Abstract: Floods are becoming the most disparaging environmental catastrophe threatening lower Nyando basin, Kisumu County, Kenya. The floods cause socio-economic disruption which seriously undermines the quality of life of affected households. As a way of reducing the impact of flooding, residents have resorted to the use of diverse adaptation strategies. Knowledge about these strategies therefore1 formed the basis for this research. The study targeted heads of households, Govt. officials, and heads of NGOs, FBOs, as well as CBOs in a bid to answer the research question. The research adopted both correlational and survey research designs. Simple random technique was used to select 384 household heads. Both primary and secondary data were sourced using questionnaires, interviews, FGDs; direct observation and document analysis were used to enhance the documentation of the socio-economic adaptation mechanisms. Descriptive and inferential statistics used in data analysis include frequencies, percentages, chi-square, spearman’s rank order correlation and Standard deviation. Findings reveal that (71.1%) of the respondents were affected by floods. Popular mechanisms employed by households to mitigate the impact of floods were moving the family and valuable goods away from home briefly to safer places (91.5%), constructing flood diversion trenches (83.3%) and seeking relief from the Government and other agencies (58.3%). In order to build resilience within the flood prone communities, the study recommends assistance in constructing flood proof buildings, availing subsidized loans and insurance policies to households and engaging the community in decision making in flood mitigation and preparedness processes to help reduce vulnerability.
Keywords: Adaptation mechanisms, Floods, Households, Nyando basin, Socio-economic.
Title: Household’s Adaptation Mechanisms to Flood Risk: A Case of Lower Nyando Basin, Kisumu County, Kenya
Author: Alice Masese, Edward Neyole, Nicholas Ombachi
International Journal of Thesis Projects and Dissertations (IJTPD)
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