Flood and Drought Management Backup

DEBRETABOR UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF HYDRAULIC AND WATER RESOURCE
ENGINEERING
CourseCode-HEng-4193
October/ 2015
MODULE COORDINATOR:- Mr. Said M.( B.Sc)
Table of Contents
page
CHAPTER-ONE............................................................................................................... .1
Overview of Hydro-Climatic Hazards ............................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
Types of Hazards .........................................................................................................................1
1.2 Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts ......................................................................4
1.3 Benefits and Costs of Early Warning and Preparedness.........................................................5
1.3.1 Factors That Determine the Benefits of Early Warning Systems.....................................5
1.3.2 Disaster Preparedness..........................................................................................................8
CHAPTER-TWO ............................................................................................................ ..10

Origin and Nature of Hydro-Climatic Hazards ................................................................ 11
2.1 Meteorological regimes........................................................................................................11
2.2 Hydrological Regimes..........................................................................................................12
2.3 Physical Characteristics of Floods .......................................................................................13
2.5 Measurement Techniques ....................................................................................................13
2.6 Frequency of Flooding ........................................................................................................14
CHAPTER-THREE ..........................................................................................................17
Management and Mitigation of Hazards/Disasters ...........................................................17
3.1 Hazard Maps, Risk Information and Education...................................................................19
3.2 Possible Flood Risk Reduction Measures............................................................................20
3.3 Strategic Approach: Structural Measures ............................................................................23
3.4 Early Warning ....................................................................................................................23
3.4.1 The Flood Warning Process.........................................................................................24
3.5Flood control Works............................................................................................................27
3.5.1Objectives: ...................................................................................................................28
3.5.2 Classification ................................................................................................................28

3.5.3 Methods ......................................................................................................................29
3.4.2 The Nature of Flood Risk ............................................................................................36
3.4.3 Assessing Flood Risk ...................................................................................................38
3.4.4 Flood Risk Modeling ...................................................................................................41
3.5 Emergency Response .........................................................................................................42
3.6 Flood Emergency Planning.................................................................................................45
3.7 Disaster Management.........................................................................................................46
3.8 Evacuation .........................................................................................................................46
3.9 Information System............................................................................................................47
3.9.1 Meteorological and Hydrological Forecasting (Meteorological and Hydrological
Networks) ............................................................................................................................47
3.9.2 Instrumentation Networks............................................................................................48
3.9.3 Integrated Flood Management .....................................................................................49
3.10 Detection..........................................................................................................................50
3.11 Alert Systems; Target Groups...........................................................................................50
CHAPTER-FOUR .......................................................................................................... 52
Institutional Framework .................................................................................................. 52
4.1 Organization and Structure of an Early Warning System: Role of Community, National,
Regional and International Agencies ........................................................................................52
4.1.1 Organizational Issues...................................................................................................52
4.1.2 Role of Community.....................................................................................................53
4.2 Institutional Structure.........................................................................................................55
4.3 Institutional Responsibilities for Disaster Management and Response Mechanisms ............55
4.4 Gaps in Institutional Capacity in Integrated Early Warning and Response Systems .............57
CHAPTER-FIVE............................................................................................................ 58
Drought ........................................................................................................................... 59
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5.1 Causes of Drought..............................................................................................................59

5.2 General Characteristics.......................................................................................................60
5.3 Measuring Drought ............................................................................................................60
5.4 Possible Risk Reduction Measures: ..................................................................................61
5.5 Drought Severity ................................................................................................................63
5.6 Drought Management.........................................................................................................63
5.7 Drought Early Warning System..........................................................................................66
CHAPTER-SIX ............................................................................................................... 68
Case Studies.................................................................................................................... ...68
6.0 Introduction............................................................................................................... ..68
Case studies means .....................................................................................................................68
The process of developing a case study: .....................................................................................68
6.1Flood in Ethiopia.....................................................................................................................69
6.1.1 Flood in Dire Dawa ........................................................................................................70
6.1.2 Massive Flash Flood in Dire Dawa .................................................................................72
6.1.3 Flood in Afar Region ......................................................................................................73
Early History ............................................................................................................................73
6.2 Awash River Floods................................................................................................................74
6.2.1 Background ......................................................................................................................74
6.2.2 General Situation..............................................................................................................76
6.2.3 General Causes of Flooding .........................................................................................77
6.2.5 Problem of Dismissed Temporary Commercial Farm Employees Unsolved .................78
6.3 Awash River floods.................................................................................................................79
6.4 Drought in Ethiopia...............................................................................................................82
6.4.1Introduction ...........................................................................................................................82
6.6 Response to the Famine............................................................................................................83
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6.6.1 Live Aid .........................................................................................................................85

6.7 Why another Drought is not occurred in Ethiopia?...............................................................85
6.8 SADC Early Warning System For Food Security...............................................................89
Reference.92
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List of Figures
Fig3. 1: Flood plain ..........................................................................................................................20
Fig3. 2Illustration of the components of a flood warning, forecasting and emergency response
system ................................................................................................................................................25
Fig3. 3Floods cases a damage in some area of the world ..................................................................38
Fig3. 4Examples of river and coastal flood defences and a flood gate for wash land drainage .........44
Fig6. 1Map location of Dire-Dawa.....................................................................................................70
Fig6. 2Map of Ethiopia showing the Afar Region..............................................................................74
Fig6. 3Flood in Ethiopia .....................................................................................................................81
List of Tables
Table1. 1: Various Types of Hazards.4
Table3. 1: Typical components in the flood warning, forecasting and emergency response ..........26
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Introduction of the Module

Hydro-climatic disasters are responsible for the serious disruption of the functioning of a
society or community and wide spread human, material or environmental losses. These
disasters and the communities expose to them may be expected to climb with increased
climate variability as a result of climate change. Tragically, the span of attention given to
hydro-climatic disasters is often short, probably because the disaster vents continue only
for a short while, and as the Memory of disaster events fades, so does the regency for
Disaster risk rduction stratgies.
Objective:
Have the main objective, this course used to know the basic and sustainable prevention for
flood ,drought and other environmental hazards by using different mechanisms like
construction of Hydraulic structures to prevent the flood hazards
( early warning for all
disasters ).
Requirement of the course
At the end of this course students should be understand the cause and managements of
environmental hazards and other related concepts.
Pre-requisites:- Engineering Hydrology
th
Target group;-4 Year, Semester -I

Status of Course: - Compulsory
Teaching & Learning Methods: - Lectures, tutorials and home study
Assessment/Evaluation & Grading System: - Continuous assessments . 50%
-Final
exam.......50%
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FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER-ONE
Overview of Hydro-Climatic Hazards
Objectives: At the end of the chapter students should be understand
What are hazards mean
Types and prevention of hazards
Management of hydro climatic hazards
The impact of hydro climatic change
The benefit of early warning
1.1 Introduction
Hydro-climatic dsastres are responsable for the serious disruption of the functioning of a
society or community and wide spread human, material or environnemental losses. Thse
disasters and the communities expose to them may be expected to climb with increased
climate variability as a result of climate change. Tragically, the span of attention given to
hydro-climatic disastersis often short, probably because the disaster vents continue only
for a short while, and as the Memory of disaster vents fades, so dose the regency for
disaster risk rduction stratgies.
Overview of hydro-climatic hazards (floods, drought, thunderstorms, wind gusts, tidal
waves, TCs, hurricanes, tornados, frost and heat waves; El Nino events).
A hazard is a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may
cause the loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods
and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Types of Hazards
Hazards can be associated with two types of events: ongoing and rapid/sudden-onset
threats and slow onset (or creeping) threats.
1. Ongoing and Rapid/sudden-onset: These would include such hazards as: accidental oil
spills, nuclear plant failures, and chemical plant accidents such as inadvertent chemical
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releases to the air or into rivers and water bodies. Geological hazards and hydrometeorological hazards (except droughts).
2. Slow-onset (or creeping): Incremental but long-term and cumulative environmental
changes that usually receive little attention in their early phases but which, over time, may
cause serious crises. These would include such issues as: air and water quality, soil
pollution, acid rain, climate change, desertification processes (including soil erosion and
land degradation), droughts.
Natural disasters caused by weather include tropical cyclones (hurricanes), tornadoes,
floods, heat waves, and droughts. The causes of floods and flood hazards are a complex
mixture of meteorological, hydrological and human factors. It must be emphasized that
human exposure to flood hazards is largely the result of people working and living in areas
that are naturally albeit rarely subject to flooding.
In general hydro-climatic hazards can be divided in to three parts
I.
II.
Meteorological Hazards: Cyclones, Floods, Tornadoes, Heat, hurricanes, drought

