fragmented flood Management Regime

figuRe 3: Map showing loCation of industrial estates in Chennai We know why certain industrial estates were established, but there is no well-documented history or rationale for the general busi- ness activity clustering outside the estates. For example, Guindy IE, one of Chennai’s largest and oldest, was inaugurated in 1958 and acquired at a time when land in that area was relatively cheap compared to other tra- ditional business districts; its proximity to critical infrastructure such as ports and highways was an added advantage Adlakha, 2015a; Khan, 2013; TN SIDCO, 2015. Similarly, Ambattur IE, formed in 1965, was set up due to the availability of cheap labour and raw materials, and its proximity to waterways and transit infrastructure Lakshmi, 2015b. These estates are still viewed as favourable locations. In fact, in 2006, to improve the competitiveness of the Ambattur IE, and to upgrade the IE, through the development of basic amenities like roads, water supply, and sewage treatment under the Chennai auto cluster programme, a Special Purpose Vehicle SPV was formed. The SPV has a revenue-sharing agreement with SIDCO Kumar, 2006 and was created with the objective of pro- moting product-oriented clusters. vulnerability of MsMes Large companies tend to have sound disaster mitigation strategies and business continuity plans in place. MSMEs, however, tend to lack this level of preparedness. This vulnerability is not restricted to Indian MS- MEs or to developing country MSMEs. Emerging economies like Thai- land witnessed unprecedented loods in 2011 which cost the country over two million jobs and disrupted global supply chains in the hard disk sector ADPC, 2014; Fuller, 2011. Developed economies also suc- cumb to natural disasters that cost their economies dearly. For instance, loods in the United Kingdom and earthquakes in Japan afected 1,600 businesses in a metropolitan borough in the UK and over 120,000 MS- MEs in the Tohoku region in Japan Sakai, Holdsworth, and Curry, 2016; BBC News, 2012. In addition to the earthquakes in Japan, a tsuna- mi severely afected 38,000 MSMEs in the country, in addition to 7,000 MMSEs that were located in the nuclear evacuation zone UNDP, 2013. Across all these countries, small and medium businesses 9 have been more vulnerable than large international companies to natural disasters. In Japan small businesses went bankrupt and in Thailand small and medium businesses had a much larger loss ratio compared to large businesses APEC, 2014; Tjaardstra, 2014. MSMEs’ inherent smallness in terms of resources, as well as the informality of the sector in terms of institutional arrangements necessary for their growth, makes them especially vulnerable to the disruptions that natural disasters create ADPC, 2016. Drawing from the developing and developed countries experienc- es, three factors broadly afect the impact of loods on small businesses: 1. The extent, magnitude, and intensity of the natural shock; 2. The availability of physical infrastructure that mediates land- water interactions; and 3. Social support systems that are often built in to absorb the damages. Social support systems may not always work in a ‘supportive’ man- ner and may at times exacerbate the damages. This will be explored further in the upcoming sections that discuss the indings from the irm survey. 8 Department of industries and commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu. n.d. entrepreneur memorandum. [Online]. retrieved from: http:www.msmeonline.tn.gov.in 9 For the sake of simplicity and for the purpose of this report, small and medium businesses are viewed as a subset of msmes.