Community perceptions and response to flood risks in Nyando District, Western Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, the ability of local people to resist the impact of disasters has not been given adequate attention.A descriptive cross sectional study sought to investigate community perceptions and responses to ood risks in low and high risk areas of the Nyando District, Western Kenya. A total of 528 households, six government o cials and ve project managers of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were interviewed. Additionally, seven Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) involving three women, two male and two teacher groups were conducted. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Program. e Chi-square test was used to determine associations and di erences between variables. In the study, 83% of the respondents were aware of Traditional Flood Knowledge (TFK) and 80% acknowledged its use. Perception of the risk is in uenced by several variables, most notably past experience of major oods and having survived them. Residents in the high risk areas had signi cantly higher levels of awareness and use of traditional ood knowledge. ey were more aware of the nature of the ood related health risks they were exposed to and appeared better prepared for future ood risk. ey were, however, more dependent on external aid. On the other hand, residents living in the low risk area reported better success with their response mechanisms. ABSTRACTFlood Risk Perception, local coping capacity KEYWORDS 347

Coping strategies of households affected by flooding: A case study of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in Ghana

“…Thus, the idea was to protect lives and properties, then, think of recovery strategies afterwards. This finding is in line with a study conducted by Nyakundi et al (2010) which discovered that affected families in areas inclined to flooding usually vacate their homes and move to camps or homes of friends and relatives. Clearing of blocked gutters, construction of flood steps, elevation of land before building and placing valuables on shelves were the main preventive tactics employed by residents in flood-prone communities.…”

“…It was also discovered that collateral requirements and high interest rates prevented many flood victims from borrowing money from banks and credit unions to recover from their losses. This reflects on other studies in which poor households affected by flooding sometimes borrowed money and food from close associates instead of going for formal loans (Nuorteva 2009, Nyakundi et al 2010. One other revelation from the study was that the coping strategies used by the respondents varied by their places of residence.…”

Socio-economic characteristics of the community that determine ability to uptake precautionary measures to mitigate flood disaster in Kano Plains, Kisumu County, Kenya

“…This is approach is comparable to disaster response in Kano Plains where a number of projects only address one type of hazard: floods. In this area, the limited intervention for disaster risk reduction has consisted mainly of conventional methods such as structural techniques and the provision of relief (Nyakundi et al 2010). This study and Nyakundi et al (2010) indicate a growing belief and dependency on technical approach such as dykes seemingly to be the only method to control the floods.…”

“…In this area, the limited intervention for disaster risk reduction has consisted mainly of conventional methods such as structural techniques and the provision of relief (Nyakundi et al 2010). This study and Nyakundi et al (2010) indicate a growing belief and dependency on technical approach such as dykes seemingly to be the only method to control the floods. Awareness of other measures for flood mitigation such as public education is still very low.…”

Loss and damage from flooding in the Gambela region, Ethiopia

“…At the national level, extreme floods may bring back development by some years (Pauw et al, 2010) and threaten national food security (Del Ninno et al, 2003). At the household level, a flood may leave people without shelter (Hernández-Guerrero et al, 2012), limit possibilities to get involved in economic activities (Linnekamp et al, 2011), and may increase the burden of diseases (Nyakundi et al, 2010;McCann et al, 2011). The severity of flood impacts may further increase in the future due to climate change.…”