Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District

Fiasorgbor Doris; Wiafe Edward; Tettey Caroline; Abasiyam Mary

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

| Peer-Reviewed

Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District

Fiasorgbor Doris, Wiafe Edward, Tettey Caroline, Abasiyam Mary

Published in American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering (Volume 2, Issue 1)

Received: 14 July 2017 Accepted: 18 April 2018 Published: 19 May 2018

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Flooding can pose substantial social and welfare problems that may continue over extended periods of time that include economic stress associated with re-building that arise as people try to recover their lives, property and relationships. This study is focused on identifying community coping strategies in relation to flood and examine the factors influencing the selection of coping strategies as well as the local government policies in relation to flood disaster management. The target population for the study is households affected by flood, who were accidentally selected at household levels. One hundred (100) respondents chosen were interviewed person to person with the use of both structured and semi- structured guides. The study indicated that the largest floods in the area in recent years occurred in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2017. The causes were as a result of heavy rains and when neighbouring Burkina Faso opened a flood gate of the Bagre dam, releasing an enormous amount of water into the White Volta River that flowed into Ghana. During flooding, crops are submerged or washed off and animals drowned; animals like sheep, goats and cattle go days without food and often suffer foot and mouth diseases and die as a result. To cope with the flooding, the victims borrow money and food in order to survive through the flood season and some households traded their assets for money and food, taking children out of school to work, while some sent family members out to live with friends and relatives elsewhere. Pastoral farming has been adopted and the community members also engaged in activities such as sale of firewood or charcoal, income from petty trading usually by women, some travel to work mostly in southern Ghana and send food items home, thatch weaving for local roofing and twine weaving to make income. There should be policies that target the marginalised in society, such as women, children, the elderly, the physically challenged persons and the poor otherwise these groups will remain most vulnerable. Self-help measures to reduce damage to property and stress caused by flooding should also be encouraged.

Published in	American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering (Volume 2, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
Page(s)	17-25
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Coping Strategy, Flood, Builsa District