Geological Hazards: Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Earthquakes
III.
Technological Hazard: A hazard originating from technological or industrial conditions,

including accidents, dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures or specific human
activities, that may cause loss of life, injury, illness or other health impacts, property
damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental
damage.
I)
Meteorological Hazards
A. Floods are a very common type of natural disaster, and they cause substantial amounts of
property damage, and substantial losses of life. While there seems to be limited potential
for a flood warning system to produce significant benefits with respect to property damage
from floods, the large numbers of lives that are being saved by flood warning systems is
quite likely large, and could be larger with further education of the public.
B. Droughts are different from other natural disasters in several respects. In the developed
world they rarely claim lives, since wealthy countries have the financial ability to replace
food production lost due to droughts. In years past, they have been among the most deadly
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of hazards in less developed countries, though this may be less true now and into the future
as LDCs have become wealthier and international aid responses have developed and
become more effective. In terms of property damage, however, droughts are among the
most costly of natural hazards. In addition, they are difficult to predict, since they are
inherently long-term weather events lasting months or years, and predicting weather over
these kinds of time spans is harder than predicting weather over the next few to several
days.
C. Tropical cyclones, or hurricanes, as they are called in the United States, are large storms
which form over warm ocean waters in the tropics or sub-tropics. They tend to occur
seasonally for example, Atlantic hurricanes affecting the United States are concentrated in
late summer and early fall. Hurricane damage occurs as a result of powerful winds,
flooding (from coastal storm surge and heavy rainfall), and tornadoes that may be spawned
by the hurricane.
D. A tornado is a column of rapidly rotating air that develops within a thunderstorm.
Compared to hurricanes, which can be hundreds of miles wide, tornadoes are much
smaller, with a width ranging from less than 100 meters to about a mile.
E. Heat waves are a relatively underappreciated natural disaster. A heat wave may be
defined as a period of time when temperature and humidity conditions change relatively
quickly in ways that present a risk to human health. Heat waves never causes property
damage, and they may create only minor discomfort for healthy and relatively well-to-do
people who live, work, and drive in air-conditioned spaces.
I) Geological Hazards
A. Earthquakes are movements of the ground that are believed to occur as a result of the
earths tectonic plates suddenly sliding with respect to each other.
B. Tsunamis are huge ocean waves, potentially exceeding 30 meters in height when they
reach land. They are most often generated by earthquakes, though not all earthquakes
create tsunamis.
Natural hazards are hazards which are caused because of natural phenomena (hazards with
meteorological, geological or even biological origin). Examples of natural hazards are
cyclones, tsunamis, earthquake and volcanic eruption which are exclusively of natural
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origin. Landslides, floods, drought, fires are socio-natural hazards since their causes are
both natural and manmade. For example flooding may be caused because of heavy rains,
landslide or blocking of drains with human waste.
Manmade hazards are hazards which are due to human negligence. Manmade hazards are
associated with industries or energy generation facilities and include explosions, leakage of
toxic waste, pollution, dam failure, wars or civil strife etc. The list of hazards is very long.
Many occur frequently while others take place occasionally. However, on the basis of their
genesis, they can be categorized as follows:
Table1. 1: Various Types of Hazards
Activates1.1. What is the difference between Tornados and Tsunamis?
1.2 Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts

Extreme floods have serious
social and economic impacts.
The most important
consequence of flood is the loss of life and property. Structures like houses, bridges; roads
etc. get damaged by the gushing water, landslides triggered on account of water getting
saturated, boats and fishing nets get damaged. There is huge loss to life and livestock
caused by drowning. Lack of proper drinking water facilities, contamination of water
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(well, ground water, piped water supply) leads to outbreak of epidemics, diarrhea, viral
infection, malaria and many other infectious diseases.
Flooding also leads to a large area of agricultural land getting inundated as a result there is
a huge crop loss. This results in shortage of food, and animal fodder. Floods may also
affect the soil characteristics. The land may be rendered infertile due to erosion of top layer
or may turn saline if sea water floods the area.
Urban floods have large impacts particularly in terms of economic losses both direct and
indirect. Flood risks are a function of exposure of the people and the economic activities
along with the vulnerability of social and economic fabric. As such the impact of such
floods on the lives and livelihoods of people, a function of their vulnerability, needs to be
understood.
1.3 Benefits and Costs of Early Warning and Preparedness

1.3.1 Factors That Determine the Benefits of Early Warning Systems
Warning systems provide information about possible future natural hazards, or natural
disasters, which may threaten injury or loss of life and damage to property.
There are six factors that determine the gross benefits of a warning system.
The first two of these relate to the nature of the natural hazard itself:
(1) Frequency is the natural hazard common or rare?
(2) Severity what is the magnitude of the risk to life or the damage to property that the
hazard could cause?
If a particular kind of natural hazard occurs relatively frequently, and if the warning system
works, there will simply be more opportunities for that system to produce its benefits. And,
if the typical severity of that kind of natural hazard is greater, the benefits of a successful
warning and response are likely (but not certain) to be greater. A special challenge arises
when a kind of hazard is extremely severe but very infrequent, e.g. tsunamis. In these
situations, it may be difficult to sustain support for a viable warning system, and to sustain
the publics readiness to respond to a warning, over the long periods between recurrences
of these events.
Four additional factors jointly determine the most appropriate response when a disaster
warning is issued:
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(3) Lead-time given when the warning is issued, what responses are possible?
Lead-time between a warning and the actual occurrence of a disaster essentially determines
the range of responses that one could take more lead-time generally means that there is a
wider range of possible responses to a disaster warning.
(4) Accuracy is the warning correct?
If the warning is not very accurate, little or no response may be appropriate. On the other
hand, if the warning is highly accurate, it will be rational for people to make significant
and possibly costly changes in behavior.
(5) Response Costs what are the costs of possible responses to the warning?
The possible responses to a disaster warning will have different costs. Relatively low cost
responses are more likely to make sense than relatively high cost responses. High cost
responses will make sense only when the potential disaster is severe, the warning is
accurate, and the response makes a real difference.
An example of a low cost response is moving to the southwest corner of a basement when
there is a tornado warning. Because lead-times for tornado warnings are just minutes, this
is about the only response action that makes sense, but it is not costly. An example of a
high cost response is large scale coastal evacuation in advance of a possible hurricane
landfall. Depending on the population density of the threatened coastline, the cost of
evacuation could be in the range of $10 million per mile of coast evacuated.
(6) Loss Reduction: how much are the expected costs of the disaster reduced, given the
likely public response to the warning?
The loss reduction depends on the intrinsic effectiveness of possible actions that may be
taken in advance of the natural disaster, as well as the anticipated degree or extent of
public response to the warning.
Often the most difficult issue in assessing the likely benefits from an early warning system
is predicting the actual public response that will be forthcoming when a disaster warning is
issued. Ideally, one would hope that the public response to a disaster warning would be a
rational expected cost minimizing response that takes into account forecast lead-time,
forecast accuracy, response costs, and loss reductions. However, such rationality is
difficult to achieve. Natural disasters typically threaten large numbers of people who are
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ordinary people not trained in the process of making optimal decisions under uncertainty,
and who are almost certainly unaware of the systematic biases that plague decision-making
about uncertain events, even for people with a sophisticated understanding of such
decision-making. In fact, it is often a major challenge, both in planning an actual response
to a warning, and in estimating the benefits of a warning, to determine what response is
optimal, and how closely the actual response can be expected to approximate the optimal
one.
When the people at risk from a forecasted hazard are not up to the task of making their
own good decisions (e.g. whether to evacuate a coastal area threatened by a hurricane), the
success of a warning system will depend importantly on how public authorities manage the
response to the threatened disaster.
In some countries where there is a high degree of state control over citizens, and it may be
fairly easy to command an optimal response from the people threatened by a natural
hazard. More often, however, the public response will be voluntary, and the tools available
to public authorities will be limited to communication and persuasion as means to induce
people to make a rational response to a natural disaster warning. Failure to achieve a
rational public response to a disaster warning can mean that the hoped-for benefits of the
warning system will be substantially or wholly unrealized.
Finally, the net economic benefit of an early warning system for natural disasters also
depends on a seventh factor.
(7) Early Warning System Cost
Obviously, if this cost is low relative to the gross benefits of the warning system, the net
benefits of the system will be large, and conversely.
Many of the natural hazards that pose serious threats are meteorological, e.g. cyclones,
floods, heat, tornadoes. Forecasts for hazards of this nature are produced jointly by the
same weather forecasting system that also produces everyday weather forecasts of general
use to the population; that system may need some upgrades to be able to forecast a
particular hazard, but a substantial fraction of the system components needed for such
forecasting are already in place. This has two implications. First, there is ambiguity about
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how much of the cost of a weather forecasting system should be attributed to forecasting a
products, and the cost of producing forecasts for all such hazards is nearly the same as the cost of
producing a forecast for any single one of them. This means that it will make economic sense to
produce forecasts for all the meteorological hazards particular hazard, e.g. cyclones. Second,
forecasts for meteorological hazards are joint if it makes sense to produce a forecast for any
one of them.
Many factors determine the benefits of early warnings systems for the various natural
hazards. To develop a subjective scoring system, we first observe that, in order for the
benefits of an early warning system to be high, a natural hazard must simultaneously
satisfy several criteria: it must be frequent, severe, predictable with reasonable lead-time
and accuracy, and there must exist cost-effective responses to warnings of an impending
occurrence. If any one of these criteria is not met, the potential benefits from a warning
system may be small or even zero. For example, if the hazard is not predictable, it does not
matter how frequent, severe, or cost-effective responses to warnings might be --- if one
cannot predict the hazard, the benefits of an early warning system will be zero.
Activity 1.2. How can we adopt early warning?
1.3.2 Disaster Preparedness

