SL: soft loan; SM:
snow melt; TBF: transboundary ¯ow; TGO: timely gate operation; Tsu: tsunami.

delay in closing the regulator at Rampura Bridge during
which ¯oodwater entered into the city. Moreover, de-
ployment of pumps was also delayed, as pumps had to
be brought from BADC. Many of these pumps were in
the storage for nearly 10 years (since the ¯ood of 1988)
and were inoperative. Pump operators complained that
sucient fuel was not allocated to operate these pumps
on continuous basis. Eventually, when the problems
were taken care of by mid-August, a large part of the
city was already under water (Faisal, Kabir & Nishat,
1999).
Opinions expressed by the general public (100 ran-
domly selected individuals) were similar to the opinions
expressed by the experts. According to this group,
¯ood proo®ng and improved ¯ood warning system are
the most e€ective means of minimizing ¯ood damage.
Moreover, individual preparedness has been mentioned
as the best way to minimize personal loss due to
¯ooding. This re¯ects people's preference for self-reli-
ance in combating the ¯ood and the inadequacy of
GOB and NGO measures in helping out the ¯ood
victims.
 I.M. Faisal et al. / Urban Water 1 (1999) 145±153
Ward Commissioners (public representatives) em-
phasized on preserving the natural depressions and lakes
within the city that serve as retention ponds for holding
water from rain and internal drainage. They speci®cally
mentioned that people living in slums had been badly
a€ected by ¯ooding. This group suggested that more
and better shelters could signi®cantly reduce human
su€erings and loss of life due to ¯ooding.
6. Conclusion
This paper has examined the non-structural measures
that are currently used or can be used in future as part of
the long-term ¯ood mitigation strategies for Dhaka
City. Non-structural measures that require institutional
planning encompassing the entire city include improved
digital elevation model based real-time ¯ood forecasting
and warning, preservation of adequate number of re-
tention ponds and land use planning, including ¯ood
zoning. Other ¯ood damage mitigation measures prac-
ticed by individuals, groups and organizations include
provision of emergency services and shelters, ¯ood
proo®ng, ¯ood ®ghting and post-¯ood rehabilitation.
Collectively, these measures signi®cantly reduce the
¯ood damage for the 8 million inhabitants of Dhaka
153
City. It appears that non-structural methods have not
received due attention compared to the structural ap-
proaches of ¯ood protection and mitigation. Since
structural methods are very expensive and may not
provide 100% ¯ood protection, non-structural methods
have a very important role to play. A well-coordinated
and balanced combination of both structural and non-
structural measures is recommended as the long-term
¯ood mitigation strategy for Dhaka City.
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