Flood‑Induced Health Vulnerability: A Case Study of Nirmal Char in Murshidabad District, West Bengal

Abstract

The chars (riverine sand bars) are poorly connected to the mainland and are prone to natural hazards like floods. Char lands are occupied by people from lower-income groups who have been living in an ecologically fragile landscape. The frequent floods affect the char dwellers’ health and health infrastructures and limit access to health care services. A study has been conducted to assess the health vulnerability of char dwellers in Nirmal Char in the Murshidabad district. The current study explores the impact of floods on the health of char dwellers during pre-flood season which differs from or is similar to flood season. The health vulnerability of the char dwellers was measured in terms of flood exposure, flood sensitivity and flood adaptive capacity. The primary data collected from selected households reveals that the livelihood conditions of most of the char dwellers have been severely affected during the flood, introducing different health-related diseases (i.e. typhoid fever, malaria, diarrhea and dengue) catalysed due to the lack of accessibility to health care facilities. The present study showed that up to 97.87% of households had a high level of vulnerability and 2.13% had a moderate level of vulnerability. We concluded that early flood warning, flood prevention measures and long-term mitigation strategies must be strengthened for char dwellers as they face greater health problems. Therefore, a context-specific sustainable health policy intervention is required to improve the adaption capacity of char dwellers.