Flood risk perception, disaster preparedness and response in flood-prone urban communities of Rivers State
Abstract
Rapid urbanisation is contributing to increasing societal vulnerability to disaster. This study
aimed at exploring the perception on flood risk and ascertaining the determinants of disaster
preparedness among residents in flood-prone urban communities. Descriptive statistics and
discriminant regression model were employed on primary data collected from 240 urban
households across five communities at risk of flooding in the study area. The results showed
that most households had low awareness of flood risk and exhibit low levels of adaptive
capacity, having adopted little or no measures to deal with disaster floods. Also, awareness of
flood risk was observed to discriminate the most between the two groups of adopters and
nonadopters of flood preventive and management measures (proxy for disaster preparedness),
followed by flood risk perception, age, location and household size.
Contribution: The study suggests an integrated approach (a combination of preventive,
protective and control measures) by all stakeholders, including government and other relevant
bodies, increasing public awareness of flood risk and its attending effects for greater
responsiveness, supporting communities in regular clearing of drainage areas and strictly
regulating the construction of buildings, particularly in flood prone areas.