Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases

Flood risks continue to pose serious threats to developing countries with dire ramifications for livelihoods. Yet, contemporary research on determinants for coping with flood hazards is driven mostly by individual cases with less effort to systematically identify coping strategies across multiple fl...

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Main Authors: Roland A. Balgah, Henry N. Bang, Salliana A. Fondo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2019-04-01
Series:Jàmbá
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/678
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author Roland A. Balgah
Henry N. Bang
Salliana A. Fondo
author_facet Roland A. Balgah
Henry N. Bang
Salliana A. Fondo
author_sort Roland A. Balgah
collection DOAJ
description Flood risks continue to pose serious threats to developing countries with dire ramifications for livelihoods. Yet, contemporary research on determinants for coping with flood hazards is driven mostly by individual cases with less effort to systematically identify coping strategies across multiple floods. This research analyses potential determinants of coping strategies to flooding across multiple floods using two case studies in Cameroon. Via empirical research and qualitative or descriptive statistical analysis, the research investigated how human, social, and economic or financial variables influence household coping decisions across the two flood sites. Results suggest a great influence of social and human capital on household decisions to adopt specific coping strategies and that over 80% of flood victims in both study sites applied post-flood informal coping strategies. Analysis also shows significant inconsistencies with human capital variables, which reveal that coping determinants can be quite different even for floods occurring in the same agroecological zone. The findings also reveal that economic and financial capital has little influence on flood victims’ coping decisions, contrary to popular contentions in the literature. The results of this study have implications for research and policy implementation on flood-induced coping strategies in developing countries.
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spelling doaj.art-074ec083ba584d6394c4c52a168606cd2022-12-22T01:19:26ZengAOSISJàmbá1996-14212072-845X2019-04-01111e1e910.4102/jamba.v11i1.678240Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single casesRoland A. Balgah0Henry N. Bang1Salliana A. Fondo2College of Technology, The University of Bamenda, BamendaDisaster Management Centre, Bournemouth University, DorsetSchool of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, MunichFlood risks continue to pose serious threats to developing countries with dire ramifications for livelihoods. Yet, contemporary research on determinants for coping with flood hazards is driven mostly by individual cases with less effort to systematically identify coping strategies across multiple floods. This research analyses potential determinants of coping strategies to flooding across multiple floods using two case studies in Cameroon. Via empirical research and qualitative or descriptive statistical analysis, the research investigated how human, social, and economic or financial variables influence household coping decisions across the two flood sites. Results suggest a great influence of social and human capital on household decisions to adopt specific coping strategies and that over 80% of flood victims in both study sites applied post-flood informal coping strategies. Analysis also shows significant inconsistencies with human capital variables, which reveal that coping determinants can be quite different even for floods occurring in the same agroecological zone. The findings also reveal that economic and financial capital has little influence on flood victims’ coping decisions, contrary to popular contentions in the literature. The results of this study have implications for research and policy implementation on flood-induced coping strategies in developing countries.https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/678disaster risk managementnatural hazardsmultiple casescoping strategiesfloodslocal development
spellingShingle Roland A. Balgah
Henry N. Bang
Salliana A. Fondo
Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases
Jàmbá
disaster risk management
natural hazards
multiple cases
coping strategies
floods
local development
title Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases
title_full Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases
title_fullStr Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases
title_full_unstemmed Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases
title_short Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases
title_sort drivers for coping with flood hazards beyond the analysis of single cases
topic disaster risk management
natural hazards
multiple cases
coping strategies
floods
local development
url https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/678
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AT henrynbang driversforcopingwithfloodhazardsbeyondtheanalysisofsinglecases
AT sallianaafondo driversforcopingwithfloodhazardsbeyondtheanalysisofsinglecases