Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Volume 48, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101601
Keywords
City size; Urban centers; Disaster; Sensitivity; Adaptation; Rural-urban linkages; Spatial disparity; Pakistan
Funding
- Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan [SAP-50020940]
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany [PIN=91549672]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Research on the dynamics of vulnerability has to-date either focused on a regional or national scale or assessed the influence of city size on the vulnerability of the city itself. Little attention has been paid to how city size influences the vulnerability of surrounding rural areas-this has been investigated in this study. A conceptual framework-City Size and Rural Vulnerability (SCARV)-is proposed and operationalised in the context of Pakistan. A household survey was conducted to collect 325 samples from the flood-affected rural population surrounding three different sized cities in Punjab Province, Pakistan. Indicators of vulnerability were identified and an index-based approach was used to get the composite values of the three components of vulner-ability-namely, exposure, susceptibility and capacity. The composite values were then classified to identify the level of vulnerability of each household. Statistical tests were performed to investigate the differences in vulnerability between the study areas. The results indicate that rural populations surrounding smaller cities are less exposed but more vulnerable compared to rural communities surrounding larger cities. This is largely because rural populations adjoining large cities have better capacities to deal with flood hazards. This points to a need to focus on increasing the coping capacity of small and medium-sized cities and their rural surroundings. Moreover, the research highlights the importance of rural-urban linkages in the hazard vulnerability discourse. These results can help disaster managers, regional and rural development planners, and practitioners to develop relevant flood risk reduction strategies which considers spatial and regional development aspects of hazard vulnerability.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available