Abstract
Flooding constitutes the most predominant natural disaster in India. The degree and causes of vulnerability to flood risk vary by society, geographical region and over time. The rural people of India are highly vulnerable to flood hazards due to high dependence on natural resources for livelihood and poor socio-economic situations. The information regarding the degree of vulnerability of these people is limited. In order to formulate improved adaption policies and effective programmes to reduce vulnerability, it is crucial to quantify the vulnerability of rural households affected by floods at a regional level. Our study provides insight into the vulnerability of rural households affected by floods in India. We use primary data of 220 flood-prone rural households of Odisha state in India for analysis. The vulnerability is analysed using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index and the Socio-economic Vulnerability Index. Our results show that these households are vulnerable to flood in more than one dimension. Sociodemographic characteristics such as a low literacy rate, a high dependency ratio and a weak housing structure increase these residents’ vulnerability. Access to social networks and social institutions plays a significant role in uplifting poor rural households. Our study concludes that the vulnerability of a household is governed by both non-climatic factors and the incidence of floods. The findings of our study may be considered in developing policies and programmes that will reduce the flood risk. The recommendations we suggested in this study can be applied in other south Asian counties with similar socio-economic profiles.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
ST and SC are terms used in the Indian Constitution to refer to specific tribal and caste groups that face social exclusion and are granted administrative and welfare privileges to help offset their disadvantage (Thomas et al. 2015). ST and SC continue to be among the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in India and have some of the lowest health outcomes in the country (Balarajan et al. 2011)
The MPCE for rural Odisha and urban Odisha is 904.79 rupees and 1830.35 rupees, respectively; the national MPCE average is 1287.17 rupees for rural areas and 2477.03 rupees for urban areas
References
Abbas A, Amjath-Babu TS, Kächele H, Müller K (2015) Non-structural flood risk mitigation under developing country conditions: an analysis on the determinants of willingness to pay for flood insurance in rural Pakistan. Nat Hazard 75:2119–2135. doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1415-x
Adger NW (1999) Social vulnerability to climate change and extremes in coastal Vietnam. World Dev 27:249–269. doi:10.1016/S0305-750X(98)00136-3
Adger WN (2003) Social capital, collective action and adaptation to climate change. Econ Geogr 79:387–404
Ahsan MN, Warner J (2014) The socioeconomic vulnerability index: a pragmatic approach for assessing climate change led risks—A case study in the south-western coastal Bangladesh. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 8:32–49. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2013.12.009
Aryal S, Cockfield G, Maraseni TN (2014) Vulnerability of Himalayan transhumant communities to climate change. Clim Chang 125:193–208. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1157-5
Bahinipati CS (2014) Assessment of vulnerability to cyclones and floods in Odisha, India: a district-level analysis. Curr Sci 107(12):2000–2007
Balarajan Y, Selvaraj S, Subramanian SV (2011) Health care 1 and equity in India. Lancet 377:505–515. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61894-6
Barrett CB, Reardon T, Webb P (2001) Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications. Food Policy 26:315–331. doi:10.1016/s0306-9192(01)00014-8
Béné C (2009) Are fishers poor or vulnerable? assessing economic vulnerability in small-scale fishing communities. J Dev Stud 45:911–933. doi:10.1080/00220380902807395
Benson C, Twigg J, Myers M (2001) NGO initiatives in risk reduction: an overview. Disasters 25(3):199–215. doi:10.1111/1467-7717.00172
Beura D (2015) Floods in Mahanadi river, Odisha, India: its causes and management. Int J Eng Appl Sci (IJEAS) 2(2):51–55
