Flood Vulnerability through the Eyes of Vulnerable People in Mid-Western Terai of Nepal

There are many studies on the flood risk mapping and analysis on various flood prone watersheds identifying vulnerability indicators and organizing them into different themes such as physical, social, economic, access to resources, communication, and gender dimensions. But there is no research on vulnerability of people to flood under climate change scenario from Nepal, where most of southern part experience flood each year in the monsoon season. This paper intends to assess the perceived flood vulnerability through the eyes of vulnerable people at the community level in two southern districts of Nepal. A total of two focus group discussions were conducted and 240 households were interviewed during field visit on Feb-May, 2012. Based on the perception of local peoples, 25 vulnerability indicators were identified and tested against a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 indicated 'very low' impact and 5 'severe' impacts. The 'high frequency of flood', bbank cutting/sand casting' and 'damage agricultural land' was found first three highly vulnerable indicators, whereas 'physical', 'social' and 'economic' parameters were found most vulnerable parameters. The findings of this study can be useful in vulnerability assessment and mapping of flood risk which are in turn crucial for flood management.