ASSESSING SOCIO-ECONOMIC VULNERABILITY TO FLOODS IN CHIKWAWA DISTRICT

Disasters cause significant impacts on the household poverty and national economic growth trends through economic losses and shocks to livelihood systems. The water related extremes such as floods, account for the greatest share of global natural disasters inflicting economic damage and death toll. The study assessed the socio- economic vulnerability to floods in Chikwawa district. The study sought to find out the impacts that floods have on education and trade, to identify factors that determine the flood vulnerability in the area and to identify the coping strategies that people employ during floods. The study was carried out in Bereu village of T/A Maseya because it is one of the most affected areas by floods in Chikwawa. This was achieved by using questionnaires and observations for data collection. The data was analysed using Microsoft Excel, Statistical Package for Social Sciences and content analysis was also done do develop themes from the data. The results have been presented in bar graphs, pie charts and tables. The socio-economic spectrum is highly affected by floods in the district. While geographical vulnerability is generally the same for all the people in the area, socio-economic vulnerability tends to vary for a group of individuals within the same locality. This is because different socio-economic groups have different coping capacities and different kinds of exposure to the hazard. Those with some coping capacities quickly recover from the hazard while some wait for relief from government and non-governmental organizations. To reduce vulnerability to floods in this area, there is need to implement community-initiated mitigation measures and clearly assess the implication of these developments so that they do not increase the flood risk of the communities. There is also need for capacity building and community empowerment by either giving them mitigation or reconstruction loans so that they can construct strong houses using durable materials that can withstand future floods and for people to diversify their livelihoods.

The study sought to find out the impacts that floods have on education and trade, to identify factors that determine the flood vulnerability in the area and to identify the coping strategies that people employ during floods. While geographical vulnerability is generally the same for all the people in the area, socio-economic vulnerability tends to vary for a group of individuals within the same locality. To reduce vulnerability to floods in this area, there is need to implement community-initiated mitigation measures and clearly assess the implication of these developments so that they do not increase the flood risk of the communities. There is also need for capacity building and community empowerment by either giving them mitigation or reconstruction loans so that they can construct strong houses using durable materials that can withstand future floods and for people to diversify their livelihoods.

The study was conducted in the lower Shire district of Chikwawa. Most of the areas in the district are at the attitude of below 1000 meters above sea level. The district has a total population of 564, 684 and a population density of 116 people with a total area of 4878 km2. Of the total population, 276, 890 are males, 287, 794 are females and 289, 745 are children of age range 0 to 17 of which 11.87% are orphaned. Traditional authority Maseya has a total population of 37,793. (NSO, 2018).

District: Chikwawa

Coordinates: -16.2153, 34.6804