After having heard of the very sad happening in Mauritius, I could not hold off from writing this to you with a view to building a better Mauritius. I am a Mauritian, a Civil Engineer, working in an international consulting firm in Australia. Since I am in Australia, I had the opportunity to be involved in various drainage projects and have witnessed the Queensland floods very closely, and took part in the remediation phase. The recent flood events in Mauritius were without precedent, and flood events of similar category or even bigger events could hit again, anytime and anywhere in Mauritius. Climatic conditions are very unpredictable and with the existing uncertainties regarding the outcomes of the climate change process, natural disasters in all their forms could strike in any part of the world with very little or without any warning at all. Men have no control on the events. However, by adopting and putting in place appropriate management systems and plans, we can  outcomes of the events and lessen the loss of human lives. I have decided to address you all today because the implementation of plans and systems requires a collective effort, the participation of various stakeholders, and the presence of a commonsense commitment from everyone – commitment for zero loss of human lives. Everyone wants to be safe and protect their families, and Mauritius is so small that no region could be isolated in the event of a calamity.

The death toll to date I believe is 11 and from memory I think the death toll in the recent Queensland floods, which was of a much bigger magnitude, was less than 11. Obviously, Mauritius was never prepared for such a catastrophe, but this is a lesson learnt. I am not sure about the existing emergency plans and systems in place in Mauritius but being a professional in the field, I would imagine the following tasks and action plans, both short term and long term, would certainly help mitigate to a great extent deadly outcomes.

1. WARNING SYSTEM

With today’s advance warning system, satellite imagery provides very accurate weather forecasts. Even forecasts for extreme events could be obtained 24 hours before the event. With rainfall predictions, an instant model could be built, and flooding zone could be identified, flood event intensity generated, raising water depth determined and real event situation simulated in anticipation; thus enabling an indepth behavioural understanding of the event to be gained beforehand. With my limited analysis of the situation of Port Louis, I believe that the flood was a flash type and its intensity greater than a 1 in 100 years event (this is a measure for flood events, based on statistical extrapolation; meaning that the probability of occurrence for such a flood event is 1 in every 100 years, but this can happen anytime within the 100 years. The next one could be tomorrow!)

2. PREPAREDNESS: THERE ARE SEVERAL ASPECTS RELATED TO THIS

2.1. HUMAN/COMMUNITY

This is about creating awareness amongst the population about the situation, the risks involved, the consequences, and acting responsibly in order to stay safe. Looking at the photos it is clear that many people were unaware of the risks associated with the fast flowing runoff.

2.2. COMMUNICATION AND EVACUATION PLANS

Proper communication and evacuation plans have proven to save thousands of lives in the recent Queensland floods. This required well-defined and coordinated processes and procedures, authority levels, communication channels and instruments put in place with an adequate level of resources mobilised – both human and mechanical.

2.3. TRAINING OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE UNITS

There is no doubt that the boys of the emergency response units have done a great work and saved many lives. Nevertheless providing them with more professional trainings, modern tools and equipment would definitely enhance the effectiveness of their operations.

2.4. EDUCATION

Some of you might be aware that learning to swim is compulsory in the Australian’s education system as someone with swimming skills can save both his and others’ lives. Tertiary institutions can be very helpful in developing innovative engineering solutions as they provide a great platform to students to undertake research relevant to the Mauritian context and to address the actual local challenges.

2.5. INFRASTRUCTURE

An appropriate level of infrastructures is vital to ensure that the floodwater is being discharged and evacuated in a controlled manner. Drain infrastructures with limited capacity result in uncontrolled runoff discharge causing unwanted damage. Nowadays, building infrastructures are also being designed to resist flood events. I am not sure whether the buildings in Port Louis are in those category, but would strongly recommend to undertake a sanity check for any signs of crack and structural damage on the building whose foundations were submerged, and which might have experienced unintended stresses, which could have potentially undermined the structural integrity resulting in making the buildings unsafe for serviceability. Roads, embankments and retaining walls are also to be inspected for any sign of subsidence.

From the photos, it seemed that the sea water level was overtopping the mainland, meaning that there was absolutely no freeboard to accommodate surface runoff, thus, making the city area a low point sandwiched between the ocean and the high land. This is a very serious issue as in a similar situation water cannot be discharged to an outlet, and will continue to build up on the mainland. For example, Singapore and Malaysia have developed very innovative drainage management systems; by creating drainage basins and tunnels to address the problem of limited freeboard for discharging surface water. Mauritius should think along the lines of innovative designs to address its local drainage issues.

2.6 STAKEHOLDERS

They are of paramount importance for successfully implementing, monitoring and administrating a plan/system. Stakeholders like yourselves have the ability to initiate, negotiate, influence, engage, persuade, educate, action, legislate, and take accountability, etc. of whatever is necessary to make your community a safe one. I would take this opportunity to put emphasis on the role of the Engineer Council of Mauritius. Beside all the good works that the Council does for ensuring high standards in Mauritian’s Engineers, I believe that the Council could further extend its horizon and take on a more leadership role and enforcement body. As a Profession member of Engineers Australia, I have come to realise how effectively engineers can lead by influence and contribute in decision making. In the end we engineers we build for the community, the society, and for us with our primary focus being: “safety first”, don’t we!

2.7. OTHERS

Many other aspects are needed to be considered in the endeavour to avoid fatal consequences from flood events. (…) Designs should be tailored to match the local conditions and site constraints. These include undertaking detailed engineering studies for hydrology, catchment definitions, geotechnical properties investigation, assessment of existing infrastructures and wetlands, detailed survey, construction planning, etc. In the end, I would to like to add that it is shattering to see people losing their lives, especially when we know that this could have been avoided. I am not sure how you people will take this letter, and for some of you these measures might not sound new, but I trust that Mauritius has fellas who do care for others and will do whatever it takes to make a better and safer future for the community.

Remember while doing so we are making Mauritius a safe place for our loved ones and ourselves too.

People make decisions and take actions based on their level of awareness; Mauritians had a level of awareness before the Saturday 30.03.2013 and have a different level of awareness today. Today the following questions shall be asked: Are We Doing Enough? and Are We Doing All That We Can? This is a side check to ensure you are on the right track. From my experience in working in a developed country, I have the benefit of being very close to innovative solutions, sustainable development and constantly in touch with the latest technologies; aspects which I will be very happy to share for building a better Mauritius.