Search Advanced

AIMS Environmental Science

2017, Volume 4, Issue 2: 206-216. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2017.2.206
Previous Article Next Article
Research article Special Issues

An assessment of flood vulnerability in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

  • 1.
    Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department of Geography University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan
  • 2.
    Economics Department at University of Peshawar and Assistant Professor in Economics at Govt. Postgraduate College, Charsadda, Khyber Pukhthunkhwa, Pakistan
  • 3.
    Department of natural resources management, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
  • 4.
    Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management (CDPM), University of Peshawar, Khyber Pukhthunkhwa, Pakistan
  • Received: 01 November 2016 Accepted: 21 February 2017 Published: 27 February 2017

  • In this research we have attempted to measure vulnerability of the communities living in the flood prone area of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Extensive literature review was conducted to identify the flood vulnerability indicators. Primary data were used to achieve the objective of this study. Questionnaires were used to collect the primary data from the selected households and from the director of Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management. Subjective assessment technique was used to allocate weights to the selected indicators of vulnerability. A sample size of 280 respondents was taken from three selected locations of Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar. Simple random sampling was employed for the selection of respondents. Results revealed that overall vulnerability as well as component vulnerability for the selected locations was very high. The study therefore recommends preparedness, provision of funds for building houses with flood resistant materials and building houses in safer places. There is also a need for enhancing the adaptive capacities of the concerned communities through their socio-economic uplift. Implementation of these policies would lower the vulnerability of the communities to flood disasters.

    Citation: Said Qasim, Mohammad Qasim, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha, Amir Nawaz Khan. An assessment of flood vulnerability in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan[J]. AIMS Environmental Science, 2017, 4(2): 206-216. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2017.2.206

    Related Papers:

  • In this research we have attempted to measure vulnerability of the communities living in the flood prone area of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Extensive literature review was conducted to identify the flood vulnerability indicators. Primary data were used to achieve the objective of this study. Questionnaires were used to collect the primary data from the selected households and from the director of Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management. Subjective assessment technique was used to allocate weights to the selected indicators of vulnerability. A sample size of 280 respondents was taken from three selected locations of Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar. Simple random sampling was employed for the selection of respondents. Results revealed that overall vulnerability as well as component vulnerability for the selected locations was very high. The study therefore recommends preparedness, provision of funds for building houses with flood resistant materials and building houses in safer places. There is also a need for enhancing the adaptive capacities of the concerned communities through their socio-economic uplift. Implementation of these policies would lower the vulnerability of the communities to flood disasters.


