Journal of Global Resources

Volume 5 (01)January 2019
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

Page 13-23

02
LESSONS IN RESILIENCE: A RURAL COMMUNITY’S ADAPTION TO AN EXTREME
FLOOD EVENT IN NORTHERN RIVERS STATE OF NIGERIANWAOGU Ngozi R1 and EZEKWE I. Clinton2
1
Department of Geography and Environmental Management,
University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
2
Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies,
University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Email: Clinton.ezekwe.uniport.edu.ng: clidnelson@yahoo.com
Abstract: The study applied the RRA technique in studying the adaptation of the Ndoni peopleof Rivers State to flooding in Nigeria. The study examined the impact of the 2012 flood disasterin the area. The research is based on survey method, and data collected was through HouseTo-House Interviewing, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Persons Interview (KPI).
Simple random sampling technique was used to select ten (10) out of fifteen (15) disaster
affected villages in the district and thirty five (35) households selected from each of the villages.
Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, presented in figures and percentages.
The findings reveal that personal preparedness for the 2012 flooding which occurred in October
was low, as majority (90.32 percent) of the respondents had no early warning signs before theflood struck and therefore could only make few adjustments to withstand its impacts. As a result,personal properties such as individual homes/houses, fish and crop farms, other businesses
and houses contents as well as government infrastructure including health facilities, roads, andschools were adversely affected. Therefore, the people chose to relocate to safe areas, raisinghousehold items above the flood level as immediate response measure. After the flooding, thepeople considered building resilience as only alternative to live with the flooding in the area
since its vulnerability remains high due to its proximity to the River Niger. The adaptive
strategies to enhance their resilience include following warning advice on radios and television;
dredging of rivers, modification of building design by raising the foundations above flood levels
and the community cohesion among other traditional methods.
Key word: Flood Disaster, Resilience and Adaptation
Introduction
According to the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (2013), understanding
how floods impact communities provides insights on policies aimed at reducing the impact of
future flood events. It further argued that climate change scenarios suggest an increase in
extreme rainfall events, contributing to a greater frequency of riverine and flash floods, andconcluded that the experiences of psychological, financial and social stress within thecommunities preparing for, dealing with, and recovering from the floods provides information toplanners and emergency managers. This is as having pre-disaster plans ahead of catastrophic
events such as flooding shortens the immediate recovery process (Davis, 2006).When the mostdevastating flood disaster in relevant memory ever witnessed in Nigeria struck in Sept-Oct.
2012, many communities were affected with about three hundred and sixty-three (363) deaths
recorded and over two million, one hundred thousand (2,100,000) people displaced and almost
six hundred thousand (600,000) houses destroyed (OCHA, 2012).The worse affected states by
the disaster include Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, Benue, Bayelsa, Kogi, Niger, Lagos and Rivers
among others (Famous, 2012). Eric (2013) revealed that the flood disaster in
Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State occurred in October, 2012 after the main rainyseason (August- September). The study posited that since the flooding, occupants of the area13

