Below we publish excerpts from the speech delivered by Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister of Kerala, at the opening session of World Reconstruction Conference held in Geneva on May 13, 2019.

THE state of Kerala, which I represent here, is situated in the southern part of the Indian peninsula and is known for its rich and diverse natural heritage. However, we did not have to face natural calamities of significant magnitude for more than ninety years. But the recent unprecedented floods of August 2018, posed a new and a major challenge to our government and civil society. 

Kerala was very badly affected by this flood in which there was loss of 453 precious human lives.  In addition, 280 thousand houses were lost or damaged, 140 thousand hectares of standing crops were destroyed and about 70 thousand kilometres of road network suffered major damage. The total recovery needs of the state have been estimated at around 4.4 billion US dollars, as per the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) conducted by the UN Agencies.

But our society met this with exemplary determination.The spirit of courage, especially among the youth and students has its roots in the uniqueness of Kerala society due to the imbibing of the values of famous renaissance movement, which took place in our society in the last two centuries. The secular fabric of our society ensured that no differences could stand in the way of meeting this natural calamity challenge.

The civil society and the government in Kerala acted swiftly and in unison in the hour of crisis. The fisher-folk who brave the sea for a livelihood deserve our special gratitude for their timely intervention without which we would have lost many more lives. 

The government machinery worked hard to respond on a real time basis to meet the emergent crisis.

The chief minister and the concerned ministers along with the officials met more than once in a day for closely monitoring and reviewing the situation. Along with state government officials, representatives of the armed forces also actively participated. Rescue of people trapped in houses and moving them to safer places was the top priority and this was done effectively with societal participation as mentioned earlier.

Our government efficiently channelised the contributions of thousands of citizens, the Kerala diaspora and aid agencies to get the state back on its feet. Affected families were given immediate relief in cash and kind. Critical infrastructurelike power supply was restored in record time.  The state government in cooperation with local government institutions, civil society and mass organisationsorganised a massive drive for cleaning flood affected houses, provision of drinking water, medicines and essential supplies.

A comprehensive programme to rebuild lost and damaged houses has been launched. Loans for recovery of essential house-hold articles lost and damaged during the floods from our co-operative banks and commercial banks where channelised through the widely networked women’s self-help group,Kudumbashree. The interest payment on these loans was borne by the government of Kerala. Our government also ensured wage employment to needy families by augmenting the ongoing employment programme. Our government is also providing financial assistance with beneficiary involvement for rebuilding damaged houses and constructing completely lost houses.

We have presently taken up the challenging task of rebuilding Kerala better. In other words, our aim is not to restore what was in existence before the flood, but to build a new Kerala which will be resilient to any possible natural disasters in future.

The Rebuild Kerala Initiative is being carried out in a mission mode. Eco-friendly building strategies, giving more room for rivers, learning to live with floods etc., are the key ingredients of this initiative. Kerala which has a long history of implementing social security measures and several progressive interventions like land reforms, state action in education and health, expects to fulfil the present task also through peoples’ participation. For this, the strong institutional framework of decentralisation of governance will be of great support.

Our rehabilitation packages give utmost importance to the basic needs of food and shelter to the least empowered sections of the society. We have also taken care to ensure that these sections get these as a matter of entitlement and rights and not as a gratis from the state or the society. 

To conclude, I would like to note here that during the first week of May 2019, Cyclone Fani badly affected the Indian state, Odisha. But damage to human life could be controlled due to sufficient early warning. This brings before us the fact that early warning systems should work effectively as the variations in climatic patterns due to global warming have increased the frequency of natural calamities like floods and cyclones.

I wholeheartedly support the theme of the conference which is “Opportunities to build back more inclusively include  identifying vulnerable groups and their needs prior to a disaster, social protection programs that target the most vulnerable and ensuring that reconstruction does not overlook low-income and geographically-isolated areas.”. The floods of 2018 brought the best of Kerala out – we supported each other in a spirit of brotherhood, without social or economic differences. This spirit will continue to inspire us through all our recovery efforts. 

We are happy to share our experiences with others and learn better practices elsewhere. We see this forum as an important milestone that will help us get better ideas in building our state better.

Thanks again for this invitation and looking forward to exchange of valuable ideas.