Assessing Local Community Response and Vulnerabilities to Flood Risks: A Case Study of Agra Union Council, District Charsadda, Pakistan

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17626667

Abstract

Floods are also one of the most devastating natural calamities to hit Pakistan, especially the District Charsadda in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which has experienced one of the worst floods given that the area lies at the meetup of Kabul and Swat rivers. This paper will inquire about assessing local community reaction to the vulnerabilities of floods within the flood-prone Agra Union Council at the level of economy, physical, psychological, and social aspects of vulnerability. Employing the instrument of quantitative cross-sectional survey carried out among 150 male respondents aged 18 to 65, the project collected the data through structured questionnaire administration and analyzed it considering the descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests, which allowed investigating the connection between the vulnerability factors and the community reactions.

The findings show that poverty plays a massive role in making the situation of flood vulnerability stronger since the poor income households tend to settle in the floodable areas and stay in the humble constructed mud houses which lack professional advice and are not raised. Preparedness and resilience is determined by economic status, whereby, individuals with low economic status/means have more crop losses and more damage of housing. Mental effects such as anxiety, depression, and fear due to flooding were widespread and disadvantaged the coping abilities. Social vulnerabilities are reflected not only in poor governmental and NGO responses but also in the existence of some of the flood warning systems and collaboration within communities.

Major bivariate relationships point to the inseparability of the relationships amid the economic, physical, psychological, and social vulnerabilities in defining community response patterns. Even though with the direct experience of the flood, residents are prepared to a certain degree; there are still some gaps on the structural, informational, and institutional levels.

The proposed policy offered in the study would incorporate comprehensive flood risk reduction-focused policies on economic uplifts, improved infrastructures (sidewalls, drainage), professionally informed housing construction, mental health care, increased early warning systems, and government, and non-governmental action. Such attempts are essential in developing resilience and adaptive capacity of flood-affected populations in Charsadda and other similar areas.