Understanding flood vulnerability in local communities of Kogi state, Nigeria, using an index-based approach
This study sought to identify vulnerabilities to flooding, as well as their causes, using an index-based approach. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant data from 400 households in 20 purposively selected communities. The results were used to compute the flood vulnerability index (FVI) for each community.
The results of the study showed that the selected communities were at varying levels of the risk of flooding. Four of the communities including the Onyedega, Ogba Ojubo, Odogwu, and Ichala Edeke communities were found to have very high vulnerability to flooding compared to others. Several factors such as poor building structures, lack of evacuation and flood management measures, over-dependence of households on agriculture, lack of diversification of economic activities, and weak household economic capacity were identified as causes.
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