Flood risk assessment of Srinagar city in Jammu and Kashmir, India
International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment
ISSN: 1759-5908
Article publication date: 9 April 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Risk assessment is imperative for disaster risk reduction. The risk is rooted to various physical, social, economic, demographic and environmental factors that determine the probable magnitude of loss during an extreme event. By way of bringing a conceptual model into practice, this paper aims to examine the flood risk of the Srinagar city.
Design/methodology/approach
The “risk triangle” model has been adopted in the present investigation evaluating parameters, reflective of hazard (intensity), exposure (spatial) and vulnerability (sensitivity) using Landsat-8 operational land imager scene (10 September 2014), global positioning system, Cartosat-1 digital elevation model and socioeconomic and demographic data (Census of India, 2011). The authors characterise flood hazard intensity on the basis of variability in water depth during a recent event (September 2014 Kashmir flood); spatial exposure as a function of terrain elevation; and socioeconomic structure and demographic composition of each municipal ward of the city as a determinant factor of the vulnerability. Statistical evaluation and geographic information system-based systematic integration of all the multi-resolution data layers helped to develop composite flood risk score of each ward of the city.
Findings
Principal deliverable of this study is flood risk map of the Srinagar city. The results reveal that approximately 46 per cent of the city comprising 33 municipal wards is at high risk, while rest of the area, i.e. 17 and 37 per cent, exhibit moderate and low levels of risk, constituting 23 and 12 municipal wards, respectively. It is very likely that the municipal wards expressing high risk may witness comparatively more damage (impact) during any future flood event. Thus, there is a need of planned interventions (structural and non-structural) to minimise the emergent risk.
Originality/value
Very rare attempts have been made to bring theoretical models of disaster research in practice; this is mainly because of the complexities associated with the data (selection, availability and subjectivity), methodology (integration, quantification) and resolution (spatial scales). In this direction, this work is expected to have considerable impact, as it provides a clear foundation to overcome such issues for the studies aiming at disaster risk assessment. Furthermore, using varied primary and secondary data, this paper demonstrates the relative (municipal wards) flood risk status of the Srinagar city, which is one of the key aspects for flood hazard mitigation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research article is an extension of the project – Flood Hazard Evaluation and Vulnerability Assessment of Upper Jhelum Floodplain in Kashmir Valley – sponsored by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India. Authors are appreciative to the MoES (India) for providing the financial support to carry out this study. However, it is pertinent to mention that MoES is not responsible for any result interpretations expressed in the paper.
The authors are indebted to the editor (Prof Richard Haigh) and anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments that substantially improved the quality and structure of the paper. Free dissemination of extensive data acquired through various earth observation programmes by the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is really noteworthy.
Citation
Alam, A., Bhat, M.S., Farooq, H., Ahmad, B., Ahmad, S. and Sheikh, A.H. (2018), "Flood risk assessment of Srinagar city in Jammu and Kashmir, India", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 114-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-02-2017-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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