Involves forecasting and taking precautionary measures prior to an imminent threat when
advance warnings are possible. Preparedness planning improves the response to the effects
of a disaster by organizing the delivery of timely and effective rescue, relief and assistance.
Preparedness involves the development and regular testing of warning systems (linked to
forecasting systems) and plans for evacuation or other measures to be taken during a
disaster alert period to minimize potential loss of life and physical damage. It also involves
the education and training of officials and the population at risk, the training of
Intervention teams, and the Establishment of policies, standards, organizational
Arrangements and operational plans to be applied following a disaster.
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Disaster preparedness minimizes the adverse effects of a hazard through effective

precautionary actions, rehabilitation and recovery to ensure the timely, appropriate and
effective organization and delivery
of relief and assistance
following disaster.A
coordinated disaster preparedness and response system is an essential condition of any

disaster preparedness plan. There is no standard way of ensuring effective coordination.
Each design will depend upon the traditions and governmental structure of the country
under review. However, a plan will rapidly deteriorate unless there is horizontal
coordination at central government
and sub-national levels among ministries and
specialized agencies and vertical coordination between central and local authorities.
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Unit summary
Overview of hydro-climatic hazards (floods, drought, thunderstorms, wind gusts, tidal
waves, TCs, hurricanes, tornados, frost and heat waves; El Nino events).
A hazard is a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may
cause the loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods
and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Warning systems provide information about possible future natural hazards, or natural
disasters, which may threaten injury or loss of life and damage to property.
There are six factors that determine the gross benefits of a warning system.
The first two of these relate to the nature of the natural hazard itself:
Exercise
1. What are Hazards?
2. Mention the types of Hazards?
3. Determine the Benefit of early warning system?
4. What are the factors that are used to determine the early warning?
5. Discus about natural hazards?
6. Have you ever seen wind hazards?
7. Can we solve all the hazards?
8. When a dam failure caused flooding and it may affect the downstream of the , can we say
natural hazards ?
9. What is the difference between Heat wave and Tornados?
10. What does it mean lead time?
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CHAPTER-TWO
Origin and Nature of Hydro-Climatic Hazards
Objectives: students should be know the assessment of Meteorological hazards
Flood discharge and flood frequency measurements techniques
Characteristics of flood
Floods can be such devastating disasters that anyone can be affected at almost any time.
As we have seen, when water falls on the surface of the Earth, it has to go somewhere. In
order to reduce the risk due to floods, three main approaches are taken to flood prediction.
Statistical studies can be undertaken to attempt to determine the probability and frequency
of high discharges of streams that cause flooding.
Floods can be modeled and maps can be made to determine the extent of possible flooding
when it occurs in the future. And, since the main causes of flooding are abnormal amounts
of rainfall and sudden thawing of snow or ice, storms and snow levels can be monitored to
provide short-term flood prediction.
Floods result from meteorological and hydrological extremes.
The meteorological factors are Rainfall, Cyclonic storms, Small-scale storms,
Temperature, Snowfall and snowmelt. The human factors are Land-use changes.
Activety2.1.Discus
the origin and
nature of hazards?
2.1 Meteorological regimes

The meteorological causes of floods may be grouped into four broad categories:
(a) Small-scale rainstorms causing flash floods;
(b) Widespread storms causing flooding on a regional scale;
(c) Conditions leading to snowmelt; and
(d) Floods resulting from ice jams.
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There is a general correlation among storm duration, storm areal extent, the size of the
watershed associated with the flood, the duration of flooding, and the time from the
beginning of the storm to the flood peak.
Assessment of meteorological hazards should invariably go through the following steps.
(a) Forecasting and warning needs
Location of area at risk
Type of forecast or warning
Required lead time
Required accuracy;
(b) Data collection
Number of satellite pictures available
Availability of other types of data such as synoptic, aircraft-reconnaissance flight
reports
Manner and timeliness of reception;
(c) Processing and analysis of data
(d) Transmission of data
Availability and types of transmission system
Reliability
Timeliness;
(e) Accuracy of forecast and warning
2.2 Hydrological Regimes

Several hydrological processes can lead to flooding, and several factors can affect the flood
potential of a particular rainstorm or snowmelt event. Some of factors that affect the
volume of runoff include:
(a) Soil moisture levels prior to the storm;
(b) Level of shallow groundwater prior to the storm;
(c) Surface infiltration rate: affected by vegetation; soil texture, density and structure; soil
moisture; ground litter; and the presence of frozen soil; and
(d) The presence of impervious cover and whether runoff from the impervious cover
directly drains into the stream or sewer network;
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2.3 Physical Characteristics of Floods

The following characteristics are important in terms of the physical hazard posed by a
particular flood:
(a) The depth of water and its spatial variability;
(b) The areal extent of inundation, and in particular the area that is not normally covered
with water;
(c) The water velocity and its spatial variability;
(d) Duration of flooding;
(e) Suddenness of onset of flooding; and
(f) Capacity for erosion and sedimentation.
The importance of water velocity should not be underestimated, as high velocity water can
be extremely dangerous and destructive. In the case of a flood flowing into a reservoir, the
flood volume and possibly hydrograph shape should be added to the list of important
characteristics.
Activity 2.2 .Mention other types of physical characteristics of flood?
2.5 Measurement Techniques

In order to understand the characteristics and limitations of flood data, it is helpful to
understand measurement techniques (WMO, 1980). Stream flow rates can be measured
directly (Discharge Measurement) or Indirectly (stage Measurement or slope-area
measurement).Direct measurements can be taken by lowering a device into the water that
measures water depth and velocity. These are Measured repeatedly
along a
Line
perpendicular to the direction of flow.

For any reasonably sized river a bridge, cableway or boat is necessary for discharge
measurement. Discharge (m3/s) through each cross-section is calculated as the product of
the velocity and the cross-sectional flow area.Most gauging stations are located such that
there is a unique or approximately unique relation between flow rate, velocity and stage.
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The flow-rate measurements may, therefore, be plotted against stage measurements to

produce a rating curve. Once the rating curve is established, continuous or periodic stage
measurements made either automatically or manually, can be converted to estimates of
discharge. Because measurements of discharge during floods are difficult to make when
the water levels and flow velocities are high, it is common to have records of only stage
measurement during major floods.
2.6 Frequency of Flooding

Flood frequencies can be determined for any given stream if data is available for discharge
of the stream over an extended period of time.
Such data allows statistical analysis to
determine how often a given discharge or stage of a river is expected. From this analysis a
recurrence interval can be determined and a probability calculated for the likelihood of a
given discharge in the stream for any year.
The data needed to perform this analysis are
the yearly maximum discharge of a stream from one gauging station over a long enough
period of time.
v In order to determine the recurrence interval, the yearly discharge values are first
ranked. Each discharge is associated with a rank, m, with m = 1 given to the maximum
discharge over the years of record, m = 2 given to the second highest discharge, m = 3
given to the third highest discharge, etc.
v The smallest discharge will receive a rank equal to the number of years over which
there is a record, n. Thus, the discharge with the smallest value will have m = n.
v The number of years of record, n, and the rank for each peak discharge are then used to
calculate recurrence interval, R by the following equation, called the Weibull equation:
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R = (n+1)/m
The probability, Pe, of a certain discharge can be calculated using the inverse of the
Weibull equation:
Pe = m/(n+1)
The value, Pe, is called the annual exceedence probability.
For example, a discharge equal to that of a 10-year flood would have an annual
exceedence probability of 1/10 = 0.1 or 10%. This would say that in any given year,
the probability that a flood with a discharge equal to or greater than that of a 10 year
flood would be 0.1 or 10%.
Similarly, the probability of a flood with discharge
exceeding the 100 year flood in any given year would be 1/100 = 0.01, or 1%.
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Unit summary
Floods can be such devastating disasters that anyone can be affected at almost any time.
As we have seen, when water falls on the surface of the Earth, it has to go somewhere. In
order to reduce the risk due to floods, three main approaches are taken to flood prediction.
Statistical studies can be undertaken to attempt to determine the probability and frequency
of high discharges of streams that cause flooding.
Several hydrological processes can lead to flooding, and several factors can affect the flood
potential of a particular rainstorm or snowmelt event.
Floods can be modeled and maps can be made to determine the extent of possible flooding
when it occurs in the future. And, since the main causes of flooding are abnormal amounts
of rainfall and sudden thawing of snow or ice, storms and snow levels can be monitored to
provide short-term flood prediction.
Exercise
1. Discus and Mention the meteorological causes of flood?
2. What does mean flood frequency and how can we estimate?
3. Discus the physical characteristics of flood?
4. Illustrate and discus the assessment of meteorological hazards ?