Brenkert AL, Malone EL (2005) Modelling vulnerability and resilience to climate change: a case study of India and Indian states. Clim Chang 72:57–102. doi:10.1007/s10584-005-5930-3
Brody SD, Zahran S, Vedlitz A, Grover H (2008) Examining the relationship between physical vulnerability and public perceptions of global climate change in the United States. Environ Behav 40(1):72–95. doi:10.1177/0013916506298800
Brouwer R, Akter S, Brander L, Haque E (2007) Socioeconomic vulnerability and adaptation to environmental risk: a case study of climate change and flooding in Bangladesh. Risk Anal 27:313–326. doi:10.1111/j.1539-6924.2007.00884.x
Burton C, Cutter S (2008) Levee failures and social vulnerability in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta area California. Nat Hazard Rev 9(3):136–149. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1527-6988(2008)9:3(136)
Central Water Commission (2012) Hand book for flood protection, anti-erosion and river training works. Flood Management Organisation, Government of India, New Delhi
Chittibabu P, Dube SK, Macnabb JB, Murty TS, Rao AD, Mohanty UC, Sinha PC (2004) Mitigation of flooding and cyclone hazard in Orissa, India. Nat Hazard 31:455–485. doi:10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000023362.26409.22
CRED (2015) India country profile of natural disasters, EM-DAT: The international disaster database. http://www.emdat.be/disaster_profiles/index.html. Accessed 3 August 2015
Cutter SL (2008) Vulnerability analysis for environmental hazards. Encyclopedia of quantitative risk analysis and assessment. In Melnick Everitt BS (eds). John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. Chichester, England. Doi: 10.1002/9780470061596.risk0330 edited by and Brian. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Cutter SL, Boruff BJ, Shirley WL (2003) Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Soc Sci Q 84:242–261. doi:10.1111/1540-6237.8402002
DCO (2011) District census handbook: Puri. Directorate of Census Operations, Census of India 2011, Odisha, Series-22, Part XII-B
Deshpande MS (2010) History of the Indian caste system and its impact on India today. Senior project social sciences department, College of liberal arts, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Dilley M, Boudreau TE (2001) Coming to terms with vulnerability: a critique of the food security definition. Food Policy 26:229–247. doi:10.1016/S0306-9192(00)00046-4
Ford JD, Smit B (2004) A framework for assessing 1 the vulnerability of communities in the Canadian Arctic to risks associated with climate change. Arctic 57 (4):398–400. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic516
Ford JD, Smit B, Wandel J (2006) Vulnerability to climate change in the Arctic: a case study from Arctic Bay, Canada. Glob Environ Chang 16:145–160. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.11.007
Gentle P, Thwaites R, Race D, Alexander K (2014) Differential impacts of climate change on communities in the middle hills region of Nepal. Nat Hazard 74:815–836. doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1218-0
Government of India (2011) Census of India primary census Abstract e Odisha e2011. Government of India, New Delhi
Government of Odisha (2013) Disaster management plan for Odisha. Department of Agriculture, Odisha
Government of Odisha (2015) Odisha economic survey 2014–15. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Odisha
Gray C, Mueller V (2012) Drought and population mobility in rural Ethiopia. World Dev 40:134–145. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.05.023
Gupta S, Javed A, Datt D (2003) Economics of flood protection in India. Nat Hazard 28:199–210. doi:10.1023/a:1021142404009
Hahn MB, Riederer AM, Foster SO (2009) The livelihood vulnerability index: a pragmatic approach to assessing risks from climate variability and change—A case study in Mozambique. Glob Environ Chang 19:74–88. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.11.002
Heltberg R, Siegel PB, Jorgensen SL (2009) Addressing human vulnerability to climate change: toward a ‘no-regrets’ approach. Glob Environ Chang 19:89–99. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.11.003
