An Assessment of the Causes and Health Implications of Flood Disaster on Health and Development
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of Study
The specific objectives of the study were as follows:
- To identify the impact which floods have had on the socio-economic livelihoods of the people in Oko-Anala;
- To establish and analyze the underlying causes of vulnerability of the people in Oko-Anala community;
- To establish vulnerable groups that are most affected by floods including gender considerations;
- To identify coping mechanisms employed by the community during floods and strengthen positive coping strategies;
- To establish cultural impact on traditional patterns of life and work, family structures and authority, religious and tribal factors, archeological factors and social networks.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Flooding remains the most frequently reported costliest disaster worldwide, accounting for over 40% of natural worldwide disaster (tapsell and tunstall 2007). It is in fact the most common of all environmental hazards and it regularly claims over 20,000 lives per year and affects around 75 million people worldwide (smith 2006). Floods cause about one third of all damages from natural disaster (Akin 2009).
Flood is a body of water which rises to overflow land, which is normally submergered (National Environmental Survey/Action Team, NEST 1991). They are environmental hazards that occur regularly every year in different parts of the country especially during the rainy season. Flood water overflow expanse of land, submerging the land. Flood occurrence is usually due to the increase in the volume of water within the water body such as rivers and lakes. This causes water to exceed the drainage channel capacity and overflow its bounds.
Flooding occurs also when excess runoff is created owing to the inability of the soil to infiltrate water or when the soil has reached its field capacity or saturation. The result is excess runoff which submerges the landscape. This form of flooding is particularly the case in most urban centers of the world and Nigeria in particular, where urbanization has disturbed or altered the natural process of infiltration.
In many urban centers in the country, the dry season brings joy and relief even when the taps are dry, while the rainy season spells agonizing discomfort and the fight to keep life and property from flood devastation. In urban centers in the country, especially in the flood prone coastal areas of the country, floods has posed serious threat to life and property and rendered thousands of people homeless. (Report from National Technical Committee on Water on 5th august, 2008).
The general effect of flooding is very intense both in magnitude and impact. Its occurrence has constantly reduced land use and property value while the cost of living is in persistent rise. The impact of floods in our environment can be viewed from two different perspectives. Its impact on the natural environment on one hand and its impact on the built or artificial environment on the other hand. However, flood impact on the built environment (i.e. the urban Area) is far more devastating in nature due to human activities and increased population.
Flood, according to Resonzweig (2009) can be defined as an unusual accumulation of water above the ground, which is caused by high tides , heavy rainfall, or rapid run off from paved surfaces. Some rivers are known to have natural flood plains. The most serious floods occur along coastal areas. In these areas, heavy rainfall and poor soil combine to cause flooding.
Burrus T.L. (1990) defined floods as when more water is brought into drainage channel than the channel can carry. The excess overflow the banks and spread out to the surrounding lands, producing the flood condition (flooding).
Hendrick (2007) defined flood as any overland flow over urban land sufficient to cause significant property damage, traffic obstruction, nuisance and health hazards which include river flood, flash flood and damages. This research is focused don the problems and prospects of flooding in Loko, Nasarawa Local Government Area and its environs.
U.N Hydrologist Wisler and Brater (2009) viewed flood as extreme hydrological event which occur when the infiltration capacity of the soil is lower than rainfall intensity. Rain water reaches the surface of the earth, percolates into the ground to form part of the shallow sub-surface flow and saturation overland as well as ground water flow (odemeuro 1990).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Study Design
As stated by Strydom, Fouche and Delport (2005:132), a research design is a plan or blue print of how you intend conducting the research. A research design focuses on the end product, formulates a research problem as a point of departure and focuses on the logic of research.
The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study was conducted in Oko-Anala in Oshimili South LGA of Delta state in Southern Province. The community was selected because it has experienced floods for three (3) consecutive rainfall seasons. The study had discussions with key stakeholders at area and community levels as well as randomly sampled households at community level.
