Structural Causes of Vulnerability to Flood Hazard in Pakistan

Abstract

This paper uses recent theoretical advances in the field of h a r d research to inform the analysis of an empirical study on flood hazard conducted in central Palastan. The investigation seeks to understand the causes of vulnerability and their development that culminates in disaster, with the basic presumption that empirical events have causal links going back to societal structures which are not measurable but contain the mechanisms that lead to the events and t h e i r r c e ptions. A case study in five villages of central Pakistan was conducted to un erstand the elements of communities' and social groups' differential vulnerability to flood hazard. The elements of vulnerability are situated within a tripartite conceptual space of vulnerability, composed of entitlement relations, em werment relations, and political economy. A modified "pressure and release" m& was applied to the field survey results to understand the pro ssion of vulnerability from the StNCstudy communities' vulnerability was largely a function of their disempowerment.tural abstract level to the concrete level o r physical disasters. I concluded that the Hazards, by definition, occur only where and when natural extremes and social systems interact (Kates 1971;Kates and Burton 1986; Susman, O'Keefe, and Wisner 1983). Traditionally, hazard-related research and policy has concentrated on the physical events causing disasters. Behavioralist analysis has broadened the discourse on hazards by also addressing individual and organizational perceptions and behavior. In this paper I build upon and go beyond behavioralist analysis to contend that social systems are stressed to

Livelihood change, farming, and managing flood risk in the Lerma Valley, Mexico

“…Blaikie et al (1994) furthered this work to theorize a political ecology approach to disaster and vulnerability, in which both environmental processes and political-economic conditions interact to generate unsafe conditions and, ultimately, the social context of disasters. Research in this vein has illustrated how vulnerability to floods is associated with historical processes of land use change, the politics of resource allocation and political disenfranchisement, and socioeconomic marginalization (e.g., Mustafa 1998;Pelling 1999;Few 2003).…”

Earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorism: do natural disasters incite terror?

“…Poor infrastructure or unsafe construction can significantly increase vulnerability to disasters, and governments often spend less on disaster prevention in areas that are politically weak or hostile (Cohen and Werker 2008). The existing literature has noted that disasters tend to disproportionately affect marginalized or disempowered groups (Albala-Bertrand 1993;Bolin 2007;Cohen and Werker 2008;Mustafa 1998). Along similar lines, the distribution of aid has also been a focus of much research within terrorism literature (Azam and Delacroix 2006;Azam and Thelen 2008;Bandyopadhyay et al 2011;Basuchoudhary and Shughart 2010).…”

Putting adaptive capacity into the context of people’s lives: a case study of two flood-prone communities in Puerto Rico

“…First, technical measures alone do not provide total protection from floods because flood control projects can fail and have failed in the past (Vári and Ferencz 2006;Wisner et al 2004;Wong and Zhao 2001). Second, large-scale flood control projects offer partial solutions, as they do not usually address the social causes of vulnerability (Chan and Parker 1996;Mustafa 1998;Winchester 2000;Wisner et al 2004). Finally, it is inappropriate to treat floods as a characteristic of hazard exposure alone because this focus does not facilitate understanding of the factors that combine to amplify hazard vulnerability and that are linked to everyday lives of people (Few 2003;Mustafa 1998).…”

“…Second, large-scale flood control projects offer partial solutions, as they do not usually address the social causes of vulnerability (Chan and Parker 1996;Mustafa 1998;Winchester 2000;Wisner et al 2004). Finally, it is inappropriate to treat floods as a characteristic of hazard exposure alone because this focus does not facilitate understanding of the factors that combine to amplify hazard vulnerability and that are linked to everyday lives of people (Few 2003;Mustafa 1998). Instead, it is crucial to treat natural hazards vulnerability within the wider context of people's lives so that proposed adaptation strategies make sense and improve local conditions (Davis and Hall 1999;Few 2003;Handmer 2009;Reid and Vogel 2006;Schipper and Pelling 2006;Smit and Wandel 2006;Tschakert 2007;Wisner et al 2004).…”