Assessing and mapping flood hazard, vulnerability and risk in the Upper Brahmaputra River valley using stakeholders’ knowledge and multicriteria evaluation (MCE)

Abstract

Assessing flood hazard, vulnerability and integrated risk has long been recognised as an important input for the formulation of policies aiming at flood risk management. This investigation is an endeavour to assess hazard, vulnerability and risk due to flooding, using an indicator‐based methodology incorporating stakeholders’ knowledge and multicriteria evaluation in geographic information system (GIS) to achieve community‐based assessment. The framework developed in this work is illustrated for the district of Dhemaji, a chronically flood‐affected area in the Upper Brahmaputra River valley. Results show spatial distribution of hotspots of flood hazard and vulnerability and locations at risk at regional and subregional level. The emerged risk pattern indicates that vulnerability indicators are more significant contributors than hazard indicators while calculating risk for the Upper Brahmaputra River valley. The methodology provides a dynamic platform where the flexibility in uses of hazard and vulnerability indicators, depending on variation in physical and socioeconomic setup, is possible.

Application of geospatial technologies in flood hazard assessment of Dhemaji revenue circle, Assam

“…Advancements in GIS and remote sensing have paved the way from flood preparedness to risk mitigation by mapping and monitoring the flood prone areas thereby identifying and understanding the root causes of flooding (17,19) . Various flood prevention methods applied in the study has remained unsuccessful till date so it's an overriding need to consider some alternative strategies (20) . Pertaining to such havoc, it is significant to increase resilience through proper planning and attention must be given on construction of houses on elevated platforms or erecting highlands in settlements for sheltering during flood (19) .…”

“…The impoverishing losses must be addressed through an integrated and participatory approach drawing upon technologies to mitigate flooding and provide rescue and relief in order to cope with the hazard by reducing its risk posed. It is notable that some socio-economic criteria's might also be incorporated in hazard risk studies applying mathematical models to gain better accuracy (20) . Thus, the outcome of the study will comprehend the decision makers and planners in India to evaluate such hazard through mapping and developing effective mitigation strategies.…”

Assessment of check dams’ role in flood hazard mapping in a semi-arid environment

“…This study was conducted drawing on the summaries and methodologies used in Kalantari et al (2014), Gigovi c et al 2017, Malekinezhad et al (2017) and Hazarika et al (2018). Therefore, an index model was developed to identify flood-prone areas with a regional focus in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment.…”

Carbon Soot for Electrochemical Energy Storage Applications

“…This process involves risk analysis on a regular basis and evaluation of hazard based on the latest information, hydrometeorological data, technical developments and altered conditions due to urbanization and land use change. In this context, web based GIS tools have proven to be useful for flood mapping as well as risk mapping (Sanyal and Lu, 2006;Kulkarni et al, 2014, Shivaprasad Sharma et al, 2018Hazarika et al, 2018). Artificial intelligence and computational intelligence methods based on big data analysis are also applied for early flood detection (Fotovatikhah et al, 2018).…”