have continued to count their losses as schools, family homes, personal properties including
farmlands and crops/livestock suffered various farms of flood damage with distorted thelivelihood means of the community, whose residents are mainly poor farmers. However, twoyears after the disaster, Nwaogu and Ezekwe (2017) in their study revealed that the Ndoni
community is vulnerable to flooding because it is surrounded by River Niger. The study
conducted in USA by Docey et al. (2013) on human impacts of floods, revealed that the risk ofcatastrophic losses due to flooding was on the increase owing to increasing proximity of large
populations to coastal areas, river basins and lakeshores. This is because rising sea levels are
the main driver for increasing flood risk (Thomas et al., 2015)
A study by the International Flood Initiative (2003) suggests that floods are the mosttaxing of water related natural disasters to human, material assets as well as to cultural andecological resources affecting people and their livelihoods and claiming thousands of lives
annually worldwide. Apart from the direct deaths caused by floods, disease outbreak is common
especially in less developed countries with malaria and typhoid being the most common intropical countries (Nolt, 2006). In India and Bangladesh alone, 300 million people live in areasthat are affected by floods, with the physical damage to property being one of the major causes
for tangible loss in floods. These include the cost of damage to goods and possessions, loss of
income or services in the flood aftermath and clean-up costs. It further argues that some
impacts of floods are intangible and are hard to place a monetary value because on mostintangible goods such as levels of physical emotional and psychological health problems
suffered by flood- affected people are difficult to be quantified (Nolt, 2006).
The United Nations publications titled ''Know Risk'' (2005) observed that studies
undertaken showed that the economic impact of natural disasters shows a marked upward
trend over the last several decades. It suggests that the hazards tend to hit communities indeveloping countries especially the least developed countries, increasing their vulnerability andsetting back their economic and social growth, sometimes by decades. According to the United
Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki - Moon, poorer nations bear the brunt of deaths from natural
disasters than rich nations (Rowling, 2016). It continued that an analysis of more than 7000
disasters over the past decades, in which 1.35 million people died, showed 90 percent of thosedeaths occurred in countries with low and middle income because of poverty. Ban called it “adamning indictment of inequality”. Shantoshi and Ananata (2011) in their study in Nepal
affirmed that the majority of flood disaster victims are poor people because they live in flood
plain. In Vietnam, in a study by Dang and Pham (2003) on living with floods in the Mekong River
Delta, the government adopted the provision of low-cost loans to households for construction offlood proof houses and raising of houses on piles above the expected flood water level as a
traditional coping technique. This helps to build the capacities of the downtrodden and reduce
their vulnerability to the disaster. The strategy of living with floods is due to the Non-preventive
nature of flooding in Mekong River Delta whose vulnerability remains high as a result of theproximity of the River to the area and high poverty level.
According to Dewan (2015), two South Asian countries, Bangladesh and Nepal, due totheir susceptibility to severe floods caused by high level of poverty have implemented a numberof flood mitigation measures to cope with flood inundation in the areas. In Bangladesh, there areflood shelters, flood protection embankments, drainage channels, sluice gates and regulators
on different rivers and canals while in Nepal, there are early warning awareness programs,
rescue operation strategies, relief and post-flood rehabilitation programs among others by thegovernment. Beside these contemporary approaches to flood adaptations in the areas,
residents of both countries are still relying on traditional/indigenous knowledge and other local
adaptation practices to cope with the hazard. In general, the prevalence of flooding has led to14

loss of human life, destruction of social and economic infrastructure and degradation of alreadyfragile ecosystems across the globe, thereby threatening human existence.
The concept of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in this study is to emphasize the need foradaptive measures and practices that will minimize the vulnerability of the residents to future
flood disasters. This is because, the magnitude of disasters depends on the intensity of thecausative natural events that the population and structures are exposed to, and theeffectiveness of pre and post events mitigation actions to protect people and property. Because,
the Ndoni district is prone to flooding by virtue of its position, it becomes imperative to undertake
actions that can build the resilience of its residents either by way of adaptation or increasing
their capability. Therefore, improvements are to be made through recovery programs to ensure
adaptation and avoid a repeat of the destruction (Alesch, 2004). By this, resilience is achieved.
According to Alison and Kimberley (2013) resilience is the capacity of a person/community toanticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a flood. Resilience enables
communities to rebound from disasters and reduce long term vulnerability (Andrew, 2010). This
study therefore is an attempt to study the community’s adaptive and coping strategies toextreme flood event.
Methods and Materials
The study was conducted in Ndoni district of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area
(LGA) of Rivers State. The LGA is one of the largest reservoirs of crude oil in Nigeria and has
experienced oil exploration and production activities for many decades. According to the 2006
National Population Census, the area harbors 73,883 people out of the total of 284,010 people
in the whole LGA. According to National Population Commission (NPC), the growth rate of the
Nigeria population is 2.3 percent per annum (Punch, 2012). With this, the population of the
Ndoni district was be projected at 84,618 in 2012. The L.G.A has a landmass of 969km2 and issituated in the Riverine area. It is inhabited by three tribes of Ogba, Egbema and Ndoni with its
administrative headquarters at Omoku. The Ndoni tribe is bounded by Balyelsa State to theSouth, Anambra State to the North, Delta State to the West and Imo State to the East.
The Ndoni district selected for this study carried out in February, 2015, is made up of
fifteen (15) villages. The ten (10) villages selected for this study are Inwegwe, Ogbe-Ukwu,
Umuolodu, Ugbebi and Umuokeya. Others are Umuonyema, Umuawor-Achi, Iseala, Onuiku andAbadaukwu (Fig.1). These villages are grouped into three(3) major settlements according totheir positions for convenience in this study as follows: Inwegwe settlement comprising of
Ugbebi,Inwegwe
andUmuawo-Achi
villages;
Umuojia
settlement
comprising
Umuolodu,Umuonyema and Umuokeya villages;
and Ogbe-Ukwu settlement which
comprisesIseala,Onuiku,Ogbe-Ukwu and Abadaukwu villages. The population for the study
includes youth, women and men selected from the communities in the area grouped into (3)settlements. A sample of three hundred and ninety (390) respondents which included the thirty
five (35) households randomly selected from each of the ten (10) of the fifteen (15) villages ofthe district plus a total of twenty (20) participants in Focus Group-Discussion (FGR) and twenty(20) stakeholders in the district who were purposively selected and engaged in Key Persons
Interview (KPI) were used for this study. A descriptive analysis presented in percentages andtables were used to analyze research findings.