References

[1]	Action Aid (2005). Participatory Vulnerability Analysis: A Step by Step Guide for Field Staff. London: Action Aid International.
[2]	Action Aid (2006). Climate Change, Urban Flooding and the Rights of the Urban Adaptation to Environmental Risk. London: Action Aid International
[3]	Africanews (2017). Ghana Hit by Deadly Floods in the Northern Region http://www.africanews.com/2017/07/27/ghana-hit-by-deadly-floods-in-the-northern-region-vp-visits-victims// (Retrieved on 27^th July, 2017).
[4]	Blaikie, P. Cannon, T. Davis I and Wisner, B. (1994). At risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and Disaster. London: Routledge.
[5]	Blaikie, P. Cannon, T. Davis I and Wisner, B. (2003). At risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and Disaster. London: Routledge.
[6]	Builsa District Assembly, (2010). 2010-2013 Medium Term Development Plan Sandema Upper East Region. Builsa District Assembly
[7]	Feinberg, T. (1999). The midwest floods of 1993: Observations of a natural disaster. In A. S. Canter & S. A. Carroll (Eds.), Crisis prevention & response: A collection of NASP resources (pp. 223-239). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
[8]	Food and Agriculture Organisation, (2008). Financing Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Agriculture and Forestry Sectors, FAO and IFAD, Rome.
[9]	Ghana Statistical Service, (2005). Population and Housing Census 2000, Special Report on Localities by District Upper East Region GSS, Accra.
[10]	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), (2001). Climate change 2001: synthesis report; a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change UK.
[11]	International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2012): Climate Change 2001 Synthesis Report Summary for Policy Makers.
[12]	International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) (2017): Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) Ghana Floods.
[13]	National Disaster Management Organisation (2007), National Disaster Management Assessment Report, Builsa District, Upper East Region.
[14]	Strydom, H., Fouche C. B. and Delport C. S. L (Third edition). 2005. Research at Grassroots for Social Sciences and Human Service Professions Switzerland p193.
[15]	UNDP/NADMO, (2009). Enhancing National Strategies for Effective Disaster Risk Reduction in Ghana.
[16]	United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), (2004). Living with risk: a global review of disaster reduction initiatives, United Nations.
[17]	Reliefweb (2017). Ghana: Floods Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) DREF Operation no. MDRGH014, Reliefweb.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Fiasorgbor Doris, Wiafe Edward, Tettey Caroline, Abasiyam Mary. (2018). Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 2(1), 17-25. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Fiasorgbor Doris; Wiafe Edward; Tettey Caroline; Abasiyam Mary. Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District. Am. J. Environ. Sci. Eng. 2018, 2(1), 17-25. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Fiasorgbor Doris, Wiafe Edward, Tettey Caroline, Abasiyam Mary. Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District. Am J Environ Sci Eng. 2018;2(1):17-25. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12,
  author = {Fiasorgbor Doris and Wiafe Edward and Tettey Caroline and Abasiyam Mary},
  title = {Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District},
  journal = {American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {17-25},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajese.20180201.12},
  abstract = {Flooding can pose substantial social and welfare problems that may continue over extended periods of time that include economic stress associated with re-building that arise as people try to recover their lives, property and relationships. This study is focused on identifying community coping strategies in relation to flood and examine the factors influencing the selection of coping strategies as well as the local government policies in relation to flood disaster management. The target population for the study is households affected by flood, who were accidentally selected at household levels. One hundred (100) respondents chosen were interviewed person to person with the use of both structured and semi- structured guides. The study indicated that the largest floods in the area in recent years occurred in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2017. The causes were as a result of heavy rains and when neighbouring Burkina Faso opened a flood gate of the Bagre dam, releasing an enormous amount of water into the White Volta River that flowed into Ghana. During flooding, crops are submerged or washed off and animals drowned; animals like sheep, goats and cattle go days without food and often suffer foot and mouth diseases and die as a result. To cope with the flooding, the victims borrow money and food in order to survive through the flood season and some households traded their assets for money and food, taking children out of school to work, while some sent family members out to live with friends and relatives elsewhere. Pastoral farming has been adopted and the community members also engaged in activities such as sale of firewood or charcoal, income from petty trading usually by women, some travel to work mostly in southern Ghana and send food items home, thatch weaving for local roofing and twine weaving to make income. There should be policies that target the marginalised in society, such as women, children, the elderly, the physically challenged persons and the poor otherwise these groups will remain most vulnerable. Self-help measures to reduce damage to property and stress caused by flooding should also be encouraged.},
 year = {2018}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District
AU  - Fiasorgbor Doris
AU  - Wiafe Edward
AU  - Tettey Caroline
AU  - Abasiyam Mary
Y1  - 2018/05/19
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
T2  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JF  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JO  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
SP  - 17
EP  - 25
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-7993
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
AB  - Flooding can pose substantial social and welfare problems that may continue over extended periods of time that include economic stress associated with re-building that arise as people try to recover their lives, property and relationships. This study is focused on identifying community coping strategies in relation to flood and examine the factors influencing the selection of coping strategies as well as the local government policies in relation to flood disaster management. The target population for the study is households affected by flood, who were accidentally selected at household levels. One hundred (100) respondents chosen were interviewed person to person with the use of both structured and semi- structured guides. The study indicated that the largest floods in the area in recent years occurred in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2017. The causes were as a result of heavy rains and when neighbouring Burkina Faso opened a flood gate of the Bagre dam, releasing an enormous amount of water into the White Volta River that flowed into Ghana. During flooding, crops are submerged or washed off and animals drowned; animals like sheep, goats and cattle go days without food and often suffer foot and mouth diseases and die as a result. To cope with the flooding, the victims borrow money and food in order to survive through the flood season and some households traded their assets for money and food, taking children out of school to work, while some sent family members out to live with friends and relatives elsewhere. Pastoral farming has been adopted and the community members also engaged in activities such as sale of firewood or charcoal, income from petty trading usually by women, some travel to work mostly in southern Ghana and send food items home, thatch weaving for local roofing and twine weaving to make income. There should be policies that target the marginalised in society, such as women, children, the elderly, the physically challenged persons and the poor otherwise these groups will remain most vulnerable. Self-help measures to reduce damage to property and stress caused by flooding should also be encouraged.
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Fiasorgbor Doris

Department of Rural and Community Development, Faculty of Development Studies, Presbyterian University College, Abetifi, Ghana
Wiafe Edward

Department of Environment and Natural Resources Management, Faculty of Development Studies, Presbyterian University College, Abetifi, Ghana
Tettey Caroline

