More than 5 million people in Kerala were affected and over 200 were killed in floods in August. (File)
The Centre plans to draw up recommendations on how cities should deal with such urban flooding, an official said today.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said there is a need to devise a system to predict natural disasters and accordingly make preparations .
The National Institute of Urban Affair (NIUA) today held a workshop on 'Urban Flood Resilience' where experts suggested a number of ways to tackle the issue.
After attending the workshop, Mr Puri said there has been an increasing trend of urban flood disasters in the country in the past few years.
"In Kerala, we had serious floods. Issues were raised again on whether we are prepared sufficiently to deal with situation," he said.
According to the ministry, recommendations will be based on categories such as early warning for natural disasters, preparedness for emergency and planning for disaster reduction.
Mr Puri said, "We need to map emergency services and make the information available to people."
An official of the NIUA said once the recommendations are drawn up, they will be sent to different states.
NIUA Director Jagan Shah stressed on the need for better coordination between different departments in states during a natural disaster.