15

Figure 1: Location of Study Area

Results and Discussions
Flood impact on households in the study area: From table 1, most of the respondents
indicated that their household effects were damaged by the flood. Furthermore, 98.38 percent
and 96.13 percent of the respondents respectively had their farms and homes damaged by theflood. While as large as 68.06 percent of the respondents had their other businesses thanagricultural businesses affected by the flood, only 3.84 percent were left homeless by the flood.
Of the 96.13 percent of the respondents whose houses/homes were damaged, about 60.32
percent of them have completed effecting repairs on their building while 23.46 percent notedthat their repairs are ongoing and 16.22 percent are yet to commence theirs. On interaction,
majority of those who were left homeless by the flood and have rebuilt their houses did sosinglehandedly while few are still contending with the devastation due to financial constraints
two years after the disaster suggesting that poverty is a source of concern to flooding victims.
Notwithstanding, Ezekwe and Nwaogu (2017) described the general recovery of the people as
good and rapid, a feet achieved without a supportive intervention from the government which
ordinarily would have undermined their resilience. The rapid recovery of the people would have
reduced the flood impact. This is because Nison and Kimberley (2013) in their study on theexperience of flooding in UK identified some ancillary factors such as increased time taken to
return to normal (recovery) and the ineffectiveness of actions and help received during an
extreme flood event as factors that worsen flooding impact especially the psychological healthimpact. Therefore, it is suggestive that the impact of flood is both influenced by, and results in,other impacts within an individual’s daily life. It is therefore concluded that the impact of theflood in Ndoni district was high.

16

Table 1: Percentage of respondents that were negatively impacted by the flood
Flood impact
Settlements
Total
InwegweUmuojiaOgbaukwu
Yes
No Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Other business
23.22
10.0 20.97 12.26 23.87 9.68
98.06 31.94
affected
Fish/crop farming
32.90
0.32 32.58 0.65
32.90 0.65
98.38 1.62
business affected
Homes/houses
30.97
2.26 31.94 1.29
33.22 0.32
96.13 3.87
sustained damages
Left homeless
2.26
30.97 1.29 31.94 0.32 33.22 3.87
96.13`
House contents
33.23
32.90 0.32
33.23 0.32
99.36 0.64
damagedSource: Field Survey 2014

Flood damages in the study area: From table 2, a reasonable proportion of respondents
believed that their own farms (58.46 percent) were completely destroyed while their house
contents (64.19 percent) suffered major impacts even as their building structures (55.70
percent) were moderately impacted by the flood. Only 23.87 percent of the respondents in the
district where 56.45 percent of them are farmers had their other businesses such as
hairdressing saloon, supermarkets, and fashion designing, as well as provision and chemist
stores among others completely destroyed. Interaction with the respondents revealed that morethan 50 percent of them had their buildings inundated to a height not less than 2.5m above theground. All these indicate that the impact of the flood on personal property was high. Both theelderly and the young were seriously affected. According to Dewan (2015) the aftermath of flood
are water pollution, water borne disease, loss of human life and livestock, escalation of prices,
social insecurity and costs of rebuilding infrastructure during recovery.
In total, 78.06 percent of the respondents relocated from their homes to neighbouring
houses where there are storey buildings and other safe areas within and outside the district
especially at Omoku, the local government headquarters, while all the respondents indicatedthat they raised household items up off floor since they are leaving in bungalows. The casestudy revealed that of those who refused to relocate 42.37 percent of them were elderly people
aged above 70 years. Their reason was that it is a taboo for them to vacate their fathers’
compounds as their tradition forbids them from doing so. They maintained that they prefer to diein their fathers’ compounds than to run away from home. Fear over the safety of their properties
may have influenced this belief. But the belief scattered populations, causing separations inmany families as some relocated while others stayed behind. Mckenna, (2010) noted that fears
over leaving their property unattended may force families to be separated. No matter what thereasons of the Ndoni people would be for not relocating, the fact remains that ignorance andtradition had immediate intangible and significant impact on the people’s vulnerability to theflooding. Meanwhile, the time taken to rebuild the peoples’ losses especially in the absence ofgovernment assistance was a major concern for them both for practical and emotional reasons
as they believe it was going to take too long. Surprisingly, reasonable recovery was achieved
within two years. Notwithstanding, some challenges still persist with more than 50 percent of the
respondents noting that there was food shortage and that prices of food items which rose
beyond 200 percent immediately after the flood were yet to return to normal. Government
should consider provision of improved seedlings and farm incentives as well as making fertilizer
available to farmers in the early farming season as a way of cushioning the food insecurity inthe area. Also, credit facilities and insurance coverage should be made accessible to farmers.
According to Glanzer (2017), crop insurance coverage protects farmer’s investment and gives
17