Study Area
Oko-Anala is a rural community based in Oshimili South LGA of Delta State. The community has a paramount ruler who is called ‘The Okpara’ popularly known as the Prime Minister who is in charge of the general governance of the community. The community has a population of about Three thousand (3000) persons living in it. The community is bounded in the North by Asaba, in the East by the River Niger and Onitsha of Anambra State while in the South by a thick forest mounted at the River Niger, in other words, it is surrounded by the river. The community is a clustered settlement; it has a major link road connecting to Asaba the State capital. The access road is untarred which makes it rough and rugged during rainy season.
The ethnic group composition includes the Anioman which is the ancestral origin of the land. In search of livelihood, some members of the community are the Ibos popularly known as across the Niger people. They are migrants from the eastern part of Nigeria who could not afford the living condition of Asaba. Their main economic activities are farming, fishing, rubber tapping and petty trading. Few of them who are civil servants normally go to work in Asaba every day. The most common form of mobility is the motor-bike popularly known as ‘Okada’. Their religion is Christianity while some still believe in the African traditional religion (ATR). Their houses are built with blocks, mud and sand.
Data Sources
The sources of data employed for this research includes both secondary and primary data sources. The secondary data include information obtained from publications such as textbooks, journals, official documents, previous research works as well as newspapers on the various occurrences of flood disasters and pertinent issues relating to the subject.
Primary source of data were extracted from field survey, personal interviews and through questionnaires administration. The structured questionnaire was prepared and administered to the residents residing in the flood prone areas within the Isabo local government. Interview was conducted with selected respondents who were unable to fully comprehend and answer the questionnaire provided while, field survey was done for inspection of some areas adversely affected so as to obtain firsthand information.
Population of the study
The target population, therefore, for the study that is, households, institutions and community leaders and practitioners was purposively selected at household, area and community levels respectively. According to Strydom, Fouche and Delport (2005:202), purposive sampling is entirely based on the judgment of the researcher, in that a sample is composed of elements that contain the most characteristics, representative or typical attributes of the population.
Due to time and financial resource limitations, three (3) hundred households out of 1,356 households were randomly sampled and interviewed at community level. A total of five (5) and one (1) Key Informant Interviews were conducted at community and area levels respectively.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Introduction
This chapter provides a discussion on the results of the research based on the primary and secondary data collected. It highlights the performance of the 2011/12 and 2012/13 rainfall seasons. Furthermore, it provides a discussion on the household demographics, livelihood patterns, impact of floods on various aspects, coping strategies, underlying causes of vulnerability, interpretation, limitations and implications of the study. Lastly, the chapter recommends further research.
Rainfall Performance for 2011/12 and 2012/13 Rainfall Seasons
The rainfall performance during the 2011/12 and 2012/13 rainfall seasons was characterized by varying rainfall intensities which resulted into flooding that subsequently caused damages to different sectors of the economy. The 2011/12 season had an early start in the northern half of the country while the southern half had a late start. As the season progressed, the southern parts of the country eventually had increased rainfall activity that resulted in isolated flooding of the main wetlands areas. Southern Province in particular experienced below normal rainfall at the start of the season which gradually became normal to above mid in the season. On the contrary, 2012/13 rainfall season experienced an early start mainly in the southern half of the country. This was characterized by heavy falls that resulted into severe flooding and water logging on low lying areas. This confirms the information obtained from the sampled communities.
Discussion of results
Household Demographics
The demographic distributions are such that out of the three hundred (300) households sampled in the survey, 71% were male headed and the remainder female headed. Furthermore, 66% of the heads of households were married while 17% were widowed. In terms of the ages of the heads of households, the survey findings show that most of them were aged between 30 – 34 years and 60+ years.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the conclusion and recommendations that arose from the study. The research reviewed a wide range of secondary literature and collected primary data on which the conclusion and recommendations are based. The study was conducted within the Disaster Risk Reduction conceptual framework which emphasizes a proactive approach to disaster management. It is imperative that communities adopt a risk reduction approach to effects of floods.
