Integrating community factors in Pakistan’s flood disaster management framework

Abstract

Asia continues to experience a high number of natural disasters, especially floods, with an increased number of deaths and structural losses. Approaches to address these disasters have emphasized on improvement to geophysical and technical mechanisms. An equally useful contribution to disaster management is community development, characterised by enhanced local knowledge. However, there is a lack of study addressing factors which make up local knowledge, thus this research aims to identify those factors among vulnerable communities affected by flood disasters in Pakistan. Based on literature review, factors which form community knowledge were identified and consequently utilized as the latent variables for developing the Structural Equation Model (SEM) for community local knowledge in flood management. In the first phase of the study, a total of 385 questionnaires were administered in seven flood-prone districts of Pakistan. The survey examined the perception on factors making up local knowledge of the selected communities. ANOVA test, Post hoc tests and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were undertaken before comparing the factors to SEM construct. A separate Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was also conducted on the results of a pilot survey before applying the full data to find the underlying structure of local knowledge variables. The results of SEM showed a satisfactory degree of fit explaining R2 45 % of the variance with flood experience, flood risk perception and social capital having a high influence on flood disaster management. The second phase of the study involved an in-depth interview with 30 personnel from government institutions working in the disaster management related fields. The interviews revealed that the flood disaster management in Pakistan is relatively unsatisfactory due to poor planning and weak coordination between various stakeholders. Lack of communication between professionals and vulnerable local communities leads to poor handling of floods in the region. The findings of this thesis highlight the need to enhance community local knowledge generally and in particular to strengthen community readiness and improve stakeholders’ collaboration as measures to reduce disaster risks in the region.