Evaluating urban growth and its implication on flood hazard and vulnerability in Srinagar city, Kashmir Valley, using geoinformatics

Abstract

The present study investigates the urban growth in the Srinagar city of Kashmir Valley during 1972–2014 and the effect of 2014 Kashmir flood on the urban environment. Srinagar is the capital city in Kashmir Valley which has been affected by the devastating flood in 2014. The built-up growth for the past 42 years was 1565% with concomitant population growth of 224% in the Srinagar city. The built-up development was more pronounced in the central part of the city and along the river Jhelum during 1972–1989 which later on spread largely in the southernmost part of Srinagar city during the period of 1996–2014. High-Resolution Satellite (HRS) data-based observations indicated that 2014 flood inundation occupied 108 sq. km area within the Srinagar municipal limits. The increase of built-up inundation was monitored from 1972 to 2014, which reveals that the built-up inundation was 3.7 sq. km and increased to 39.2 sq. km. The spatial analysis revealed that nine wards located in the topographically low regions and in the proximity to Jhelum river were completely (100%) inundated during the flood. The past built-up inundation spatial analysis with reference to 2014 flood inundation indicated decrease in the percentage built-up area inundation (72.4% in 1972 to 46% in 2014) which reveals that the new built-up growth in the Srinagar city mostly occurred in the relatively safer zones. It is also observed that very high flood hazard and vulnerability zones were located in the western, southern, and central parts of the city in only 10 wards which rendered these wards with very high flood risk. The study demonstrated that geoinformatics-based spatial analysis of flood inundation can be effectively used for flood risk and related strategic planning.