Urban Vulnerability Assessment in Flood-Prone Areas in West and East Africa

This study assesses flood vulnerability, levels of vulnerability, determinants of flood vulnerability and coping strategies for flood hazards. The vulnerability and resilience of the local communities are key concepts in this study. Most households are vulnerable to flood hazards. It is therefore important to measure their levels of vulnerability and assess their responses for current and future planning. A flood vulnerability index was used to measure the extent of flood vulnerability. Key informant interviews, field surveys and household questionnaires were used to collect the data. The results show that vulnerability to flood in this community is determined by the nature of soil, dwelling type, employment, education and amount of rainfall in a season. Social and economic components scored higher than the physical environment, while social factors are higher than the economic factors. Contextual coping strategies in this community were temporary relocation, evacuation to a safe area and waiting for government and neighbours to help. The study recommends that public awareness campaigns, early warning systems and improved disaster management strategies must take into consideration differentiated levels of vulnerability and community coping mechanisms and preferences.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An assessment of flood vulnerability and adaptation: A case study of Hamutsha-Muungamunwe village, Makhado municipality

Munyai

Musyoki

Nethengwe

2019

“…It shares some similarities with the PAR and BBC frameworks in areas of vulnerability concept in terms of the exposure, susceptibility and coping/adaptive capacity, as well as assessment at three levels of population groups: individual, household and community. The CLUVA model identifies with four vulnerability dimensions to assess different levels of a unit of analysis (Jean-Baptiste, Kabisch & Kuhlicke 2013 ).…”

Section: Overview Of the Key Vulnerability Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The carefully selected indicators are categorised by the researcher under five vulnerability drivers ( Figure 1 ). These are physical, social, economic, attitudinal and institutional drivers of vulnerability, which were adapted and integrated from an array of studies (Birkmann 2007 ; Chambers 1989 ; Jean-Baptiste et al 2013 ; Vojinović 2015 ) to be appropriate for the community-based flood vulnerability assessment framework in the context of African cities.…”

Section: Flood Vulnerability Assessment Framework For African Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban settlements' vulnerability to flood risks in African cities: A conceptual framework

Salami¹,

Meding²,

Giggins³

2017

In the recent past, the frequency and gravity of large-scale flood disasters have increased globally, resulting in casualties, destruction of property and huge economic loss. The destructive flood disaster devastating Louisiana, USA, is a recent example. Despite the availability of advanced technological capabilities for dealing with floods in developed nations, flood disasters continue to become more rampant and disastrous. Developing countries in Africa such as Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan have recently experienced severe flooding, leaving a considerable number of human casualties and thousands displaced. In African cities, most vulnerable urban residents usually have lesser capacity and fewer resources to recover from the shocks of disaster as a result of the failure of governments to build human security for poor African residents. Many scholars have acknowledged the lack of appropriate vulnerability assessment frameworks and policies, questioning the efficiency and effectiveness of the tested models in Africa. The ability to accurately identify, measure and evaluate the various vulnerabilities of affected people and communities is a right step towards reducing disaster risk. This article aimed at developing a framework for assessing urban settlements’ vulnerability to flood risks in Africa. The framework is currently being tested to assess various dimensions of vulnerability drivers in three urban communities in Ibadan metropolis, the third largest city in Nigeria, focusing more on flood risk perceptions and behaviour of the risk bearers. It uses participatory and mixed method approaches to socially construct vulnerability of populations at risk. This model emanates from the evaluation of considerable relevant literature and an array of vulnerability assessment frameworks. It integrates some approaches that are applicable to African cities in a bid to create a versatile tool to assess, identify and mitigate the effects of flood disaster risk and reduce urban poor’s vulnerability to natural and human-induced hazards.

“…Flood vulnerability involves elements at risk such as the residents of a flood-prone area, a built environment or an ecosystem exposed to flood risk (Merz et al 2007 ). Meanwhile, vulnerability is generally acknowledged by many researchers to consist of three components: degree of exposure, susceptibility and resilience or response capacity of a population in a particular area (Birkmann 2006 ; Jean-Baptiste, Kabisch & Kuhlicke 2013 ; Pandey, Manandhar & Kazama 2014 ; Wisner et al 2004 ). Besides these components, vulnerable communities can be further evaluated through a variety of vulnerability determinant drivers such as physical, social, economic, environmental and political factors (Wisner et al 2004 ).…”

Section: Understanding the Flood Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vulnerability of human settlements to flood risk in the core area of Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria

Salami¹,

Meding²,

Giggins³

2017

Flood disasters continue to wreak havoc on the lives of millions of people worldwide, causing death and massive economic losses. In most African cities, residents and their assets are among the most vulnerable to flood risks in the world. The nature and scale of this urban risk are changing because of the dynamic patterns of land use, unplanned growth and impacts of climate change. Flood risk is the product of the flood hazards, the vulnerability and exposure of the people and their physical environment. In order to minimise flood disaster, there is an urgent need to understand, invest in flood disaster risk reduction for resilience and to enhance disaster preparedness for an effective response as articulated in the recent Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This research utilises a new proposed flood vulnerability assessment framework for flood risk in a traditional community in the heart of Ibadan metropolis, in the context of their households’ exposure, susceptibility and coping capacity through a well-designed questionnaire survey. The study uses descriptive and inferential statistics techniques to provide a detailed understanding of the vulnerability profiles of the community and the levels of residents’ preparedness to mitigate the flood risk. The results of the statistical analysis show that there is a significant relationship between residents’ flood awareness and having previous flood experience, but there is no significant association between their awareness of risk and the level of preparedness for flooding. To minimise exposure and vulnerability to flood risk, we advocate effective adaptation policies to achieve disaster risk reduction and resilience on flood risk rather than focusing merely on reactive measures after disaster strikes.