Conclusion
The study assessed the causes and health implications of flood disaster on health and development. As discussed under various sectors and across sectors, it is clear from the study that floods had adverse impact on the socio-economic status of livelihoods for people in Oko-Anala. To a large extent, the study has established that livelihood patterns play an important role in settlement patterns. It is also evident that there are varying underlying causes of people’s vulnerability and this poses a challenge for reducing or minimizing vulnerability Proximity to the flood prone area (57%), residing in flood prone area and poverty (18%) were identified as being the main underlying causes of vulnerability by the Oko-Anala. The study has further demonstrated that effects of floods in one sector can affect other sectors of society. For instance, as discussed under the health section, the outbreak of disease incidences (malaria, diarrhea and coughing) was attributed to the impact of floods on water sources and sanitation facilities. The issue of water contamination of the river at the pick of floods and the handling of water from the borehole increases the health risk. Furthermore, although no health facility was damaged due to floods, accessibility to health services was a problem due to infrastructure (roads and bridges) damage as discussed under the health section. In addition, school attendance was disrupted due to impassable roads as discussed under the education section.
From the study, it was clear that households cope differently when affected by floods. The current coping strategies being employed by most households are not very effective. Discussions at community and area levels established that the coping strategies were not sustainable because they had been using them and yet the situation did not seem to improve. The local communities coping capacities should not be underestimated but rather built upon. The focus must be on improving livelihood conditions of the people.
The communities should be encouraged to build houses using durable materials and away from the flood prone area as a way of coping with the floods. Further the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives should through the Extension Services encourage the communities to increase the area cultivated on the upland to enhance the food security at household level. Input support programme for the vulnerable but viable farmers should be considered.
Clearly, there is need to develop better and appropriate measures (as discussed under the implications and recommendations sections) to prepare and mitigate the effects of the floods there-of. Above all, the aim must be to involve all the players to enhance communities’ resilience to floods.
Recommendations
It is therefore appropriate in this chapter to highlight some policy consideration which, if implemented could play an important role in flood risk management. The following policy considerations are recommended:-
- Government and key stakeholders should engage communities in order for them to move permanently to higher grounds as they have expressed a willingness to relocate. The relocating should go with the provision of all the necessary socio amenities such as schools, hospitals, infrastructure, water and agriculture support for a period of three (3) years to enable the households to settle. Consideration should also be made to introduce alternative livelihood strategies in the new area of settlement.
- There should be a deliberate policy to compel communities especially in rural areas to build house using durable materials and away from the flood prone areas.
- The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives should through Extension Services encourage Communities to increase area cultivated on the upland in order to enhance food security and household level.
- The relevant authorities should delineate both the non-flood areas and flood areas. The non-flood areas can serve as a temporary shelter for the settlements during floods.
- Construction of dams should be considered to trap the excess water. This could be used for irrigation.
- Construction of canals into the main Zambezi river should be considered.
- Government and key Stakeholders should engage the communities and local authorities in making them aware of the flood risk in view of the climate variability.
- Community initiated mitigation measures should be promoted so as to build community resilience.
- In the long term, community based floods early warning system should be developed.
- Multi-sectoral approach to flood mitigation as opposed to single sector should be promoted as there are inter-linkages in terms of flood impact on various aspects of society.
Consideration for further research
- There is clearly a need for more research into the human adjustment to the flood hazard, particularly in terms of the perception and behavioral responses to floods. The aspect of early warning and how the information is utilized (what action is taken by the community when the warning is issued) should be investigated.
- There is need for further investigation (environmental impact assessment) on the proposal to construct canals in the flood affected area especially that floods are a natural phenomenon.
References
- A Global Report on Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development (2004), United
- Nations Development Programme, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, New York, USA.
- Adam, T.P. 1983. Technical Report on Southern African Storm Rainfall, Republic of South Africa. Department of Environment Affairs, Branch of Scientific Services.
- African Wildlife: Who is to blame for Floods? 2000. Journal, 54 (3): 24-25.
- Ariyanbandu, M.M. and Wackramasinghe, W.M. 2005. Gender Dimension in Disaster Management: A guide for South Asia: Sri Lanka.
- Babbie, E. and Mouton, J. 2001.The Practice of Social Research. In Research Methodology: Practical Research Planning ND Design, 7th Edition, Study Guide for DIM 601.Bloemfontien: University of the Free State.
- Babbie, E. and Mouton, J. 2001.The Practice of Social Research. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
- Bankoff, G. 2003. Constructing Vulnerability: The Historical, Natural and Social Generation of Flooding in Metropolitan Manila. Journal, 27 (3): 224-238.
