Changes in Vulnerability and Response Capacities of Rural Communities After Extreme Events: Case of Major Floods of 2010 and 2014 in Pakistan

Abstract

Vulnerability and response capacities of disaster-affected communities might change due to extreme events and response measures taken thereafter. This has also been acknowledged there are only very few empirical studies on how spatio-temporal changes in vulnerability and response capacities at community level occur and how they affect risk management and development. Against this background, the paper investigates changes in vulnerability and response capacities of flood-affected rural communities in Pakistan. A major flood hit Pakistan in 2010 that had also a global repercussion in international media; however, also in 2014 various rural areas were hit by an extreme flood event. In order to examine specific vulnerability and response capacities of rural communities, the authors focus on two flood-affected districts (Muzaffargarh and Jhang) in rural areas that were hit by major flood events in 2010 and 2014. Based on a qualitative and participatory research approach, a weighted matrix index was developed to assess changes in vulnerability and response capacities of community’s livelihood assets i.e., human, natural, physical, financial and social. Results revealed that variations observed in vulnerability and response capacities were not only due to the flood itself but also due to the response measures taken thereafter. Changes in vulnerability across time and space of rural households affected by the extreme floods underscore, for example, that the role of immovable and movable assets is quite important and that governmental institutions had only a limited influence in terms of factors that allowed households to reduce vulnerability. Overall, the paper shows empirically that dynamics of vulnerability are characterized by distinctive features of space, flood events, socio-economic and physical situations over the period of time.