Loss and damage from flooding in the Gambela region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract:In this article, we explore the ways in which people in the Ethiopian Gambela region dealt with the extreme flood that occurred in 2007, with specific attention to the associated loss and damage, i.e., the impacts that people were not able to avoid through preventive and coping measures. We found that all of the 431 surveyed households took preventive measures such as the construction of boundary walls, harvesting premature crops and digging drainage ditches to divert the flood away from croplands. However, these could not prevent widespread negative effects such as damage to houses and crops, the outbreak of diseases, and loss of livestock. To deal with the adverse effects, 50% of the respondents relied on the help of relatives, neighbours or friends for food and money. Such assistance appeared crucial. People were, however, worried about over-using their social networks, especially with floods occurring more regularly. Widening people's agricultural and non-agricultural options, for example through investments in micro-finance services and irrigation systems, will help to increase their coping capacity.

Loss and damage from climate change: local-level evidence from nine vulnerable countries

“…The case studies in Ethiopia (Haile et al, 2013) and Nepal (Bauer, 2013) focused on flooding. Both case studies looked more closely at preventive measures, such as digging ditches, erecting boundary walls and moving property and livestock to unaffected areas.…”

Digging Deeper: Inside Africa’s Agricultural, Food and Nutrition Dynamics

“…The Ethiopian case study, which looked at floods, added an impact domain to the questionnaire, namely health. This was a useful addition as 92% of households affected reported health impacts, particularly water-borne diseases (Haile et al 2013). For each impact domain, respondents were asked -in an open question -to specify how droughts or floods had affected their households.…”

“…Buying cheaper, less nutritious food was one way of dealing with this situation but most households had to reduce their portion sizes or the number of meals they had as well (Yaffa 2013). Haile et al (2013) studied loss and damage due to flooding in the Gambella Region in Ethiopia. The research area floods very frequently but the degree of flooding is usually moderate.…”

“…The study found that these preventive measures minimized flood impacts in most years when floods were moderate. However, when the area was hit by extremely high water levels in 2007, virtually none of the households were able to avoid losses and damage to their farms, houses, property, livestock and granaries (Haile et al 2013).…”

“…However, repeated floods erode this social capital, overburden social networks and leave affected households in a more vulnerable position with each subsequent flood (Haile et al 2013). …”