Abstract
Tal and Diara regions of Malda district are extremely prone to floods, still, report higher population density than the state's average density. This indicates that the local population has learned to live with floods by developing resilience to the flood threat through better preparedness, coping, and adaptive strategies. Such micro-level strategies developed by the local people can be useful to policymakers and social scientists alike in terms of better mitigating the flood menace and associated vulnerability. This paper attempts to measure and compare the level of flood resilience of the local people living in Tal and Diara at the household level. Furthermore, the article aims to analyse whether the distance from the major flood-causing rivers, viz. Fulhar in Tal and Ganga in Diara play a role in the degree of resilience of the population to floods. The paper is empirical, where information has been collected from sample households and focus group discussion with village elders in two sets of villages, i.e., Maniknagar and Ratua in Tal and Gopalpur and Nurpur in Diara. The UNDP technique has been used to compute the composite Resilience Index (RI) consisting of Preparedness Index (PI), Immediate Coping Index (ICI), and Adaptive Index (AI). The findings suggest that the villages located in and around the levees of major flood-causing rivers, viz. Maniknagar in Tal and Gopalpur in Diara records a higher level of resilience to floods in comparison to the interior villages, viz. Ratua in Tal and Nurpur in Diara. The paper concludes that in both Tal and Diara, people have learned to cope and adapt to floods and that the closer the distance from the major flood-causing rivers, the higher the villagers' resilience to flood hazards.
Highlights
The frequency and intensity of weather-related threats such as floods are increasing due to climate change, exposing more people to risk and associated vulnerability.[1]
This article highlights the proactive role of the local population to minimise flood risk by developing adequate preparedness, coping, and adaptive measures that are implemented at the household level in the two physiographic units of Malda district, namely Tal and Diara.an attempt has been made to determine whether the distance from the major flood-causing rivers, viz. Fulhar in Tal and Ganga in Diara, plays a role in the level of preparedness, coping, and adaptive strategies adopted by the people,implying their degree of resilience to floods and, thereby, lowering their level of vulnerability
Six indicators suggesting the level of preparedness indicate that with in Tal and Diara, the surveyed villages located near the rivers Fulhar and Ganga, viz. Maniknagar and Gopalpur show substantially higher levels of preparedness strategies to mitigate flood menace compared to the interior set of villages located at a distance from the rivers Fulhar and Ganga, viz. Ratua and Nurpur, respectively (Fig. 3)
Summary
The frequency and intensity of weather-related threats such as floods are increasing due to climate change, exposing more people to risk and associated vulnerability.[1]. The other aspect of vulnerability is internal, which pertains to the coping and adapting strategies adopted by the population at the individual/household/community level to improve their resilience.[12] Vulnerability of the population decreases as resilience increases. In this context, the present article moves away from the traditional approach to flood risk management, focusing on the role of government/external agencies in reducing flood risk and protecting life, land, and property through the development of technical infrastructure and providing flood relief to affected people during and after the hazard. This article highlights the proactive role of the local population to minimise flood risk by developing adequate preparedness, coping, and adaptive measures that are implemented at the household level in the two physiographic units of Malda district, namely Tal and Diara.an attempt has been made to determine whether the distance from the major flood-causing rivers, viz. Fulhar in Tal and Ganga in Diara, plays a role in the level of preparedness, coping, and adaptive strategies adopted by the people,implying their degree of resilience to floods and, thereby, lowering their level of vulnerability
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