Assessing Community Perceptions on Urban Flood Resilience in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Urban communities’ perceptions about flood disasters can help better understand the resilience level of specific communities. This paper examines community-specific flood resilience by looking at Sri Lanka’s most flood-prone areas: the Kolonnawa and Kaduwela divisional secretariat divisions of Colombo. We conducted field surveys and a questionnaire survey among 120 community members. The collected questionnaire data were then analyzed partly by conducting multiple regression analyses. The results of our research identify varied perceptions about flood vulnerability and resilience by the community. Overall, our respondents regarded flood incidents as a high-risk disaster to their livelihoods, but some communities appeared to have higher coping strategies than others within the same administrative division. The respondents generally perceived that proximity to flood sources would increase flood vulnerability and frequency. Compared to other communities, Sedawatta community experienced most frequent floods, and 93% lived within 100 m from the river. The respondents had taken measures to mitigate floods mostly by elevating houses. Through multiple regression analyses, we found that education, income, household structure, distance to flood sources, and flood frequency had significant correlations with flood resilience and vulnerability in varying degrees by community. In conclusion, we argue that government flood management policies focus more on community-specific needs.