COMMUNITY FLOOD DISASTER PREPAREDNESS IN FLOOD-PRONE RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

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Flood is a common disaster globally with devastating impact. Community flood disaster preparedness is neglected in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive, especially in the rural areas. This study assessed and compared the level of community flood disaster preparedness in flood-prone rural and urban communities in Kaduna State. A mixed method comparative cross-sectional study design and multistage sampling technique and data obtained from 202 household heads in each study group (rural and urban communities) using pretested structured questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs) and observational checklist. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the household heads for the quantitative study. Purposive sampling was used to select the community members for the FGDs, the community leaders and staff of Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for the KIIs. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Majority of both the rural (99.0%) and urban (86.1%) communities were not prepared for flood disaster; 34% and 10% of the rural and urban communities respectively had flood disaster plans. Only 19.3% in the urban communities compared with 1% in the rural communities had early warning systems. There was statistically significant difference on community flood disaster preparedness between the urban and rural communities (p =0.001). Overall, the flood preparedness in both rural and urban communities was very poor, though slightly better in the urban communities. There is need for training of the communities by the relevant stakeholder such as SEMA on flood disaster preparedness.