them peace of mind throughout every harvest season and makes them more competitive in themarket.

Item

Table 2: Percentage Perception of degree of personal impact
Not
Minor
Moderate Major
Completely Undecided
impacted impacts
impacts
impacts
destroyed

Other business

28.86

13.24

14.19

16.94

23.87

2.90

Our farmers

1.54

4.60

11.30

24.10

58.46

-

Building
structure/property

0.63

55.60

39.87

3.80

-

House contents

6.40

22.35

64.19

6.43

-

0.63

Source: Field Survey 2014

Table 3 below shows the percentage perception of degree (extent) of flood generalimpacts on infrastructure in the study area. A large proportion of respondents indicated that theirhealth facilities (42.34 percent), schools/public buildings (43.28 percent), roads (60.32 percent),
water systems/ properties (46.43 percent) as well as worship places (69.77 percent) andcommunity town halls (70.28 percent) suffered major impacts. Indeed, public infrastructures areoften affected indirectly by floods (Alison and Kimberley (2013). All the people interviewed in the
FGD confirmed that major roads were completely flooded and that people were united intackling the transportation challenge by providing free boats and canoes to facilitate movement
and maintain social life. By this, socialization was sustained as people could move from one
point to another amidst the floods. According to Gordon, (2004), in the aftermath of a flood,cohesion within the community can increase with everyone pulling together – often termed“social fusion”. However, flood general impact was high in the area. In spite of the above, about
83.87 percent of respondents indicated that the affected government infrastructures had beenrehabilitated by the state government. Some noted that the school walls were repainted andhealth centers reactivated, while the villagers were left to their fate.
Table 3: Percentage perception of degree of general impact
Not
Minor
Moderate Major
Completely
impacted impacts impacts
impacts destroyed
Heath facilities
0.97
30.12
25.60
42.34
Schools/public building 0.65
15.74
40.98
43.28
Roads
39.68
60.32
Water
0.32
20.53
46.43
30.46
systems/properties
Worship places
6.91
21.38
69.77
Community town halls
26.14
70.28
2.29
Item

Undecided
0.97
0.96
2.26
1.94
1.29

Source: Field Survey 2014

Coping/adaptive strategies to the flood disaster in the area: Table 4 below shows theadaptive strategies used by the people to cope with the disaster. Coping/adaptive strategies
employed by the people during the 2012 flood disaster include relocation to safe locations(78.06 percent), design of evacuation plan (95.48 percent) which was mainly the use of canoes
and joined woods to lift people out of the waters. This was done collectively by the people.
There was unity and togetherness among community members in evacuating the people.
According to Home Office, 2011, community cohesion plays pivotal role in building resilience.
Nzegwu (2010) also in his study cited social support and togetherness among community
18

