Assessment of People’s Awareness and Perception of Flooding in Donga Town, Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

Flooding is now an annual occurring event in Donga Town especially after heavy rainstorm which is further worsened by the nature of the topography of the area. The knowledge of how the public view flooding is considered a crucial aspect in modern flood management as it steers the development of effective and efficient flood mitigation strategies. This study therefore assessed public perception of flooding in Donga town. Two wards were purposively drawn out of ten wards (Gata Aure and Fada ward). The survey design method was employed in this study. Yamane (1967) method of sample size determination was used to arrive at a sample size of 130 for the study. Systematic random sampling was used in the administration of 130 questionnaires to respondents. Non parametric statistics of Spear Man rank correlation and descriptive statistics (percentages, tables, pie and bar charts) were used to analyze the data. The result of the findings showed that 95% of the respondents were male, 88.4% of the respondents were aware that the area was prone to flooding. Also, about 46.2% perceived that rainfall was the major cause of flooding in the study area. Correlation analysis result was insignificant which implied that in Donga town, educational level of respondents did not influence respondent's awareness level of flooding and that people's perception of flooding was influenced by factors other than respondent's literacy level. The conclusion from the study is that rainfall intensity and amount is the main cause of flooding in Donga town and also individual's response to flooding in the study area is poor. This study recommends the need to educate the people living in the flood plain on the dangers of continuous occupation of the area.

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Spatio-Temporal Assessment of Land Use/Land Cover Change and Its Implications on Donga River Basin, Taraba State, Nigeria

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