5. How can we protect climatic Hazards?
6. Mention the physical properties of floods?
7. What is the difference between forecasting and warning of hazards?
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CHAPTER-THREE
Management and Mitigation of Hazards/Disasters
Objectives
To establish a policy/legal and institutional framework for management of disasters,

including promotion of a culture of disaster awareness and for building the capacity for
disaster risk reduction, at all levels;
To ensure that institutions and activities for disaster risk management are coordinated,
focused to foster participatory partnerships
To promote linkages between disaster risk management and sustainable development for
reduction of vulnerability to hazards and disasters;
To ensure proactive management of National Conflict Resolution and Peace Building

efforts, which are enhanced continuously throughout the country, with in every conflict
disaster cycle; and that their consequences and impacts are systematically addressed,
monitored, and evaluated to prevent conflict occurrence/recurrence and hasten effective
and sustainable recovery of the victims;
To mobilize resources, including establishment of specific funds for disaster risk reduction
strategies and programmers in DM;
To make institutional provisions to
ensure productive
networking and sharing of
information; and
To make available sensitization, awareness creation and functional literacy to the public
for disaster management.
Floods can be managed through structural interventions such as dikes, barrages, diversion
canals, dams and reservoirs. Non-structural measures such as flood forecasting, public
awareness and early warning system would be part of the management process.
Disaster Risk Management includes sum total of all activities, programmes and measures
which can be taken up before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a
disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses.
The three key stages of activities that are taken up within disaster risk management are:
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A) Before a disaster (pre-disaster)

Activities taken to reduce human and property losses caused by a potential hazard, for
example carrying out awareness campaigns, strengthening the existing weak structures,
Preparation of the disaster management plans at household and community level etc. Such
risk reduction measures taken under this stage are termed as mitigation and preparedness
activities.
B) During a disaster (disaster occurrence)
Initiatives taken to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met and suffering is
minimized. Activities taken under this stage are called emergency response activities.
C) After a disaster (post-disaster)
Initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve early recovery and
rehabilitation of affected communities, immediately after a disaster strikes. These are
called as response and recovery activities.
Mitigation of flood hazards can be attempted in two main ways: An engineering approach,
to control flooding, and a regulatory approach designed to decrease vulnerability to
flooding.
Mitigation embraces measures taken to reduce both the effect of the hazard and the
vulnerable conditions to it in order to reduce the scale of a future disaster. Therefore
mitigation activities can be focused on the hazard itself or the elements exposed to the
threat. Examples of mitigation measures which are hazard specific include water
management in drought prone areas, relocating people away from the hazard prone areas
and by strengthening structures to reduce damage when a hazard occurs.
In addition to these physical measures, mitigation should also aim at reducing the
economic and social vulnerabilities of potential disasters.
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3.1 Hazard Maps, Risk Information and Education

Food hazard mapping is used to determine the areas susceptible to flooding when
discharge of a stream exceeds the bank-full stage. Using historical data on river stages and
discharge of previous floods, along with topographic data, maps can be constructed to
show areas expected to be covered with floodwaters for various discharges or stages.
Communication is critical during an emergency and needs to be addressed thoroughly
within the disaster-response plan. Successful disaster response plans requires information
and mobilisation response teams, provide guidance, instructions to the affected people, and
communicate with the appropriate authorities and external stakeholders
Challenges include reaching people in different locations quickly and simultaneously;
providing the right message (in terms of content, length, and format); monitoring delivery
and response; and ensuring that the process is initiated and suspended at the right times.
Mapping is a central tool in communicating hazard identification and assessment. Maps
can accurately record the location, probable severity and likelihood of occurrence of
hazards and display this information clearly and conveniently. It may be based on a range
of data sources e.g. existing maps, remote sensing, surveying.
Additional information from photography, field surveys and other sources can be overlaid
onto base maps. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are making this much easier.
Community hazard mapping exercises can also be undertaken.
Communities are often knowledgeable about the location and nature of local hazards and
their causal factors. Such information is particularly valuable in identifying and appraising
localised hazards but community level outputs can also feed into Community hazard
mapping exercises can also be undertaken. Communities are often knowledgeable about
the location and nature of local hazards and their causal factors. Such information is
particularly valuable in identifying and appraising localised hazards but community level
outputs can also feed into higher level mapping and planning. Maps are a good medium for
communicating hazard information to decision-makers and non-specialists, but then the
particular formats and symbols should be kept familiar.
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Fig3. 1: Flood plain
In constructing such maps aerial photographs and satellite images of prior floods are
studied to help to determine the areas that would be covered. The illustration above shows
a possible hazard map based on estimated discharges or river stages for a hypothetical 10year flood, 50-year flood, and 100-year flood.
3.2 Possible Flood Risk Reduction Measures
Mapping of the flood prone areas

It is the primary step involved in reducing the risk of the region. Historical records give the
indication of the flood inundation areas and the period of occurrence and the extent of the
coverage. Warning can be issued looking into the earlier marked heights of the water levels
in case of potential threat. In the coastal areas the tide levels and the land characteristics
will determine the submergence areas. Flood hazard mapping will give the proper
indication of water flow during floods.
Land use control

It will reduce danger of life and property when waters inundate the floodplains and the
coastal areas. The number of casualties is related to the population in the area at risk. In
areas where people already have built their settlements, measures should be taken to
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relocate to better sites so as to reduce vulnerability. No major development should be

permitted in the areas which are subjected to high flooding. Important facilities like
hospitals, schools should be built in safe areas. In urban areas, water holding areas can be
created like ponds, lakes or low-lying areas.
Construction of engineered structures

In the flood plains and strengthening of structures to withstand flood forces and seepage.
The buildings should be constructed on an elevated area. If necessary build on stilts or
platform.
Flood Control
Aims to reduce flood damage, This can be done by decreasing the amount of runoff with
the help of reforestation (to increase absorption could be a mitigation strategy in certain
areas),protection of vegetation, clearing of debris from streams and other water holding
areas, conservation of ponds and lakes etc. Flood Diversion includes levees, embankments,
dams and channel improvement. Dams can store water and can release water at a
manageable rate. But failure of dams in earthquakes and operation of releasing the water
can cause floods in the lower areas.
Flood Proofing reduces the risk of damage. Measures include use of sand bags to keep
flood water away, blocking or sealing of doors and windows of houses etc. Houses may be
elevated by building on raised land. Buildings should be constructed away from water
bodies.
Flood Management
Flood management can aim at
(i) A reduced risk of floods;
(ii) A reduced vulnerability to floods;
(iii) Improved preparedness;
(iv) Streamlined emergency management once a flood damage has occurred; and
(v) Improved knowledge (about cause-effect relationships, driving forces and management
Options);
Good flood management would take its starting point in a suitable knowledge about
(i) The flood risk (so that high-risk areas are delineated); and
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(ii) The flood vulnerability (so that the most important potential consequences are
Identified).
Different methods of flood protection structural as well as nonstructural have been adopted
in different states depending upon the nature of the problem and local conditions.
Structural measures include storage reservoirs, flood embankments, drainage channels, ant
erosion works, channel improvement works, detention basins etc. and non-structural
measures include flood forecasting,
flood plain
zoning, flood proofing,
disaster
Preparedness etc.
Various possible flood hazard mitigation options to manage urban flood risks are
summarized below:
Reducing local floods by inducing infiltration through:

- Preservation of unsealed areas,
- Preservation of natural ponds,
- inducing groundwater recharge and greening of unsealed areas,
- introducing permeable pavings,
- Provision of infiltration trenches, soak ways etc.
Retaining/ transferring local floods:

- Minor and major urban drainage system (storm water channels, gutters, culverts, pumps
etc.)
- preventing clogging of drainage facilities (cleaning, dredging, solid waste collection etc.)
- Detention and retention basins
- Rainwater harvesting
Preventing storm water contamination:

- Strict separation of sewage and storm water drainage
-protect potential contamination sources (sewage plants, landfills, patrol stations etc.)
against floods
methods?
Activitiy: Discus the type of hydraulic structures that are used for flood control
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3.3 Strategic Approach: Structural Measures

Prevention and preparedness approaches are:
Structural measures: Infrastructure, environmental shield, retrofitting
Nonstructural measures: Poverty alleviation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups,
capacity building, risk transfer, insurance
Among these non-structural measures are:
Floodplain zoning - Laws can be passed that restrict construction and habitation of
floodplains. Instead floodplains can be zoned for agricultural use, recreation, or other uses
wherein lives and property are not endangered when flood waters re-occupy the floodplain.
Floodplain building codes - Structures that are allowed within the floodplain could be
restricted those that can withstand the high velocity of flood waters and are high enough
off the ground to reduce risk of contact with water.
Floodplain buyout programs - In areas that have been recently flooded, it may be more
cost effective for the government, which usually pays for flood damage either through
subsidized flood insurance or direct disaster relief, to buy the rights to the land rather than
pay the cost of reconstruction and then have to pay again the next time the river floods.
Mortgage limitations - Lending institutions could refuse to give loans to buy or construct
dwellings or businesses in flood prone areas.
3.4 Early Warning

Early Warning Systems are Often Described in terms
of The Detection, Warning
Dissemination, response, recovery and review stages. In many cases, a forecasting

component will also be included, and preparedness is essential for an effective emergency
response. This structure is also adopted here, although with only a short discussion of the
recovery phase, since flood warning and forecasting has a less important role to play once
flood levels start to recede, such as estimating when floodwaters will drain, or if any
further flooding is imminent. By contrast, the warning aspect is discussed in several
locations, including a chapter on the decision criteria used for issuing flood warnings
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(often called thresholds) and sections on decision support and decision-making under
uncertainty.
Early warning systems help to reduce economic losses and mitigate the number of injuries
or deaths from a disaster, by providing information that allows individuals and
communities to protect their live sand property. Early warning information empowers
people to take action when a disaster closes to happening. If well integrated with risk
assessment studies and communication and action plans, early warning systems can lead to
substantive benefits.
There are three main sections in flood warning systems:
Part I.
Flood Warning- which discusses the topics of detection, thresholds and
dissemination
Part II. Flood Forecasting- which discusses general principles, specific types of
river and coastal forecasting models, and examples of specific applications
Part III. Emergency Response- which covers the topic of preparedness, response
and review
3.4.1 The Flood Warning Process

Flood warning systems provide a well-established way to help to reduce risk to life, and to
allow communities and the emergency services time to prepare for flooding and to protect
possessions and property. Actions may also be taken to reduce or prevent flooding; for
example, by operating river control structures, and flood fighting activities such as
reinforcing flood defenses, and installing temporary or demountable barriers.
Informal flood warning systems have existed ever since people started to live and work
near rivers and coastlines. Heavy rainfall, high river levels, unusual sea states and other
cues, such as the sound of running water, all provide useful information on impending
flooding, with traditional methods for providing warnings including word of mouth,
messengers, and raising flags and storm cones.
These approaches still have a valuable role to play, particularly where flooding develops
rapidly, and communities must rely on their own resources for the initial response. A flood
warning system can include rainfall and tidal detection systems, river and coastal flood
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forecasting models, flood warning dissemination systems,
and emergency response
procedures.
Fig 3. 2 Illustration of the components of a flood warning, forecasting and emergency

Response system
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Table3. 1: Typical components in the flood warning, forecasting and emergency response
process
The resilience of flood warning systems to failure is also an important consideration, and
risk based techniques from other technical sectors and types of emergency are gradually
being introduced to help to identify potential points of failure, and appropriate risk
reduction measures. There is also much debate about the effectiveness of flood warnings.
Clearly, a warning is successful if it initiates action which prevents flooding which might
otherwise have occurred in the absence of that warning; for example by triggering the
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closure of a tidal barrier, or installation of a temporary defence. However, research

suggests that success with providing warnings to the public is mixed, although in some
countries has improved markedly in recent years through a combination of using flood
forecasting models to extend the lead time and accuracy of warnings, a better
understanding of how to
communicate warnings, and an increased emphasis
on
Community participation and inter-agency collaboration.

For example, one recommendation (Emergency Management Australia 1999) is that the
flood warning task can be boiled down to providing appropriate responses to the following
five questions:
A particular issue to consider is that of the requirements for warning lead time, which can
range from a few minutes or less for people on a steep sloping river bank to reach higher
ground, to many hours or days for some situations, such as raising temporary defenses,
evacuating large numbers of people, or drawing down a reservoir in advance of flooding.
Similarly, the requirements for accuracy, and tolerance to false alarms, will vary between
organizations and communities, and can be influenced by education and public awareness
exercises.
3.5Flood control Works

Flooding can be control by constructing Hydraulic structure like flood control dams,
levees, guide bunks and other hydraulic structures
River training in its wider aspects covers all those engineering works, which are
constructed on river so as to guide and confine the flow to the river channel and to control
and regulate the river bed configuration ensuring safe and effective disposal of floods and
sediment loads stabilizing and training the river along a certain alignment with a suitable
water way is therefore the first and foremost aim of river training.
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3.5.1Objectives:
The River training works may serve the following objectives or advantages:
(i) To prevent the river from changing its course and to avoid outflanking of structures
like bridges weirs aqueducts, etc.
(ii) To prevent flooding of the surrounding countries by providing a safe passage for
the flood waters without overtopping the banks.
(iii)To protect the river banks by deflecting the river away from the attacked banks.
(iv)To ensure effective disposal of sediment load
(v) To provide minimum water depth required for navigation
3.5.2 Classification:
Depending up on the purpose for which a river training programme is undertaken the
river training works may be classified in to the following three categories:
(1) High water training or Training for discharge
(2) Low water training or Training for depth
(3) Mean water training or Training fro sediment.
(1) High water training or Training for discharge. High water training is undertaken
with the primary purpose of flood control. It, therefore, aims at providing
sufficient river cross- section for the safe passage of maximum flood and is
concerned with making the adjoining are flood proof by construction of dykes or
levees etc
(2) Low water training or Training for depth. Low water is undertaken with the
primary purpose of providing sufficient water depth in navigable channels during
low water periods it may be
accomplished by concentrating and enhancing the
flow in the desired channel by the process of bundling by contracting the

of the channel with the
width
help of groynes etc
(3) Mean water training or for sediment. Mean water training aims at efficient disposal
of suspended load and bed load and thus to preserve the channel in good shape.
The maximum accretion capacity of a river occurs in the vicinity of mean water or
dominant
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discharge therefore the change in the river bed are a attempted in accordance with
that stage of flood flow the mean water training is the most important type and
forms the basis on which the former two are planned.
3.5.3 Methods
The chief aim of river training is to achieve ultimate stability of the river with the aid of
river training measures. The stability of a river does not mean that changes like
scouring and silting of bed advancement of delta in to the
sea, etc will not take place. It
only means that the river attains equilibrium stage and no significant changes occurs in
its alignment slope regime etc the regime may change within a year but shows little
variation from year to year except that the river may meander within its khadirs (i.e. the
extreme lines within which the river is ever known to wander).
It was discussed earlier that a river adjusts its alignment, perimeter, area, slope etc.; with
respect to the discharge and sediment load, either by aggrading, meandering or by
degrading. It may be concluded that meandering type is the full and final development of
an alluvial river. The other two types are the interim phases and are maintained so long as
the factors causing them remain operative.
Aggrading rivers are, therefore, equally amenable to river training on account of their
instability. River training work undertaken on aggrading or degrading rivers may,
therefore, fail to impose any stability on such rivers. For example, bank protection works
undertaken on an aggrading river may either be destroyed by severe erosion or get buried
under sediment deposition.
Soil conservation measures are the most effective measures to be undertaken for
controlling aggrading rivers, before taking up any river training works on such rivers.
Similarly, the training works undertaken on degrading rivers may fail due to scour and
undermining of foundations by bed scour.
The scouring tendency of degrading rivers must be controlled by building cross-bars,
weirs, etc. before attempting any other river training works on such rivers.
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The following are the generally adopted methods for training rivers, including bar
protection.
1. Marginal embankments or levees
2. Guide banks
3. Groynes or Spurs.
4. Artificial cut-offs
5. Pitching of banks and provision of launching aprons
6. Pitched islands
7. Miscellaneous methods, such as Sills, Bandalling, etc.
1. Marginal embankments or levees: Marginal embankments are general earthen embankments, running parallel to the river, at
some suitable distance from it. They may be constructed on both sides of the river or only
one side, for suitable river length, where the river is passing through towns or cities or
any other places of importance. These embankment-walls, retain the flood water and thus,
preventing it from spreading into the nearby lands and towns. A levee or a dyke is mainly
used for flood protection by controlling the river and not by training the river.
The alignment of levees should follow the normal meandering pattern of the river. The
retirement of the levees has to be governed by technical as well as economical and
political considerations, because the land falling within the levees is either to be acquired
by the government or remains susceptible to floods. The levees are many times, pitched
on the upstream side (i.e. water side). Launching apron may also be provided, if the bank
or levee is close to the main river channel.
Design of levee Section: - Levees are just like earthen dams with the difference that they
are very long, come in operation discontinuously and for a short time and have limited
possibilities for selection of their alignment along favorable geological strata.
Their sections should be designed in such a way as to keep the seepage gradient inside the
body of the embankment by at least one meter from below the top surface of the
embankment. The normal value of usually adopted seepage gradient varies between 4: 1
to 6: 1 (i.e. H: V) depending up on character of the soil which may - necessitate river side
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slopes varying between 2: 1 to 5: 1, land side slopes between 2: 1 to 7: 1, and top width
between 2.5 to 10 m. The top level of the levee should be decided by leaving a sufficient
freeboard varying between 0.3 to 1.5 m above the high flood level.
The following levee sections for different height are generally adopted:
Effects of levees on river bed: In order to assess the effects of dikes or levees on rivers, we
shall, first of all discuss the hydraulics of an un dike river during floods, and then discuss
the hydraulics of a dirked river.
During floods, water spills over the natural banks of a river. The velocity of this water will
be reduced because it spreads over the adjoining land. Due to this reduction in velocity soil
gets deposited as the silt deposition varies inversely with the velocity. In an un dike
alluvial river, the flood water spreads over a vast area, so that the velocity becomes so
small that almost the entire silt gets deposited on the flood area and clear water flows back
in to the main river as the flood recedes.
When the river is enclosed by dikes, the water spills over the natural banks of the river and
will spread in the area confined between the river and the dikes. Due to this, the velocity of
flow reduces and silt gets deposited. But in fact this reduction in velocity in a diked river is
much less the in an un dike river, because the spread area is less in a dike river. Hence it
can be concluded that the silt deposition will be less in a dike river compared to that in an
undike river.
At the same time, it can also be concluded that in a dike river, silt will be deposited only in
the confined fixed area (i.e. area enclosed between dikes and river). And therefore, the bed
level of the river as well as that of this enclosed area will increase, hence the land enclosed
between the dikes will appear to be higher than the adjoining land and this probably leads
to the false common man belief that the dikes cause ill- effect of raising the river-bed
On the other hand in an undiked river, the level of the entire land will increase and there
will not appear any appreciable rising of the bed. Since the clear-cut raising of the bed is
not generally visible on un dike rivers, people get misguide and they feel that there was no
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bed rise in undiked rivers and become against diking stating dikes cause the ill- effects of
raising the bed although it is not a correct statement.
2
Guide Banks.
If an engineering structure such as a weir or a barrage or a bridge etc is constructed across
a river, the river width is reduced and trained in such a fashion as to ensure not only a safe
and expeditious disposal of flood water but also to ensure a permanent reasonable width of
the water way for the river flow. It has already been discussed that the alluvial rivers do
shift their courses. Now, if today, a structure such as a bridge is constructed across the
existing river width the other day, the river may shift and there may not be any river below
the existing river width, day, and the river may be found to be flowing away from it,
necessitating the construction of another structure.
But it is unwise and uneconomical to span the entire width of the river and to expose the
structure to vagaries of attack and deep scour. Hence, a structure such as a weir, or a
barrage, or a bridge, etc is extended in a smaller width of the river, and water is trained to
flow almost axially through this without out-flanking the structure. The river is normally
trained for this purpose with the help of a pair of guide banks.
The guide banks are generally provided in pairs, symmetrical in plan and may either be
kept parallel or may diverge slightly upstream of works. Symmetrical and parallel guide
banks are usually adopted, unless, the local conditions warrant otherwise.
Before the water enters in to the trough formed between these two guide banks, the flow
may have to be partially controlled and directed with the help of marginal bunds or by
groynes or both. The guide banks usually consist of two Selection of works-site- it is
evident that an engineering structure, such as a bridge or a weir should be spanned in that
portion of the river where the distance between the khadir banks is minimum. This reduces
the extent of possible embayment at the back of the guide banks (discussed at little later)
and permits shorter guide banks. Further on a meandering river the river section at the bend
is always wide and non- uniform deep on the concave bank and shallow on the convex.
While the transition reaches connecting two adjacent bends are narrower and uniform in
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depth. Bridges should therefore, preferably be built in these transition reaches rather than
on the bends.
Further in case of bridges, the river bed at the proposed bridge site should consist of deep
strata of erodible land, so that after construction the river may be able to deepen the bed to
gain an adequate waterway. If the bed consists of stiff clay etc the constriction can be done
only after due allowance is made for afflux, which may make it costlier.
In case of weirs and barrages, the usual practice is to construct the weir or the barrage,
outside the main river channel in a minor creek which is dry in winter, and then to divert
the main river channel through it. At the weir site, the river width is constricted.
The meandering river upstream has therefore, to be trained to flow between the two
abutments of the weir, without causing any damage.
Principle and Factors Governing the Design of guide Bunks
(I) Top level of guide banks: The top level of guide banks is governed by HFL, Afflux,
velocity head, and freeboard. It can be obtained by adding all these four values
Afflux:
By afflux, we mean the rise in the high flood level of the river, upstream of the weir (or the
bridge in case of non- erodible soil) or barrage as a result of its construction. This rise in
water level is maximum just near the site of constriction and reduces as we go away from
it, upstream. The afflux extends for a long distance on the upstream(II)
Shape of guide
banks in plan: As stated earlier, the guide banks are generally provided in pairs,
symmetrical in plan and may either be kept parallel or may diverge slightly upstream of the
works. The diverging guide banks may be favored on the ground that they cover larger
with of the khadirs and exert an attracting influence on the flow. But they are not
recommended mainly because for equal bank lengths they provide relatively less
protection to the approach embankment under the worst possible embayment as shown in
the figure below.
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III) Length of the guide banks: Spring and Gales have correlated the length of guide bank
with the length of structure between the abutments (L). According to spring, the length of
the upstream part of the guide bank should be equal to 1.1 L or even longer if required to
obviate the possibility of the river curving at the back and cutting into approach bank. The
length of the guide bank on the downstream side should be between 0. 1 L to 0.2 L
According to Gales, the upstream length of the guide bank is 1.25 L for flow discharges up
to 20,000 comics, and 1.5 L for flood discharges more than 20,000 cumecs. The length of
the guide bank on the downstream side should be taken equal to 0.25 L. A convergence of
1 in 20 in the former case and 1 in 40 in the letter case also been suggested by him (IV)
Radius of curved head of the guide banks:
(a) Upstream curved portion: The upstream curved portion of a guide bank is called the
impregnable head. The radius of curvature of the impregnable head should be sufficient
enough so as not to cause intense eddies due to the curved flow near it Greater the radius,
flatter the curve, and lesser is the probability of formation of eddies. For same river slope,
coarser the bed material, shorter can be the radius depending on the expected velocity. A
safe value for the radius (R) may be taken equal to
R= 0.45 L.
(b) Downstream curved portion. On the downstream, the river fans out so as to attain its
normal width. The downstream portion of the guide bank ensures the safety of approach
embankments and prevents the river from attacking them. This purpose can be well served
by providing short guide bund with sharp curved head. A radius equal to half the radius at
the upstream side may be provided, as shown in the above figure.
(V) The shank portion and section of bund: The straight portion of the weir, Spring
suggested a value of R equal to 180 to 250 meters for guide bund BC is called the shank
portion. The guide banks should have a minimum top with of 4 meters so as to provide
sufficient carriage-way. Extra width may, however be provided for storing pitching
materials, etc side slope may vary from 1.5. H.: 1V to 2.5 H V, (but generally kept as 2 H:
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1 V), depending on the construction materials and the height of the bund A freeboard of
1.2 to 1.5 m is generally provided.
(VI) Slope pitching: The sloping water side of the entire guide bund as well as the sloping
rear side of the curved portions are pitched with one man stone ( i.e. a stone which can be
lifted by one person- weighing 40 to 50 kg) or concrete blocks. The pitching should
extend up to 1 m, higher than HFL. The rear side of the shank portion is not pitched, but is
generally coated with 0.3 to 0.6 earths for encouraging vegetation growth, so as to make it
resistant against rain, wind etc.
The thickness of the pitching on the river side may be calculated by the formula
t = 0.006 Q
1/3
,Where, t is the thickness of stone pitching in meters Q is the discharge in
m
.
s
The thickness of pitching should be 25% more at the impregnable head than for the rest of
the bund.
(VII) Launching apron: Whenever a sloping face is protected by stone pitching against
scour the pitching is extended beyond the toe on the bed, called Launching apron.
3. Spurs or Groynes
Groynes are the embankment type structure constructed transverse to the river flow,
extending from the bank in to the river. That is why they may also be called Transverse
Dykes. They are constructed in order to protect the bank from which they are extended by
deflecting the current away from the bank. As the water
is unable to take a sharp
embayment the bank gets protected for certain distance upstream and downstream of the
groyne is subjected to tremendous action of water and has to be heavily protected by
Activity: Discuss other types of flood control structures?
pitching etc. The action of eddies reduces from the head towards the bank and therefore,
the thickness of slope pitching and apron can be reduced accordingly.
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3.4.2 The Nature of Flood Risk

