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Coastal urban cities frequently face multiple hazards, including potentially disastrous extreme events. To combat this, vulnerability assessment is essential to developing an effective mitigation strategy. This study proposes a framework to assess the vulnerability of any densely populated urban area to disasters by considering both the population and the assets that are at risk. A set of indicators is also proposed to assess the vulnerability of social and socioeconomic systems, infrastructure, critical facilities, and adaptive capacity. The components of vulnerability were evaluated individually, using an accessible open source geographic information system at a fine 1-km grid scale, providing an insight into the spatial variability of the vulnerability. The optimal weight for individual indicators was assigned using data envelopment analysis to minimize subjective judgment and establish confidence in the results obtained. To decorrelate and reduce the dimensionality of the multivariate data, principal component analysis was performed. The proposed methodology was demonstrated on the twenty-four wards of Mumbai under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and showed the mideastern part of Mumbai as the most vulnerable—mainly due to the increase in population and the marginal workers' ratio. A reduction in social vulnerability has been observed, however, across the city through improvement in the literacy rate and the main workers' ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The global sanitation crisis is rapidly urbanizing, but how is sanitation produced and sustained in informal settlements? Although there are data available on aggregate statistics, relatively little is known about how sanitation is created, maintained, threatened, and contested within informal settlements. Drawing on an ethnography of two very different informal settlements in Mumbai, this study identifies key ways in which informal sanitation is produced, rendered vulnerable, and politicized. In particular, four informal urban sanitation processes are examined: patronage, self-managed processes, solidarity and exclusion, and open defecation. The article also considers the implications for a research agenda around informal urban sanitation, emphasizing in particular the potential of a comparative approach, and examines the possibilities for better sanitation conditions in Mumbai and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Numerous health complaints occur with respect to indoor air quality and scanty information is available on the air flora, particularly with respect to bio-aerosols in India. This paper reports a study which examined air quality in a prominent temple in the city of Mumbai. It was found that the indoor microbial load was significantly higher probably because appropriate ventilation systems were lacking. In the festive month of September, the highest bacterial counts (13.98 × 104 CFU/m3) and fungal counts (9.22 × 104 CFU/m3) were observed. Pseudomonas spp. and Aspergillus spp. were found to be predominant in the air microflora sampled. Correlation analysis with meteorological factors such as temperature, relative humidity and wind speed showed that these were non-significant. The study indicated that poor ventilation, number of occupants and their activities in a given area are largely responsible for the variation in microbial loads observed. The data generated underline the question of monitoring crowded areas including places of religious importance. Some remedial measures are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]