    加载中
    [1] Fekete A, Brach K (2010) Assessment of Social Vulnerability River Floods in Germany: United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).
    [2] De León Vn, Carlos J (2006) Vulnerability: a conceptional and methodological review: UNU-EHS.
    [3] Balica S, Douben N, Wright N (2009) Flood vulnerability indices at varying spatial scales. Water sci technol 60: 2571-2580. doi: 10.2166/wst.2009.183
    [4] Balica S, Wright NG (2010) Reducing the complexity of the flood vulnerability index. Environ Hazards 9: 321-339. doi: 10.3763/ehaz.2010.0043
    [5] Kumpulainen S (2006) Vulnerability concepts in hazard and risk assessment. Special paper-Geological Survey of Finland 42: 65.
    [6] Adger WN (2006) Vulnerability. Global environ chang 16: 268-281. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.02.006
    [7] Hahn MB, Riederer AM, Foster SO (2009) The Livelihood Vulnerability Index: A pragmatic approach to assessing risks from climate variability and changeâ€"A case study in Mozambique. Global environl chang 19: 74-88. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.11.002
    [8] Balica S, Wright NG, van der Meulen F A (2012) flood vulnerability index for coastal cities and its use in assessing climate change impacts. Nat Hazards 64: 73-105. doi: 10.1007/s11069-012-0234-1
    [9] Balica SF (2012) Applying the Flood Vulnerability Index as a knowledge base for flood risk assessment: TU Delft, Delft University of Technology.
    [10] Fuchs S, Kuhlicke C, Meyer V (2011) Editorial for the special issue: vulnerability to natural hazards-the challenge of integration. Nat Hazards 58: 609-619. doi: 10.1007/s11069-011-9825-5
    [11] Scheuer S, Haase D, Meyer V (2011) Exploring multicriteria flood vulnerability by integrating economic, social and ecological dimensions of flood risk and coping capacity: from a starting point view towards an end point view of vulnerability. Nat Hazards 58: 731-751. doi: 10.1007/s11069-010-9666-7
    [12] Amaratunga D, Haigh R, Bosher L, et al. (2009) Attaining improved resilience to floods: a proactive multi-stakeholder approach. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal 18: 9-22. doi: 10.1108/09653560910938501
    [13] Clark GE, Moser SC, Ratick SJ, et al. (1998) Assessing the vulnerability of coastal communities to extreme storms: the case of Revere, MA., USA. Mitig adapt strat gl 3: 59-82. doi: 10.1023/A:1009609710795
    [14] Kelman I (2003) Physical flood vulnerability of residential properties in coastal, eastern England: University of Cambridge. (Doctoral dissertation).
    [15] Messner F, Meyer V, Flood damage, vulnerability and risk perceptionâ€"challenges for flood damage research. Flood risk management: hazards, vulnerability and mitigation measures: Springer Netherlands, 2006: 149-167.
    [16] Brouwer R, Akter S, Brander L, et al. (2007) Socioeconomic vulnerability and adaptation to environmental risk: a case study of climate change and flooding in Bangladesh. Risk Anal 27: 313-326. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2007.00884.x
    [17] Cutter S, Emrich C, Morath D, et al. (2013) Integrating social vulnerability into federal flood risk management planning. J Flood Risk Manag 6: 332-344. doi: 10.1111/jfr3.12018
    [18] Qasim S, Khan AN, Shrestha RP, et al. (2015) Risk perception of the people in the flood prone Khyber Pukhthunkhwa province of Pakistan. Int J Disast Risk Re 14: 373-378.
    [19] Khan AN, Khan B, Qasim S, et al. (2013) Causes, effects and remedies: A Case study of rural flooding in District Charsadda, Pakistan. J Manag Sci 7: 2.
    [20] Qasim S, Qasim M, Shrestha RP, et al. (2016) Community resilience to flood hazards in Khyber Pukhthunkhwa province of Pakistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 18: 100-106. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.03.009
    [21] yamane T (1967) Statistics: an introductory analysis: Harper & Row New York.
    [22] Sullivan C, Meigh J (2005) Targeting attention on local vulnerabilities using an integrated index approach: the example of the climate vulnerability index. Water sci technol 51: 69-78.
    [23] Cutter SL, Barnes L, Berry M, et al. (2008) A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters. Global environ chang 18: 598-606. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.07.013
    [24] Birkmann J (2007) Risk and vulnerability indicators at different scales: applicability, usefulness and policy implications. Environmental Hazards 7: 20-31. doi: 10.1016/j.envhaz.2007.04.002
    [25] Borden KA, Schmidtlein MC, Emrich CT, et al. (2007) Vulnerability of US cities to environmental hazards. J Homeland Security and Emergency Management 4: 1-21.
    [26] Cutter SL, Burton CG, Emrich CT (2010) Disaster resilience indicators for benchmarking baseline conditions. J Homeland Security and Emergency Management 7.
    [27] Adger WN, Brooks N, Bentham G, et al. (2004) New indicators of vulnerability and adaptive capacity: Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Norwich.
    [28] Adger WN, Kelly PM (1999) Social vulnerability to climate change and the architecture of entitlements. Mitig adapt strat gl 4: 253-266. doi: 10.1023/A:1009601904210
    [29] Rygel L, O'sullivan D, Yarnal B (2006) A method for constructing a social vulnerability index: an application to hurricane storm surges in a developed country. Mitig adapt strat gl 11: 741-764. doi: 10.1007/s11027-006-0265-6
    [30] Dufty N (2010) A new approach to community flood education.
    [31] Gwimbi P (2007) The effectiveness of early warning systems for the reduction of flood disasters: Some experiences from cyclone induced floods in Zimbabwe. J sust dev in Africa 9: 152-169.
    [32] Ravallion M, Chen S, Sangraula P (2009) Dollar a day revisited. The World Bank Economic Review: lhp007.
    [33] Mayunga JS (2007) Understanding and applying the concept of community disaster resilience: a capital-based approach. Summer academy for social vulnerability and resilience building 1: 16.
    [34] Davidson MA (2006) Designing for disasters. Massachusetts coastal hazards commission, NOAA coastal services center.
    [35] Esty DC, Levy M, Srebotnjak T, et al. (2005) Environmental sustainability index: benchmarking national environmental stewardship. New Haven: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy: 47-60.
    [36] Cutter SL, Boruff BJ, Shirley WL (2003) Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Social science quarterly 84: 242-261. doi: 10.1111/1540-6237.8402002
    [37] Miceli R, Sotgiu I, Settanni M (2008) Disaster preparedness and perception of flood risk: A study in an alpine valley in Italy. J Environ Psychol 28: 164-173. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.10.006
    [38] Grothmann T, Reusswig F (2006) People at risk of flooding: why some residents take precautionary action while others do not. Nat Hazards 38: 101-120. doi: 10.1007/s11069-005-8604-6
    [39] Ludy J, Kondolf GM (2012) Flood risk perception in lands "protected" by 100-year levees. Nat Hazards 61: 829-842. doi: 10.1007/s11069-011-0072-6
    [40] Botzen WJW, Aerts J, Van Den Bergh J (2009) Dependence of flood risk perceptions on socioeconomic and objective risk factors. Water Resour Res, 45(10).
    [41] Cutter SL, Emrich CT (2006) Moral hazard, social catastrophe: The changing face of vulnerability along the hurricane coasts. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 604: 102-112. doi: 10.1177/0002716205285515
    [42] Ho MC, Shaw D, Lin S, et al. (2008) How do disaster characteristics influence risk perception? Risk Anal 28: 635-643. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01040.x
    [43] Tapsell SM, Penning-Rowsell EC, Tunstall SM, et al. (2002) Vulnerability to flooding: health and social dimensions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 360: 1511-1525. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2002.1013
    [44] Bradford R, O'Sullivan J, Van der Craats I, et al. (2012) Risk perception issues for flood management in Europe. Nat hazard earth sys scie 12: 2299-2309. doi: 10.5194/nhess-12-2299-2012
    [45] Braun B, Aßheuer T (2011) Floods in megacity environments: vulnerability and coping strategies of slum dwellers in Dhaka/Bangladesh. Nat Hazard 58: 771-787. doi: 10.1007/s11069-011-9752-5
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2017 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索
AIMS Environmental Science
0.7

Metrics

Article views(1839) PDF downloads(1010) Cited by(6)

Download PDF
Download XML
Export Citation
Article outline

Figures and Tables

Tables(3)

Other Articles By Authors

Related pages

Tools

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog