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Flood Vulnerability Assessment through Different Methodological Approaches in the Context of North-West Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

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  • Muhammad Nazeer

    (Institute of Ecosystem Research, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany)

  • Hans-Rudolf Bork

    (Institute of Ecosystem Research, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany)

Abstract

There are several approaches to assess flood vulnerability as a proactive measure to reduce the risk of flooding. The indicator-based approach is primarily practiced from a policy point of view through the use of composite indicators. Composite indicators can be built from very easy to very complex and sophisticated methods. However, there are two complications that arise with this issue. On the one hand, the flood vulnerability index should be fairly simple, taking into account the interdisciplinary nature of various stakeholders involved in flood risk management. While on the other hand, addressing the issue of subjectivity or prejudice should be scientifically defensible. As there is no a single universally “best” methodological approach for the construction of composite indicator due to its data-specific nature for each individual study. The aim of this study is therefore to construct such an index of flood vulnerability that is not only intuitive to a variety of stakeholders, but also scientifically justified in the context of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Therefore, the current study demonstrated a detailed procedure to construct the flood vulnerability indices through different methodological approaches of data rescaling, weighting, and aggregation schemes, along with a fairly simple approach for robustness. For this purpose, data was collected through different (official) portals for the nine highly flood-prone districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was found that the weighting schemes had a greater influence on the flood vulnerability ranking of the selected districts compared to data rescaling and aggregation schemes. The simple model, which is the frequently using approach of building composite indicators in scientific community, was found to be appropriate for the selected data. The methodology adopted in the study can provide decision-makers and relevant authorities with a practical tool to identify and prioritize certain vulnerable areas and measures to mitigate current flood vulnerabilities while preparing for future flood risk mitigation in the province through a fairly simple and methodologically defensible approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Nazeer & Hans-Rudolf Bork, 2019. "Flood Vulnerability Assessment through Different Methodological Approaches in the Context of North-West Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6695-:d:291189
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    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Hussain & Muhammad Tayyab & Jiquan Zhang & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah & Kashif Ullah & Ummer Mehmood & Bazel Al-Shaibah, 2021. "GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Approach for Flood Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping in District Shangla: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Muhammad Nazeer & Hans-Rudolf Bork, 2021. "A local scale flood vulnerability assessment in the flood-prone area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 105(1), pages 755-781, January.
    3. Ismallianto Isia & Tony Hadibarata & Muhammad Noor Hazwan Jusoh & Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya & Noor Fifinatasha Shahedan & Norma Latif Fitriyani & Muhammad Syafrudin, 2023. "Identifying Factors to Develop and Validate Social Vulnerability to Floods in Malaysia: A Systematic Review Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-21, August.

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