Socioeconomic vulnerability of urban flooding in the context of IPCC AR4 framework in Hyderabad, India

Abstract

The growing number of natural hazards raises concerns about the increased vulnerability of the population in cities, particularly in the global south. Recently the Hyderabad city has faced severe loss of life and property from frequent flooding and other extreme events. The vulnerability assessment in this context becomes a key to planning and responding to urban floods. In the present research, the principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to evaluate the levels of the different indices viz exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and potential impact. Results identify that historically the lack of disaster preparedness along with the urban land development has amplified the vulnerabilities in the core and old part of the city. While the wards having better infrastructural development and access to urban services show low level of vulnerability. The poor urban infrastructural development amplifies the vulnerability while the enhanced adaptive capacity lowers the vulnerability of population. The discussion also highlights that urban flooding amplifies the existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities in the city and, women, non-workers and socio-economically marginalized groups are highly vulnerable. The strengthening of governance through mutual efforts of users and managers for urban land management can reduce the impacts of vulnerability.