Natural Hazards 28: 155-179,2003.

155
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Floods and Vulnerability: Need to Rethink Flood

Management

AJAYADIXIT
Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF), P.O. Box 2221, Kathmandu, Nepal
E-mail: nwcj@wlink.com.np.

(Received: 21 May 2001; accepted: 4 March 2002)

Abstract. Responses to f100ding in the Himalaya-Ganga region have conventionally been sought
under the hierarchie mode using the strategy of control. Because it has not given due consideration
to diverse contexts of the region and thereby the specific approaches that such context necessitate,
the particular approach has not brought about security from f1ooding. Three responses are seen in the
terrain of f100d disaster. These are the hierarchie manager, individualistic innovator and the egalit-
arian social activist. The hierarchies define control as the solution to the problems of f1ood: this is
the approach preferred by state agencies. At the individualistic level the sought strategy is f1exibility
to cope with the situation. The response by social activists is guided by egalitarian critiques of the
hierarchie approach. Each pursues his/her own styles and continuously contests the policy terrain.
This paper reviews the nature of f100d disaster in the Himalaya-Ganga by focussing on plains Nepal.
It argues that conventional approach has not been able to provide the security envisaged. The paper
suggests that vulnerability of people in risk-prone areas must be addressed by enhancing resilience
capacity. For this to happen the approach must be pluralistic that gives space to each management
style with varying obligations at varying scales.

1. Introduction
Processes such as landslides and floods are part of the Himalaya-Ganga's diverse
geographical make-ups. Nepal is part of the Himalaya-Ganga, the generic name
for a highland-Iowland interactive system consisting of the highest mountain chain
on this planet. * The extreme behaviour of nature ranges from sudden and high
intensity monsoon rainfalls, to shifts of continental plates. In the Himalaya-Ganga
the variety of topographie and c1imatie types contains an abundance of ecological
niehes harbouring widely diverse species of flora and fauna. The pressures of pop-
ulation growth and the needs of modemisation, however, have created a head-on
confrontation between the environment and people. Interventions for development
need to be effectively synthesised with concems emanating from the complex
nature of the physical environment and its extreme and non-temperate character.
The region is shown in Figure 1.

* Verghese (1990) has used the expression to highlight development potential available in the
Himalayan rivers. Gyawali and Dixit (1994) define the regional complexity as the Himalaya-Ganga.
156 AJAYADIXIT

-RlYanI
- •• InI8maIIkJnal boundarlel

Figure I. The Himalaya-Ganga Region.

In this region, the monsoon is both a productive resource and a hazard at the
same time. With the beginning of the monsoon the situation of no water changes
into a situation of too much water. During the monsoon c1oudbursts, landslides,
mass movements, and flash floods are common in the mountains. When the flow
reaches the plains of southern Nepal, northern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West
Bengal, rivers overflow their banks and inundate the land leading to the large-scale
disruption of social and economic lives. As they flow from the mountains to the
plains, rivers also cut banks and shift laterally. In the upper regions, rivers cause
erosion and transport sediment. The sediment mass thus transported gets deposited
in the plains. Fine sediment brought by floods enriches productivity of land. At the
same time rivers also bring larger sediments whose deposition on agriculturallands
harms productivity. The combined effects constitute a disaster.
With the rise in population, cities have grown. Highways and railways have
been built along with flood embankments. Poorly designed and located, these infra-
structures have interfered with the existing pattern of surface water flow, and caused
drainage congestion. In turn they have exacerbated the flood hazard. Both push and
pull factors have caused migration from the hills and rural areas to urban regions,
which have increased occupancy on the flood plains. Many times the migrants end
up living in a vulnerable zone because they have no opportunity to live in less
hazardous area. The rising number of migrants adds to the poor in these regions
already living in vulnerable conditions. Combined effects of migration and socio-