The Influence of Institutions on Coordination among the actors involved in Flood Management

Flooding is considered one of the most extreme and significant natural disasters that threaten the world’s cities. Especially, the urban flooding is threatening and a serious concern for both developed and developing countries. The impact of urban flooding has caused serious damage to properties, utilities, housing assets, interruptions in transportation, losses in industries, trade and whipping out employment. In November 2015, a sudden depression on the Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclone and resulted in heavy and excessive rainfall in several parts of Tamil Nadu and instigated into the flood in Chennai. Although the main reason for the flooding was associated with excessive rainfall, the research undertaken by Arabindoo proved poor governance was the crucial element for flooding. The characteristics of flood management in Chennai are complex, highly fragmented with a large number of stakeholders. Thus, until there is a proper cooperation among the authorities, residents, city managers, and the public, it will be difficult to govern the worsening of flood problems. So, the research aims to understand the how the institutions assembled around flood management in Chennai influences coordination among the actors. In order to explain how aspects of coordination are influenced by the institutions in the context of Chennai flood management, the research has undergone a detailed theoretical analysis of institutions and coordination. From the theoretical analysis, essential concepts were drawn to conceptualize institutions and coordination. This research used the concepts of IAD principle to theoretically connect the concepts of Institutions and coordination. Through the theoretical concepts, the variables and indicators to analytically measure the institutions and coordination were developed. This research is a qualitative study carried out with a case study approach. Using the semi-structured interviews, the researcher gathered empirical data on the phenomenon of the study and the secondary data was utilized to triangulate the information collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings from the analysis show that the institutions in the flood management are characterized by a diversity of actors with varying strength, size, and power, the formal and the informal rules. On the other hand, the coordination among the actor is characterized by the communications that occur parallelly with few points of intersection, independent planning, executing and controlling and centralized commanding. Further, the institutional factors such as the social capital strength, jurisdictional division, shared responsibility, monitoring framework, the unclear roles and responsibility, distinct mandates, lack of sharing resources, weakness in the regulatory framework, lack of information, rigid bureaucratic hierarchy, and political prioritization positively or negatively influence the coordination among the actors. The main conclusion from the research shows that the institutional factors can obstruct and enable coordination among the actors. Especially, the research has highlighted the importance of the regulatory framework and the elements that are essential in the regulatory framework to structure coordination. It has also stressed the need for political actors to be accountable to the public and committed to enable coordination.