IISD (2003) Livelihoods and climate change: combining disaster risk reduction, natural resource management and climate change adaptation in a new approach to the reduction of rural poverty. IUCN-IISD-SEI-IC task force on climate change, vulnerable communities and adaptation. Canada. pp24. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2003/natres_livelihoods_cc.pdf. Accessed 15 August 2015
IPCC (2007). Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. In: Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hanson CE (eds) Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 976
Ismail AM, Singh US, Singh S, Dar MH, Mackill DJ (2013) The contribution of submergence tolerant (Sub1) rice varieties to food security in flood-prone rainfed lowland areas in Asia. Field Crops Research 152:83–93. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2013.01.007
Israel GD (1992) Sampling the evidence of extension program impact. Program evaluation and organisational development, IFAS, University of Florida. PEOD- 5. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PD/PD00500.pdf. Accessed 06 July 2016
Kelly PM, Adger WN (2000) Theory and practice in assessing vulnerability to climate change and facilitating adaptation. Clim Chang 47:325–352. doi:10.1023/A:1005627828199
Lokshin M, Yemtsov R (2001) Household strategies for coping with poverty and social exclusion in post-crisis Russia. World Bank policy research working paper (2556). http://ssrn.com/abstract=632623. http://go.worldbank.org/0IX1HGHAG0. Accessed 01 July 2015
López-Marrero T, Yarnal B (2010) Putting adaptive capacity 1 into the context of people’s lives: a case study of two flood-prone communities in Puerto Rico. Nat Hazard 52:277–297. doi:10.1007/s11069-009-9370-7
Mariwah S (2012) Shylock versus Antonio: informal money lending in rural communities in the Jaman north district, Ghana. J Sustain Dev Africa 14(2):150–161
McCarthy JJ, Canziani OF, Leary NA, Dokken DJ, White KS (2001) Climate change 2001: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the third assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Mills D, Béné C, Ovie S, Tafida A, Sinaba F, Kodio A, Russell A, Andrew N, Morand P, Lemoalle J (2011) Vulnerability in African small-scale fishing communities. J Int Dev 23:308–313. doi:10.1002/jid.1638
Mishra SK, Mishra N (2010) Vulnerability and adaptation analysis in flood affected areas of Orissa. Soc Chang 40:175–193. doi:10.1177/004908571004000205
Mishra S, Mazumdar S, Suar D (2010) Place attachment and flood preparedness. J Environ Psychol 30:187–197. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.11.005
Mishra D, Sahu NC, Sahoo D (2016) Impact of climate change on agricultural production of Odisha (India): a Ricardian analysis. Reg Environ Chang 16:575–584. doi:10.1007/s10113-015-0774-5
Mohapatra M, Mohanty UC (2004) Some characteristics of low pressure systems and summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa. Curr Sci 87(9):1245–1255
Mustafa D (2003) Reinforcing vulnerability? Disaster relief, recovery, and response to the 2001 flood in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Glob Environ Chang Part B Environ Hazard 5:71–82. doi:10.1016/j.hazards.2004.05.001
Paavola J (2008) Livelihoods, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in Morogoro, Tanzania. Environ Sci Policy 11:642–654. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2008.06.002
Paltasingh KR, Goyari P (2013) Analyzing growth and instability in subsistence agriculture of Odisha: evidence from major crops. Agric Econ Res Rev 26:67–78
Pandey R, Jha S (2011) Climate vulnerability index—measure of climate change vulnerability to communities: a case of rural Lower Himalaya, India. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Chang 17:487–506. doi:10.1007/s11027-011-9338-2
Patnaik U, Narayanan K (2010) Vulnerability and coping to disasters: a study of household behaviour in flood prone region of India. MPRA Paper 21992, University Library of Munich, Germany
Perch-Nielson S, Battig M, Imboden D (2008) Exploring the link between climate change and migration. Clim Chang 91(3–4):375–393. doi:10.1007/s10584-008-9416-y
Planning Commission of India (2013) Press note on poverty estimates, 2011e12. Government of India, New Delhi
Pruthi RK (2004) Indian caste system. Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi
Rakodi C, Jones TL (2015) Urban livelihoods: a people-centred approach to reducing poverty. Routledge, New York
