Flood risk in unplanned settlements in Lusaka

Flooding in unplanned settlements in Lusaka is expected, even in years of normal rainfall. There is always much discussion of needed action when flooding occurs but, as soon as the seasonal rains stop, the incidents are forgotten. Most of the households affected by flooding are poor and the flooding damages or destroys their homes and belongings, which might have taken years to accrue. Poorer groups may be faulted for settling on sites at risk from flooding, but this is usually because they can find no safer alternative. In addition, as this paper shows, reducing flood risks in one settlement can increase flood risks in others. Local authorities need to be vigilant in stopping settlement in unstable zones and they need to increase awareness of the need for action in settlements already built in flood-prone areas. Ways also need to be sought to provide low-income households with alternatives to informal settlements in flood-prone sites. It is hard to stop people from erecting houses where they see vacant land. Since rain in Zambia is seasonal, many marshy areas have been built on during dry periods only to be flooded when the rains come. In the end, it is the poor who lose and a solution needs to be found before more lives and property are lost.