areas. There were health impacts such as dengue, diarrhea and viral fever in the aftermath of the floods. Although these floods occurred after very heavy rainfall, some of the important causes of severe flooding in most parts of the city are man-made. For examples, floods are caused by changing land use, clogging of drains and canal systems and increasing run-off due to construction activity. These man-made causes need to be addressed through land use planning, stricter enforcement to stop encroachments on canals and wetlands and behavioral change among city residents to stop dumping garbage or using plastic bags. The city administration and the planning authorities need to address these issues urgently to prevent recurrent floods and avoid the costs of damage suffered by the poor households.

There is a limited database on recurrent floods, extent of flooding and land use around chronic flooding spots in Colombo city. However, the findings of the primary survey suggest that the households face floods almost every year and suffer damage to houses, furniture, utensils and vehicles along with other impacts like non-availability of transportation, food shortages, loss of workdays and school days etc. The households living around flooding spots are poor and bear the severe brunt of recurrent floods. Even as the survey was completed in 2015, another major flood event has affected a large number of households in Colombo in May 2016. With the recurrence of floods and severe impacts on poorer sections in the city, it is important for planners and policy makers to have well-directed adaptation planning and programs. Such programs must specially be designed keeping in view the target areas where the poor reside and are most vulnerable to floods.

As shown by the study, the vulnerability of poor households is enhanced due to impacts on assets in which they have invested their incomes and savings. The poor tend to invest in houses, utensils and vehicles that are the worst affected during floods. In the face of inadequate financial resources, the poor have to rebuild their assets damaged during floods either through their own savings or have to borrow from elsewhere. Most of the surveyed households have either borrowed resources from family or friends or from informal moneylenders. This dependence on informal sources may push poor families into indebtedness and poverty. Therefore, well-directed efforts are required to reduce the extent of floods as well as offer compensation to the affected families to prevent adverse monetary impact on them.

Households in Colombo are undertaking some short-term measures every year to protect themselves from floods. However, their response to floods is restricted by the lack of awareness, training and early warning mechanism. 94% of the households below poverty line, for instance, do not receive any flood warning, are not aware of nearby shelters to move to in case of floods and have not been given any training for flood response. The local government has to focus on creating more awareness and capacity building to prepare families for future risks. The focus also needs to shift from engineering solutions alone that the CMC and SLLRDC are planning to community measures that can bring in a lot of benefits by improving the solid waste management, cleanliness of the surroundings and hygiene. The solutions should aim at behavioral changes among households.

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