Flooding is a threat to many communities and businesses, and flood risk is increasing in
some locations due to development on floodplains, migration to urban areas at risk from
flooding, and artificial influences on flow regimes; for example, urban development can
sometimes increase flood risk through changes to runoff characteristics and the drainage
paths of floodwater. Climate change may also be increasing the likelihood of flooding in
some places through changes in the frequency and severity of storms, patterns of snowfall
and snowmelt, and rising sea levels.
Compared to other types of natural disaster, floods account for approximately 2040% of
the events which are reported. Floods can also cause extensive damage to property,
infrastructure and crops, and can cut across administrative and national boundaries.
The causes of flooding are mainly atmospheric or geotechnical (as described in the table
below).Atmospheric hazards include heavy rainfall, causing rivers to flood, sometimes
linked to snowmelt and ice-jams in colder climates, and coastal and estuarine flooding due
to surge, wave and wind effects, most notably in tropical cyclones, hurricanes and
typhoons. Geotechnical factors such as landslides, debris flows and earthquakes can also
lead to raised river levels causing inland flooding, and Tsunami waves resulting in coastal
flooding. Secondary effects may include overtopping or breaches of river and sea defence
structures, debris blockages at bridges and other structures, surcharging of drainage
networks in urban areas, and dam failure or overtopping.
Examples of flooding mechanisms
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Due to the short time available for people to react, fast developing floods present a
particular risk to life, including flash floods, dam or defence breaches, and some ice-jam
and local surge and wave overtopping events .
Tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are all forms of tropical storm, with the term
tropical cyclone used in the Indian Ocean, hurricane in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific
Oceans, and typhoon in the Western Pacific. Frontal depressions are most common in midlatitudes, and can cause prolonged rainfall, as can monsoons which are driven by seasonal
variations in temperature between sea and land masses.
Thunderstorms can occur at most latitudes, and can cause intense rainfall for periods of
typically up to a few hours. Snow and ice related problems affect many high latitude
regions on all continents, and high mountain ranges elsewhere. Dam and defence risks are
possible anywhere that reservoirs or polders have been constructed, or dams built across
lakes, as are breaches in river or coastal flood defences (often known as levees or dikes).
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3. 4. 3 Assessing Flood Risk

Flood risk is often expressed as the combination of two factors; probability (or hazard) and
consequence (or impact). The probability expresses the likelihood of damaging flood
levels or flows being reached, whilst the consequence can be expressed in terms of
indicators such as the numbers of properties affected, loss of life, or economic damages.
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Estimates for the numbers of people at risk from flooding, and affected in individual
events, are of course subject to many uncertainties, including the degree to which events
are reported, the Approach taken to
flood risk assessments
and, for international
comparisons, differences in the datasets and recording methods which are used. However,
some studies (e.g. Parker 2000; Smith 2004) suggest that the percentages of people at risk
from flooding range from 3% to 5% of the population in the UK and France, to about 12%
in the USA, 50% in the Netherlands, and 7080% in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Estimates
are also complicated by transient
populations, which can
include tourists, hikers,
temporary workers, business travelers, and the homeless.

The link between flood risk and social, political and economic factors, particularly risk to
life, is well documented, and can arise from issues such as a lack of public awareness of
flooding issues, or controls on floodplain development, limited funds available for flood
control and protection (e.g. river and sea defenses), low resilience of buildings to flooding
(e.g. temporary compared to permanent settlements), and a lack of investment in flood
warning, forecasting and emergency response systems. Where these factors are significant,
the numbers of people affected by a flood event can be much higher than equivalent events
in locations without these problems.
Measures of vulnerability to flooding are also increasingly considered in flood risk studies:
for example, combining the following factors (e.g. Wade et al. 2005):
Flood hazard (depth, velocity, debris)
Area Vulnerability (effectiveness of flood warning, speed of onset of flooding, and type
of Buildings e.g. low rise/high rise)
People Vulnerability (ability to ensure own safety and that of dependents e.g. the elderly,
infirm, children) Of course, vulnerability to flooding can depend on a wide range of
physical, environmental, social, economic, political, cultural and institutional factors, and
can vary widely between individuals, households and communities; for example, the length
of time that people have lived in the floodplain (or if they are visiting the area e.g.
tourists), recent experience of flooding, and local institutional capacity to respond to
flooding.
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When designing a flood warning scheme, a starting point is often to make an assessment of
the locations and numbers of people and properties at risk from flooding. Vulnerability
studies can also highlight where to target effort in public awareness campaigns, developing
flood emergency plans, and in emergency response. Methods for assessing risk include
interviews with people who know the area well, examination of historical flood records
(trash mark surveys, aerial and other photographs, newspaper reports, satellite images etc.),
and hydrodynamic and other modeling techniques.
Risk is the probability of something happening in the future, which has a negative
consequence. It is a prediction of suffering harm or loss or of meeting danger. Although
disaster risk is sometimes taken as synonymous with hazard, it has an additional
implication of likelihood of a particular hazard to occur and cause damage or loss to a
vulnerable community or group. Disaster Risk (or recipe for disaster) has been presented
by Ward, 1999 as follows:
Disaster Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability
Manageability
Manageability here stands for the degree to which a community can intervene and manage
a hazard in order to reduce its potential impact. This implies that based on people's
perception of their disaster risk, they are able to make decisions to adapt to, modify or
ignore the risk. Manageability is synonymous to Capacity so we can substitute to have the
following disaster risk formula:
Disaster Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability
Capacity
round survey and remote sensing techniques can also provide detailed maps of flooding
extent, although not necessarily for the peak of the flood, and satellite observations are
increasingly being used to monitor flood extents using both optical and microwave
frequencies, and to build up databases of flood extent information. Models provide a more
formal way of assessing flood risk, and can range from simple correlation and other
methods for single locations, through to detailed hydraulic models for river and coastal
processes.
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3.4.4 Flood Risk Modeling

The national flood risk mapping programmed in many countries use a range of modeling
techniques to estimate flood depths, velocities and extents. For rivers, for example, actual
or synthetic rainfall events can be fed into a network of rainfall runoff models representing
major sub-catchments, whose outputs provide the inputs to a model for the river network
and significant features such as floodplains and reservoirs.
In areas prone to flooding, the model detail may include all significant controls on river
levels and flows, such as bridges, culverts, gates, defences and other features, as well as the
main details of the floodplain, using construction and topographic information obtained
from conventional survey and remote sensing techniques (e.g. Light Detection and
Ranging Radar equipment, or Synthetic Aperture Radar SAR equipment). In increasing
order of complexity (and, in principle, accuracy), process-based methods for modeling
river levels, flows and, in some cases, velocities, on the floodplain can include:
One-dimensional models for the main river channel, with projection of levels onto the
floodplain, or separate pathways for main channel and floodplain flows
One-dimensional models including floodplain pathways represented via spill units,

Compartments and/or cells
Two dimensional models of the floodplain using bare earth digital terrain models based
on mass conservation only, or including momentum effects as well.
Fully two or three dimensional models of the floodplain incorporating features on the
floodplain such as buildings, embankments, gulleys etc .And possibly urban drainage
networks
Hydrodynamic techniques can also be used for modeling inundation of coastal floodplains
due to high tidal levels, wave action and surge. Maps maybe developed either with or
without flood defences, with the no defence case sometimes being used to study the worst
case flood extent; for example, if a defence is breached, overtopped or bypassed.
However, whatever the technique used to assess flood risk, one problem is always to assess
the extent of mobile and transient populations who may not appear in conventional
property and census databases. Examples can include vehicle users, shopping centers,
supermarkets, tourists, hikers, outdoor events, and locations such as caravan or mobile
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home parks, and camp sites. Local visits, and discussions with people who know the area
well, may be the best way of determining the extent of this risk, and the options (if any) for
providing warnings to these groups, or preventing access in time to minimize the flood
risk.
Some other problems which can arise with property databases are that they may omit some
commercial properties with significant numbers of occupants during working hours, since
the correspondence address is at another location (e.g. head office), and that some locations
with many residents (e.g. apartment blocks) may appear as only a single property. Also,
some high-risk locations may not be clearly identified, such as water treatment or
industrial
works
and
critical
locations
such
as
hospitals,
power
stations,
telecommunications hubs etc. Again, local visits and discussions can help to resolve some
of these issues.
3.5 Emergency Response

Emergency response is the process of responding to a flood event, ideally on the basis of a
flood warning received. In many countries, there are separation in responsibilities between
the flood warning and forecasting service, and emergency responders such as the police,
fire service and local authorities. However, the organization of a flood warning service can
vary widely, with warnings being issued by the meteorological service in some countries,
and a range of river management, coastal and local authorities in others. Privately
developed systems also operate in some locations; with applications ranging from
community based warning systems through to systems operated by owners of major
infrastructure such as railways and hydropower schemes.
Sometimes warnings may also be restricted to specific types of flooding, such as river
flooding or coastal flooding, and exclude other types, such as flooding in urban areas from
drainage problems.
A major flood event often requires a multi-agency response, involving local authorities, the
emergency services, transport operators (road, rail etc.), utility operators (water, electricity,
gas, and telecommunications), the
military, coastguard, medical services,
voluntary
services, humanitarian aid organizations, and others.
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The response can include closing transport routes, protection of key installations, such as
power stations and water treatment works, reinforcing flood defences, providing rest
centers and shelters for people evacuated from properties, and rescue of people and
livestock stranded in flood waters. Difficult decisions may also need to be made on issues
such as the need to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes (with the evacuation itself
presenting risks), precautionary shutdown of power or water supplies, and ordering
widespread evacuations of property.
During a flood event, individual property owners can also take action to reduce the damage
caused by flooding by moving (as appropriate) vehicles, furniture, electrical equipment,
personal possessions, valuables, animals and livestock to safer locations, and using
sandbags, flood boards and other flood resilience measures to protect their property (if
available). For example, in a post event survey of flooding in parts of the Elbe and Danube
catchments (Thieken et al. 2007), emergency measures which were reported by residents
included:
Put moveable contents upstairs
Drive vehicles to a flood-safe place
Safeguard documents and valuables
Protect the building against inflowing water
Switch off gas/electricity
Disconnect household appliances/white goods
Gas/electricity was switched off by public services
Protect oil tanks