members as weapon of resilience. This was demonstrated by the Ndoni people. There wasbuilding of flood barriers with blocks (64.19 percent) which played key role in protecting thebuildings. The people may have adopted this approach to build their resilience following theirpast experiences on flood. For instance, Graham (2012) recognized past experience iscontributing factor to building resilience. This is because findings have suggested clear positive
association between previous experience and taking action to prepare. Also, other common
adaptive measures were sandbagging of houses (50.97 percent), raising of household to theroofs and following warning advice on phones from friends, radios and televisions. Most people
were reluctant to clear their drainages (80.32 percent) while markedly majority (83.23 percent)could not modify their houses due to lack of funds and prior information about the flooding.
Group discussions indicated that almost every household opened their ceilings andsafeguarded their properties/items in the building roofs as the flood inundation in their rooms
was high reaching the armpit of a man of average height. Those who relocated to safe areas
took refuge in individual story buildings converted as shelters for the displaced. Some of thebuildings were provided by prominent politicians such as the former Governor of Rivers State,Peter Odili. Others who could not be accommodated in the buildings due to space were
harboured in sand filled areas of high elevation, provided and designated as shelters by thecommunity while some fled to nearby cities like Port Harcourt, Owerri and Yenagoa to stay with
their family relations/friends. According to Akiyuki et al., (2017), adaptive strategies employ bygovernment of Myanmar to cope with flooding in Bago Region include building of dams, canals
and adequate sharing of flood warning information as well as strengthening of the overall
disaster risk reduction plans. As a result, the residents did not consider relocation from theircommunities as best option to flood management but relied on structural and non-structural
flood mitigation methods. In Vietnam, Flood Safety Training is provided for children in schools
thereby building their capacity (Dang and Pham, 2003). Therefore, it can be concluded that theadaptive strategies of the Ndoni people to cope with floods in the area is effective, a lesson to
be learnt.
Table 4: Coping/Adaptive Strategies employed by the respondents during the flooding
Adaptive strategy
Settlements
Respondents
InwegweUmuojia
Ogbe-Ukwu( percent)Relocated to safe locations
20.65
26.45
30.96
78.06
Modified House and property 7.09
5.81
3.87
16.77
Devised an evacuation plan
30.97
31.61
32.90
95.48
Built flood barriers
20.65
19.02
24.52
64.19
Sandbagged houses
16.13
17.74
17.10
50.97
Cleared drainage debris
5.81
6.77
7.10
19.68
Raised household items up 32.26
32.58
32.26
97.10
off floor
Followed warning advice on 19.35
19.03
27.10
65.48
phones, radio/television etc.
Source: Field Survey 2014

Table 5 below shows the current adaptive strategies adopted by the people to adapt andreduce their vulnerability to flood disasters. From this study, the adaptive strategies to mitigate
flooding in the area are clearing of drainage systems, following early warning signals issued bygovernment, dredging of Community Rivers and sand filling of some areas to raise their heights
above flood level, and improvement/modification of houses by raising the height of theirfoundations, to a reasonable height above the ground. Notwithstanding, more still need to bedone, especially in installing flood doors and barriers to windows to effectively fortify the houses
and build flood defense.
19

Table 5: Current Adaptive strategies to floods in the area
Adaptive strategy
Settlements
Inwegwe Umuojia
Ogba-Ukwu
Planning to modify houses/property
17.42
15.16
19.68
Dredging of River
26.77
26.45
31.67
Following warning advice on
31.94
30.97
32.57
radio/television
Clearing drainage systems
32.26
32.58
32.26

