Evaluation of the initial Heat Action Plans of Indian Cities

Planners are increasingly concerned with the public health impacts of extreme heat. Many Indian cities and states are implementing Heat Actions Plans (HAP). Ahmedabad city in Gujarat state in western India is one of the hottest cities with a daily maximum temperature of 113oF from March-May. Following an intensely hot May in 2010 that resulted in the excess deaths of 1344 people, the city adopted a HAP in 2013, making it the first South Asian city to comprehensively address heat health threats, effectively manage heat stress, and reduce heat related mortality. Following Ahmedabad’s successes, at least a dozen Indian cities and several states have adopted HAP or are in the process of doing so. This study analyzes the first few Heat Actions Plans of Indian cities that are publicly available. The initial plan evaluation criteria are based on the ""National Guidelines for Preparation of Heat Action Plans – Prevention and Management of Heatwaves"" by the National Disaster Management Authority of India (NDMA). The plans evaluated in this study include Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, and Surat (all from Gujarat state), Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Hazaribagh, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Jodhpur, and others. Preliminary analysis indicates that the HAPs are action oriented, focusing on preparedness at the local level for dealing with heat-related health eventualities. They emphasize reducing the negative health impact of extreme heat by health care system capacity building. This includes training local health professionals to enable them to recognize and treat heat related illnesses (heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat/sun stroke, heat rash, etc.). Plans focus on establishing early warning and alerts systems and emphasize public awareness and community outreach programs with multi-pronged communications campaigns for communicating the health risks of heat waves (hoardings/billboards, print advertisements, pamphlets, text messages, etc.). Only a few plans identify cool roofs as a cooling strategy and their widespread adoption in HAPs is lacking. India’s NDMA identifies cool roofs as a cost-effective mitigation strategy to reduce heat stress and provides guidance on their implementation. Plans range from 19 pages (Hazaribagh) to 115 pages (Bhubaneshwar). Most plans do not include information on climate change related heat impacts or the effects of urban heat island on human health and well-being. Many plans also do not include community assessment or identify vulnerable and higher risk populations population groups such as low-income and slum communities, elderly and children, laborers, and informal sector workers. In general, plans do not address social and spatial inequities. Public health departments are at the forefront of heat action planning efforts. Some plans include an inter-agency response plan and coordination in field, but opportunities exist for improving collaboration between municipal public health and planning departments, and to better connect planners and mainstream planning processes (development/master plans, neighborhood plans) to HAPs. Wider collaboration could include public institutions, private entities, NGOs, and civil society. Most plans do not include urban planning or built environment strategies, indicating opportunities for municipal planners to meaningfully incorporate low-cost strategies for urban cooling through vegetation, green infrastructure, land use, development regulations, cool roofs, and building codes. Cities lack feedback systems for assessing impact or reviewing and updating plans on a regular basis. Plan implementation also needs to be monitored to better understand their overall impact. In the next stage, this study will be expanded to include additional Indian cities and semi-structured interviews will be conducted with policy makers, public health professionals, planners, and local experts involved in planning and implementation of HAPs to better understand the processes, local capacity and constraints, and inter-agency collaborative efforts.