CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Problem Statement
Many countries worldwide, whether in Europe, America, Asia,
Oceania, Australia or in Africa, are experiencing heavy rains, river overflows,
hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis causing unexpected floods which decimate
entirely or partly some localities in all over the world. Floods are among the
most recurring and devastating natural hazards, impacting human lives and
causing severe economic damage throughout the world (Sadiq et al, 2011, p 85).
Floods can be defined as hydrological events characterised by a rapid rise of
water flow in the river. They are characterised by long, short and no warning,
depending on the type of floods, speed or onset which may be gradual or sudden
(Carter 1991, p1). Various elements either climatic or non-climatic influence
flood processes resulting in different types of flood. Six types of floods are
distinguished: coastal, flash, river, flood due to drainage problems, tsunamis,
and tidal wave/bore floods (Jonkman, 2005).
Flood disasters are occurring as a consequence of either natural
factors, such as climate change and climate variability or anthropogenic
factors, such as socio-economic and land-use developments (Balica, 2009, p
2571). The frequency of those disasters has been increasing over the years,
resulting in loss of life, damage to property and destruction of the
environment.
Over the last 50 years, there has been a growing body of
evidence pointing to the effect of human behaviour on the global natural
environment and on the possibility that certain types of natural disasters such
as floods may be increasing as a direct consequence of human activity
(Guha-Sapir et al, 2004, p 15). Equally, the effects associated with global
warming such as sea level rise, more intensive precipitation levels and higher
river discharges may be consequences of this as well. Those effects may
increase the frequency and the extent of flood hazards on a worldwide scale and
make the number of people at risk in developing countries more vulnerable to
flood disasters due to high poverty level.
In Africa, floods of different kinds are one of the most common
type of disastrous events, and they account for the biggest losses
inflicted by natural disasters. The UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently stated that, compared with previous years,
2010 has seen the largest number of people affected and dying from flooding.
This is consistent with the dramatic rise in flood events that have battered
the world, with West Africa being a case in point.
It is understood that flood risks will not subside in the
future, and with the onset of climate change, flood intensity and frequency
will threaten many regions of the world (Sadiq, 2011, p 85). The Fourth
Assessment Report (AR4) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC,
2007) projects that warming in Africa in the 21st century is likely to be
greater than the average global warming and does find that extremely wet
seasons, high intensity rainfall events, and associated flooding in West Africa
are expected to increase by 20% over the next decades. However, it is noted
that responses of local communities to the impact of extreme climatic events in
many cases in West Africa have mostly been reactive instead of proactive.
Between 1925 and 1992, Togo has recorded 60 urban and rural
floods that caused damages and casualties (MERF, 2013, p 13). Flood disasters
are not then a recent phenomenon in the country but have become a frequently
recurring problem that occur mainly between July and October which inflicts
significant environmental, social, and economic damages and affects population
safety. According to "EM-DAT" (Emergency Events Database) of the Centre for
Research on the Epidemiology (CRED), a number of flood disasters have been
recorded during the last 20 years, with particularly severe events occurring in
2007, 2008 and most recently in 2010 "figure 2". According to MERF (2010), the
2010 flood, in Togo has impacted both urban and rural areas throughout the
entire country, affecting 82,767 people; 21 persons were reported to have lost
their lives, 85 to have been injured, 12,382 houses have been impacted and
7744,24 hectares of land to have been destroyed. Damage and losses were
amounted to an estimated 1.1 percent of GDP, amounting to US$38 million.
Figure 1: Number of people
affected by flood during the period of (1994-2010)
Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED
International Disaster Database
The study area is made up of eight villages (Mawussou, Djrekpon,
Batoe, Tofacope, Atikpatafo, Logokpo, Tchakponou-kondji, Kpodji) from three
counties Sedome, Esse-Godjin and Tokpli located along the river in a
severely flood prone area. The population has experienced occurrence of floods.
Flood events were frequent during the last decade, causing loss of lives,
extensive damages to property, including houses, destruction of transport
infrastructures, agricultural land, breakdown in education system and food
production. In sum flood affects human security in these communities. The
number of reported flood disasters during the last 20 years in the Yoto area,
occurred mainly in 1995, 1999, 2007, 2008 and 2010, with the 2010 flood being
the most severe (UN, 2010) and recently in October 2014. During the 2010 flood,
six counties, 35 villages, including the study villages, were impacted; 2081
people were affected and 1496 hectares of crops were destroyed in the area.
Supplied by a set of sub-branches, the Mono River with 21,300 km² often
undergoes during torrential rains period, the rising of water level followed by
high flows causing the overflowing of the river which inundates the selected
villages and makes the population more vulnerable to flood disasters. To this
are added environmental factors such as fragmentation of the river banks due to
erosion effect digging and widening the river channel, the anthropogenic
pressure like the construction of Nangbeto dam at the upstream of the Mono
basin, deforestation, the demographic explosion and the socio-economic
constraints that exacerbate the vulnerability of the population located at the
downstream part of the basin (AGO et al., 2005, p 1).
The country's vulnerability is expected to increase as a result
of climate change. It follows that both the frequency and the severity of flood
hazards have the potential to increase (MERF, 2009). Regardless of the current
and the future trend of flood hazards combined with socio-economic constraints
of the area, about 74.8% of people are below the poverty line (IMF, 2010, p
17), the occupancy or use of flood-prone areas may involve a degree of
vulnerability.
For communities to be protected against damage due to floods,
it exists four main type of flood measures that have to be taken into account:
the non-structural measures, the structural measures, land planning measures
and conducting flood vulnerability and risks assessments, the latter being the
first step in disaster risk reduction process. Therefore, to enable decision
makers to implement appropriate flood policies in the right place, there is a
need to conduct flood vulnerability assessment with a vulnerability score for a
systematic understanding of an area; its characteristics related to flood
disasters and easily interpret and compare vulnerability of different
communities. Thus, the focus of this study is to conduct flood vulnerability
assessment of the downstream area in the Mono River basin in the Yoto district
through indicator-based vulnerability assessment as proactive response to
floods.
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