Community Assessment of Flood Risks and Early Warning System in Ratu Watershed, Koshi Basin, Nepal

Sagar Ratna Bajracharya, Narendra Raj Khanal, Pashupati Nepal, Sundar Kumar Rai, Pawan Kumar Ghimire and Neera Shrestha Pradhan
Additional contact information
Sagar Ratna Bajracharya: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Lalitpur 44700, Nepal
Narendra Raj Khanal: Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur 44618, Nepal
Pashupati Nepal: Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur 44618, Nepal
Sundar Kumar Rai: Centennial College, Toronto, ON M1G3T8, Canada
Pawan Kumar Ghimire: Geographic Information System and Integrated Development Center (GISIDC), Lalitpur 44700, Nepal
Neera Shrestha Pradhan: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Lalitpur 44700, Nepal

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: Nepal is highly vulnerable to flood-related disasters which cause considerable loss of lives and property. The vulnerability of communities to flood-related hazards can be reduced by proper planning, preparedness, and responses using various structural and nonstructural measures. The community-based flood early warning system is one such tool that enables local communities to enhance their resilience to flooding risks. This paper highlights the efficacy of the community assessment of flood risks and early warning systems. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper evaluates the progress of a community-based flood early warning system implemented in the Ratu River—a small tributary of the Koshi River. The establishment of a community network in 2015 was instrumental in the dissemination of flood early warning information and in building local capacities to understand the risks and take timely action. The flood early warning resulted in awareness-raising, strengthened upstream–downstream linkages, and resulted in a greater willingness among communities to help each other prepare for flood disasters in the Ratu watershed.

Keywords: community risk perception; early warning system; flood disaster preparedness; Ratu watershed; upstream–downstream linkages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3577/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3577/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3577-:d:522664

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().