Respondents( percent)
52.26
84.84
95.48
97.10

Source: Field Survey 2014

Lessons from Ndoni Community
Housing: The community has started erecting houses with the integration of disaster risk
reduction measures. Most houses in the area since after the 2012 flood disaster are modified byraising them above flood levels, using higher foundations. Some are placing sandbags aroundold building to strengthen their resistance to flood whole others are constructing flood barriers
using concrete walls in front of houses to prevent flood from surging into the rooms.
Following warming advice in Radio/Television: Although most people were reluctant to heed
to any advice encouraging them to leave their houses prior to the disaster, but aftermath of thedisaster they appreciated the need to utilize flood management information provided them bygovernment through the radios/televisions.
Dredging of local rivers: There has been dredging of rivers around the community to help
retain more waters in case of overflow of River Niger.
Living with the floods: Knowledge of the high vulnerability of the area to flooding has helped
them grow resilience. They therefore prefer to live with floods to evacuating/relocating from thearea.
Social cohesion/capital: The mobilization of collective human resources within the community
was a major driving power for rapid recovery. The unity of purpose and marked togetherness of
the residents in galvanizing their social capital commonly known as social fusion increased theircapacity to live with the floods. This reliable foot is a marked contrast to what obtains in someother areas. According to Nzegwu (2010) social support and togetherness among community
members is a weapon of resilience.
Building of flood barriers: The concrete walls constructed around buildings/ and thesandbagging of houses by most households provided defense for the houses against the flood.
This practice offered interesting buffer for buildings even in flooded compounds thereby making
them able to withstand the floods. It can be deduced that the community was able to adopt thismeasure due to their past flood experiences. Graham (2012) identified past experience as key
factor to building resilience.
Design of evacuation plan: During the flooding, the community never waited for government tomobilize helicopters and boats to rescue its residents rather designed local boats known as
canoes and wooden ladders as well as ropes to leverage the evacuation of those trapped in theflood. This sheer innovation was an invaluable capacity deployed to reduce flood human impact
and was responsible for the fewer number of deaths resulting from drowning.
Sand filled Areas: The community already sand filled some areas and raised them high above
flood levels. These elevated sites provided handy platform for state government to constructtemporary shelters for the displaced victims. The opportunity offered by the high-raise ground
reduced the cost and risk of moving people to a long distance during emergency. By this, the20displaced persons were quartered within the community, a development that made it look as if
they are still in their homes as some could sight their houses from the distance. These practices
strengthened the community’s capacity to live with the floods and increased their resilienceagainst flood disasters. With such, any future flooding event in the area will have minimum
impact on households. Therefore, replicating them in other communities with high vulnerability
to flood disasters will go a long way in enhancing their resilience and reduce potential flood
losses. It is a lesson to be learned.
SummaryThis study analysis the adaptation of the Ndoni community, a rural community in Northern
Rivers State with high vulnerability to flooding, especially aftermath of the 2012 flood disaster in
Nigeria. The study reveals that the area is vulnerable to floods because it is near to River Niger,a major River that traverses most parts of Nigeria. While there is absolute lack of flood
prevention technologies and post-flood rehabilitation programs in the area contrary to thepractice in most developing countries like Nepal, Myanmar and Vietnam, the people
strengthened their own capacity to enhance their resilience. The research showed that thecommunity was impacted hugely by the disaster with 98.38 percent and 96.13 percent ofrespondents, indicating that their farms and household effects were badly damaged. Obviously,
this destruction had negative effects on the livelihoods of the people with grave implication on
their financial and health status. However, the people are not deterred as majority of thoseinterviewed declined to vacate/relocate from the area after the 2012 flood disaster despite thehigh vulnerability of the area to floods.
However, the understanding of the vulnerability of the area to flooding was instrumental
in the peoples’ choice to live with the floods, and by extension the need to grow resilience. This
manifested in the few numbers of deaths recorded during the disaster as only two deaths wererecorded. In the community, flood is no longer approached as a preventable issue but as asomething to be lived through. This approach is adapted in Bangladesh and some parts of India
and Vietnam (Dang and Phlam, 2003); Dewan (2015). Because it is belief of the Ndoni people
that their tradition forbids them from relocating from the area, any flood warning issued bygovernment for relocation prior to flooding may not be heeded by the people. Therefore, it
became preferential to grow their resilience to live with floods. As a consequence, the people
adopted to follow early warning signals on radio/television, dredging of Community Rivers,
modification of houses to make them flood proof, clearing of drainage systems, community
cohesion and social capital together with building trusted community networks to help
disadvantaged families improve their capacity. These are marked transferrable key lessons forother flood vulnerable communities in Nigeria, because in the future, the frequency and impact
of floods on human populations is expected to rise as population growth, urbanization, land usechange and more rainfall increases exposure to extreme rainfall events.
Recommendation
A key finding of this study is that taking of action to prepare for flood involves communities
appreciating the level of risk and giving flood preparation messages sufficient attention. By thisthe residents can galvanize their strengths, and resources to mitigate flood impacts. But thiscannot be the only ways to guarantee maximum resilience. In this study, there was total lack ofgovernment supportive role and absence of community relationship with external disaster
response organizations such as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Therefore, the key recommendations are;

Communities should be engaged in disaster preparedness and response work.

21







Government should support communities either by each compensation, incentives and orprovision of soft loans to help build their resilience.
There should be enhancement of community relations with disaster response organizations
in order to increase their resilience.
Communities should see togetherness and unity as strong social capital towards disasterrecovery resilience.
There should be sustainable flood awareness campaigns/programs even in periods without
flooding to continuously entrench the culture of resilience on the communities.
Communities should be encouraged to live with floods by regular training to build theircapacity rather than encouraging them to flee from their home. Apart from those living inflood plains, due to increasing human activities nowhere is excluded from being affected byflooding but improving resilience can make areas safer.

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