Assessment of flood vulnerability in Jamuna floodplain: a case study in Jamalpur district, Bangladesh

Floods are a frequent natural calamity in Bangladesh, where many areas get affected almost every year. An indicator-based vulnerability assessment can help efficiently manage the disaster. Therefore, this study intends to assess the community vulnerability in the Jamuna floodplain, one of the most flood-affected areas, using an indexing method. The index involves many indicators of flood exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity along with their weights, determined based on an extensive literature review. A pretested questionnaire was employed to collect primary data from the study area through 400 household-level interviews. Using multistage sampling techniques, five upazilas from Jamalpur district, i.e., Dewanganj, Islampur, Madarganj, Melandaha, and Sharishabari, were purposefully chosen based on past flood damage reports. The percentage values were derived using SPSS for every variable from the field-level data. The variable vulnerability index (VVI) was computed by dividing the indicator’s weight by its percentage value. Then, exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity indices were calculated using the VVI values. Finally, the composite vulnerability index (CVI) of the five Upazilas has been computed using an established and recognized index formula. The CVI scores for Dewanganj, Islampur, Madarganj, Melandaha, and Sharishabari are 0.86, 0.84, 0.71, 0.70, and 0.65, respectively, which suggest a high overall vulnerability. The scores of the exposure and adaptive capacity indices reveal that Dewanganj and Islampur Upazilas have higher vulnerability than the other three upazilas, especially due to poor socioeconomic conditions, low adaptive capacity, and high exposure. This study recommends some infrastructural development, such as sustainable flood-resistant dams, as the study sites are in a flood-prone zone. Houses should be built using flood-resistant materials like bricks and concrete, which are more resilient than mud. Improvements in education and multiple income sources will help the affected people increase their coping capacity.