Ray R (2007) Changes in food consumption and 1 the implications for food security and undernourishment: India in the 1990s. Dev Chang 38:321–343. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00414.x
Ray-Bennett NS (2009) The influence of caste, class and gender in surviving multiple disasters: a case study from Orissa, India. Environ Hazard 8:5–22. doi:10.3763/ehaz.2009.0001
Rejani R, Jha M, Panda S (2009) Simulation-optimization modelling for sustainable groundwater management in a coastal basin of Orissa, India. Water Resour Manag 23:235–263. doi:10.1007/s11269-008-9273-5
Sam AS, Kumar R, Kächele H, Müller K (2016) Quantifying household vulnerability triggered by drought: evidence from rural India. Climate Dev. doi:10.1080/17565529.2016.1193461
Sanyal J, Lu XX (2005) Remote sensing and GIS-based flood vulnerability assessment of human settlements: a case study of Gangetic West Bengal, India. Hydrol Process 19:3699–3716. doi:10.1002/hyp.5852
Savath V, Fletschner D, Peterman A, Santos F (2014) Land, assets, and livelihoods: gendered analysis of evidence from Odisha state in India. IFPRI, New York
Shah KU, Dulal HB, Johnson C, Baptiste A (2013) Understanding livelihood vulnerability to climate change: applying the livelihood vulnerability index in Trinidad and Tobago. Geoforum 47:125–137. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.04.004
Singh NP, Bantilan C, Byjesh K (2014) Vulnerability and policy relevance to drought in the semi-arid tropics of Asia—a retrospective analysis. Weather Clim Extremes 3:54–61. doi:10.1016/j.wace.2014.02.002
Subudhi RN, Ram JK (2012) Operational efficiency of regional rural banks and other commercial banks of Odisha India: a comparative study. Arab J Bus Manag Rev (Nigerian Chapter) 1(1):50–64
Sullivan C, Meigh JR, Fediw TS (2002) Derivation and testing of the water poverty index phase1, Final Report. Department for International Development, UK
Thomas D, Sarangi BL, Garg A, Ahuja A, Meherda P, Karthikeyan SR, Joddar P, Kar R, Pattnaik J, Druvasula R, Dembo Rath A (2015) Closing the health and nutrition gap in Odisha, India: a case study of how transforming the health system is achieving greater equity. Soc Sci Med 145:154–162. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.06.010
UNDP (2007) Human development report 2007/2008: fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world. Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Wagstaff A, van Doorslaer E (2003) Catastrophe and impoverishment in paying for health care: with applications to Vietnam 1993–98. Health Econ 12:921–934. doi:10.1002/hec.776
Waite L (2000) How is household vulnerability gendered? 1 Female-headed households in the collectives of Suleimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan. Disasters 24:153–172. doi:10.1111/1467-7717.00139
World Bank (2008) Climate change impacts in drought and flood affected areas: case studies in India, Sustainable Development Department, South Asia Region, New Delhi
Yamane T (1967) Statistics: an introductory analysis, 2nd edn. Harper and Row, New York, p 886
Yohe G, Tol RSJ (2002) Indicators for social and economic coping capacity-moving toward a working definition of adaptive capacity. Glob Environ Chang 12:25–40. doi:10.1016/S0959-3780(01)00026-7
Zoleta-Nantes DB (2002) Differential impacts of flood hazards among the street children, the urban poor and residents of wealthy neighbourhoods in metro Manila, Philippines. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Chang 7:239–266. doi:10.1023/a:1024471412686
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for the financial support for the research. We would also like to thank Stiftung Fiat Panis for their financial support during data collection. We are also grateful to Nagesh Barik of CIFA, Odisha, for the help and support provided during data collection. We honour the contribution of people in the research site for their responses and support during the data collection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sam, A.S., Kumar, R., Kächele, H. et al. Vulnerabilities to flood hazards among rural households in India. Nat Hazards 88, 1133–1153 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2911-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2911-6