Abstract
Risk perception plays a vital part in flood risk management and mitigation strategies. Therefore, this study aims at first to measure the risk perception of the vulnerable households in the rural areas of Pakistan and, second, to assess the determinants and to estimate their impacts on risk perception among different groups of households. Data were collected through questionnaire survey from 382 respondents in two districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Risk perception was measured through a Likert scale for a set of indicators, and the composite index was calculated. Moreover, univariate and multivariate logistic models were applied to explore the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Results of risk perception show that 50.52% of the respondents perceived a high risk of floods in the study area. Results of regression models show that the age group 40–50 years was less likely to perceive a high risk of floods. Respondents with flood experience, education (higher secondary and above), household location (near the bank of streams) and household distance from the river (≤ 500) were more likely to perceive high floods risk. Furthermore, respondents in the riverine flood-prone areas perceived high flood risk than respondents in the flash flood-prone regions. The study contributes in terms of useful information about the risk perception of floods and the determinants of flood risk perception in rural areas. These findings can help the provincial disaster management authorities and local disaster management units in understanding flood risk and implementing relevant interventions at the local level that can be used in adaptation to floods and other climate-induced disasters.
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Notes
‘Khawar’ is the local name used for streams and dry torrents in the study area.
A union council is the lowest tier of administrative units at the local level.
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Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the study participants for their participation in the study. The first author acknowledges the scholarship provided by the Asian Institute of Technology and International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Japan, for exchange program to complete this study.
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The Research Ethical Review Committee of the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, approved this study. Similarly, approval was granted by the Tehsil Municipal Administration in the respective union councils for data collection in the study area. In addition, data collection was obtained only after the respondents’ written consent. Similarly, the authors followed all the standard protocols required to perform this study.
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Ullah, F., Saqib, S.E., Ahmad, M.M. et al. Flood risk perception and its determinants among rural households in two communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Nat Hazards 104, 225–247 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04166-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04166-7