Case Study: Significant factors in hazard and vulnerability assessments in flood mitigation in Padang City

Abstract

Flood disasters often occur in Padang City due to rainfalls with high intensity and frequency, and are exacerbated by the city located on a flatter coast up to the steep Bukit Barisan. The mountain of Bukit Barisan is parallel to the Padang shoreline, and the distance between them is relatively close, it’s just about 20 km. The present research focuses on the determination of the significant factors in the assessments of both hazard and vulnerability in flood mitigation in Padang City. The hazard assessment in the present study uses indicators of hydro-meteorological, elevation, slope, land use, and flood-frequency data. Whereas the vulnerability assessment uses indicators of Population density, Settlement density, sex ratio and age group ratio data. The results of the present study show that the most significant factors in flood-hazard assessment in Padang City are the land elevation factor from the sea level and the slope factor especially in the upper reaches of the river. Meanwhile, the factors of density levels of both the settlement and population are crucial in the assessment of flood vulnerability in Padang City.