Assessing Vulnerability of Peri-Urban Areas to Floods: A Case Study of Kawempe Division, Kampala District

Abstract

This study was aimed at exploring factors causing vulnerability to community members living in peri-urban slum settlements exposed to localized urban flooding. Particularly, this research aimed at finding out and presenting the following: the major flood prone areas in kawempe Division, the effects of flooding that the community living in kawempe division, Kampala, Uganda have to encounter and understanding the copying mechanisms that the community is using to overcome or to show resilience to the effects of floods. Across-sectional survey was undertaken among 60 respondents and modelling analysis was undertaken. Analysis was descriptively and thematically implemented. Results showed that flash floods occur mainly in lowing areas of Kawempe division and are the major naturally occurring hazards with great impact on the communities living in the flood prone areas of Kampala. These areas are mainly low-lying areas and characterized by swamps, major drainage systems and small streams of water, and mainly act as the catchment zone to water flowing from the major hills of Kampala during rainy seasons. Flash flood disasters surface because of poor urban management. The results showed that inadequate urban planning was affecting the poor that were living on marginal lands. Bwaise Parish III had emerged on a location that was both hazardous and unhealthy. The analysis showed that low income earners people were limited in their options of risk limitation and their copying mechanisms were also limited because of their lack of basic capabilities. Households in flood prone areas of kawempe division were affected by flooding directly and indirectly through the loss of livelihoods and belongings and through time spent getting water out of their houses. Women were generally disproportionally affected by flooding because of their vulnerabilities such as lower socioeconomic status and responsibilities that confined them to their homes. It is recommended that strengthening capabilities and developing infrastructure of the division need to be undertaken to curb the intensity of flash floods occurrence and impact. Key words: small-scale disasters, localized flooding, urban informal settlements