Vulnerability of coastal cities flood risk vulnerability in peri urban areas of Surat

Abstract

This study presents Surat s flood risk vulnerability in its peri-urban villages. This coastal city in western India is a historically significant port and trade centre situated in the low lying deltaic region of Tapi River. The city has seen significant population growth and urban expansion since 1980s. Also, the city has continued to face flood risk and other socio-economic challenges. In 2006, around 75% of the city was under water owing to Tapi floods that coincided with high tide. It returned to normalcy with great rapidity and steps were taken towards its resilience building. On the other hand, there have been protests from its peri-urban villages against externalities and influences imposed by the city, be it pollution, waste disposal, industrialization, loss of subsistence livelihoods or urban expansion. It was observed that flood impacts in these areas were not known. This research aimed to understand the impacts, coping strategies and flood risk faced by the peri-urban village communities of Surat through a study of four villages two in urban and the other two in rural jurisdiction with a sample of 216 households. Assets, daily needs, basic services and livelihoods were studied during and after flood scenario. Based on the same and with inputs from literature, social vulnerability indicators were developed. These when overlaid with the components of physical exposure complete the risk equation {Risk=f (vulnerability and exposure}. Urban-rural, hamlets along the river and creeks and hamlets with poor habitat conditions were the three prime physical locations which were studied with respect to exposure in terms of inundation and duration of the same. Five most vulnerable groups that emerged are: ST and SC households, women headed households, farm and non-farm labour based households and those households with elderly members. Halpatis, a traditionally marginalized ST community emerged as the most vulnerable in the face of floods due to transient land use, loss of productive assets.