Department of Environment and Natural Resources Management, Faculty of Development Studies, Presbyterian University College, Abetifi, Ghana
Abasiyam Mary

Department of Rural and Community Development, Faculty of Development Studies, Presbyterian University College, Abetifi, Ghana

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Fiasorgbor Doris, Wiafe Edward, Tettey Caroline, Abasiyam Mary. (2018). Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 2(1), 17-25. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Fiasorgbor Doris; Wiafe Edward; Tettey Caroline; Abasiyam Mary. Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District. Am. J. Environ. Sci. Eng. 2018, 2(1), 17-25. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Fiasorgbor Doris, Wiafe Edward, Tettey Caroline, Abasiyam Mary. Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District. Am J Environ Sci Eng. 2018;2(1):17-25. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12,
  author = {Fiasorgbor Doris and Wiafe Edward and Tettey Caroline and Abasiyam Mary},
  title = {Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District},
  journal = {American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {17-25},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajese.20180201.12},
  abstract = {Flooding can pose substantial social and welfare problems that may continue over extended periods of time that include economic stress associated with re-building that arise as people try to recover their lives, property and relationships. This study is focused on identifying community coping strategies in relation to flood and examine the factors influencing the selection of coping strategies as well as the local government policies in relation to flood disaster management. The target population for the study is households affected by flood, who were accidentally selected at household levels. One hundred (100) respondents chosen were interviewed person to person with the use of both structured and semi- structured guides. The study indicated that the largest floods in the area in recent years occurred in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2017. The causes were as a result of heavy rains and when neighbouring Burkina Faso opened a flood gate of the Bagre dam, releasing an enormous amount of water into the White Volta River that flowed into Ghana. During flooding, crops are submerged or washed off and animals drowned; animals like sheep, goats and cattle go days without food and often suffer foot and mouth diseases and die as a result. To cope with the flooding, the victims borrow money and food in order to survive through the flood season and some households traded their assets for money and food, taking children out of school to work, while some sent family members out to live with friends and relatives elsewhere. Pastoral farming has been adopted and the community members also engaged in activities such as sale of firewood or charcoal, income from petty trading usually by women, some travel to work mostly in southern Ghana and send food items home, thatch weaving for local roofing and twine weaving to make income. There should be policies that target the marginalised in society, such as women, children, the elderly, the physically challenged persons and the poor otherwise these groups will remain most vulnerable. Self-help measures to reduce damage to property and stress caused by flooding should also be encouraged.},
 year = {2018}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Assessment of the Coping Strategies of Flood Victims in the Builsa District
AU  - Fiasorgbor Doris
AU  - Wiafe Edward
AU  - Tettey Caroline
AU  - Abasiyam Mary
Y1  - 2018/05/19
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
T2  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JF  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JO  - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
SP  - 17
EP  - 25
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-7993
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20180201.12
AB  - Flooding can pose substantial social and welfare problems that may continue over extended periods of time that include economic stress associated with re-building that arise as people try to recover their lives, property and relationships. This study is focused on identifying community coping strategies in relation to flood and examine the factors influencing the selection of coping strategies as well as the local government policies in relation to flood disaster management. The target population for the study is households affected by flood, who were accidentally selected at household levels. One hundred (100) respondents chosen were interviewed person to person with the use of both structured and semi- structured guides. The study indicated that the largest floods in the area in recent years occurred in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2017. The causes were as a result of heavy rains and when neighbouring Burkina Faso opened a flood gate of the Bagre dam, releasing an enormous amount of water into the White Volta River that flowed into Ghana. During flooding, crops are submerged or washed off and animals drowned; animals like sheep, goats and cattle go days without food and often suffer foot and mouth diseases and die as a result. To cope with the flooding, the victims borrow money and food in order to survive through the flood season and some households traded their assets for money and food, taking children out of school to work, while some sent family members out to live with friends and relatives elsewhere. Pastoral farming has been adopted and the community members also engaged in activities such as sale of firewood or charcoal, income from petty trading usually by women, some travel to work mostly in southern Ghana and send food items home, thatch weaving for local roofing and twine weaving to make income. There should be policies that target the marginalised in society, such as women, children, the elderly, the physically challenged persons and the poor otherwise these groups will remain most vulnerable. Self-help measures to reduce damage to property and stress caused by flooding should also be encouraged.
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download