Install water pumps
Seal drainage/prevent backwater
Safeguard domestic animals/pets
Redirect water flow
Businesses can also take actions to reduce damage to stock, equipment and systems and,
depending on the time of day, may also be able to advise employees not to come in to
work, or to leave early, in order to minimize risk.
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There are a vast number of responses that ought to be considered. Each response depends
upon the nature of the threat. Some of the broader categories of response for a variety of
hazards include:
Evacuation procedures
Search and rescue
Security of affected areas
Assessment teams
Activating special installations (such as emergency hospital facilities)
Activating distribution systems
preparing emergency reception centers and shelters
activating emergency programs for airports, harbors and land transport
Flood warnings can also assist river management and coastal authorities with the operation
of structures and in other actions to help to reduce or prevent flooding and some examples
include as shown below:
Fig3. 4Examples of river and coastal flood defences and a flood gate for wash land
drainage
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Flood barriers installation or operation of temporary or demountable barriers to

protect properties and infrastructure from flooding
Flood gates closing gates which at low to medium flows are normally kept open to
allow for drainage, access, navigation etc.
Flow diversion diversion of river flows into off-line storage areas to reduce flows
further downstream (e.g. wetlands, flood retention areas)
Pumping use of high volume pumps to reduce water levels Reservoirs draw down
of reservoir levels in advance of high inflows to provide flood storage to reduce flows
further downstream
Sandbags placing sand bags to raise the level of flood defences, fill gaps in defences,
or to protect properties
Temporary works emergency repairs to flood defences (levees and dikes) and other
locations which might provide a flow route for flood water
Tidal barriers closing barriers or gates to reduce the risk of inland flooding due to
surge or high tides.
3.6 Flood Emergency Planning

General Principles
Flood Emergency Plans describe the actions to take between, during and following flood
events, and typically cover operational procedures, emergency response assets, and contact
details for key staff, health and safety issues, procedures for liaison with the media and the
public, and information on safe access and evacuation routes and shelters. Some guidelines
on developing flood emergency plans include US Army Corps of Engineers (1996),
NOAA/NWS (1997) and Emergency Management Australia (1999) for river flooding and
Holland (2007) for tropical cyclone forecasting. Depending on the type of flooding, lead
time available, and population affected, examples of actions which may need to be taken in
the run up to and during a flood event include (USACE 1996):
Providing search, rescue, and evacuation services
Scheduling closure of schools and transportation of students
Curtailing electric and gas service to prevent fire and explosions
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Establishing traffic controls to facilitate evacuation and prevent inadvertent travel

into hazardous areas
Dispersing fire and rescue services for continued protection
Establishing emergency medical services and shelters
Closing levee openings
Moving public and private vehicles and equipment from areas subject to flooding
Relocating or stacking contents of private structures
Initiating flood-fighting efforts (e.g. sandbagging etc.)
Establishing security to prevent looting
3.7 Disaster Management

The overall Goal of Disaster Management is to build a safe, resilient and sustainable
society.
Activity 3.1. Discus an examples of disaster management that are used in your local?
3.8 Evacuation
It is the ultimate measure of flood defence, aiming to save lives and reduce losses.
Evacuation can take place before, during after the flood, depending upon the circumstances
and is always tightly linked with other measures of flood defense.
All relevant aspects of an evacuation should be planned in advance to reduce last minute
decisions to a minimum.
Criteria and Timing
Affected area and population
Direction of Evacuation
Preparedness for Evacuation
Warninig and evacuation order
Financial Aspects
Recording and documentation
Adjustment and periodical renewal of plans
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3.9 Information System

Information systems: coordinate means of gathering and disseminating vulnerability
assessment and early warning within and between agencies and organizations and with the
public. Most floods warning systems use near real time measurements of meteorological
and river or coastal conditions to guide operational decision making. Depending on the
application, this may include information on rainfall, wind speeds, sea state, tidal levels,
river levels and other parameters, such as snow cover. Remote sensing techniques such as
weather radar and satellite may also be used, together with the outputs from Numerical
Weather Prediction models and now casting techniques.
3.9.1 Meteorological and Hydrological Forecasting (Meteorological and

Hydrological Networks)
With only a few exceptions, such as geotechnical risks most flooding problems are linked
to atmospheric conditions, and observations or forecasts of rainfall and other parameters
often provide the first indication of potential flooding.
The main types of meteorological information which are useful in flood warning and
forecasting applications include:
Site Specific (or Point) Observations measurements at a specific location using

rain gauges, automatic weather stations etc.
Remote Sensing (or Areal) Observations based on satellite observations, weather

radar etc.
Computer Model Outputs from Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models,

now casting techniques
When considering these approaches, there are various trade-offs in terms of the spatial
resolution, accuracy and lead times of each technique.
For example, site specific
observations provide an indication of actual conditions at certain locations in a catchment

or coastal reach, but may be unrepresentative of the overall conditions which lead to
flooding. By contrast, remotely sensed data provide an overall picture of the distribution of
the parameter being observed (e.g. rainfall, snow cover), but require some assumptions or a
model to translate observations to conditions at the ground or sea surface. This introduces
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an additional source of uncertainty, and measurements are sometimes of too coarse a

resolution to be useful.
Weather forecasting techniques provide additional lead times, and usually also provide
detailed spatial information for the parameters being forecast (rainfall, wind, soil moisture
etc.), but obviously rely on the outputs from computer models, which again can introduce
an additional source of uncertainty.
For river flooding applications, rainfall is often a
key parameter,
although other
meteorological parameters which may be required include observations or estimates for air
temperature, wind speed, net and solar radiation, soil moisture, snow cover, river ice cover
and ice jam locations, and reservoir and lake evaporation. For coastal flooding
applications, information on atmospheric pressure, and wind speed and direction, is often a
key input to surge and wave forecasting models and, for tropical cyclones (and hurricanes
and typhoons), information on storm size, intensity, track and speed is also important . If
factors such as amount of rainfall, degree of ground saturation, degree of permeable soil,
and amount of vegetation can be determined, then these can be correlated to give shortterm prediction, in this case called a forecast, of possible floods.
If a forecast is issued, then a flood warning can be communicated to warn the public about
the possible extent of the flood, and to give people time to move out of the area.
Such
forecasts are very useful for flooding that has a long lag time between the storm and the
peak discharge
3.9.2 Instrumentation Networks

Flood warning and forecasting systems usually rely on a network of meteorological, river
and/or coastal instruments. Individual types of instrumentation may also be combined; for
example, an automatic weather station may be installed on a wave buoy, or a rain gauge at
a river gauging station. Monitoring networks can also serve a range of purposes in addition
to flood warning and forecasting, such as water resources monitoring, marine forecasting,
and climate
change monitoring, requiring a
compromise between these different
applications. For example, a water resources gauge may be installed close to a river
confluence to monitor the entire runoff from a catchment but, at high flows, suffer from
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backwater influences from the main river, possibly making it unsuitable for use in a flood
forecasting application
3.9.3 Integrated Flood Management

The Integrated Flood Management (IFM) approach aims to maximize the net benefits from
flood plains and at the same time reduce loss of life due to flooding, flood vulnerability
and risks, and preserve ecosystems and their associated biodiversity within the overall
framework of IWRM. The concept recognizes the benefits of smaller more frequent floods,
the significance of flood plains and the increasing development demands they face.
Floods offer significant benefits but at the same time recognizing the disruptive nature of
floods requiring interventions that can integrate:
Structural and non-structural measures;
Land and water management;
Ecosystem preservation and development needs; and
Short- and long-term flood management measures.
Integrated Flood Management aims to maximize the efficient use of flood plains while
minimizing the loss of life from flooding. It proposes these key elements:
Adopting a best mix of strategies, both structural and non-structural;
Managing the water cycle as a whole while considering all floods, including both
extremes;
Integrating land and water management, as both have impacts on flood magnitudes
and flood risks;
Adopting integrated hazard management approaches, taking into consideration the
risks due to all related hazards such as landslides, mudflows, avalanches, storm
surges and tsunamis and creating synergies; and
Ensuring a participatory approach to develop a sense of ownership and reduce
vulnerability.
Activity 3.2.what does mean integrated hazards management? And give examples?
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3.10 Detection
It is the process of detecting flood hazard through the study of rainfall and flood
magnitudes. It is an assessment of the availability, quality and reliability of existing real
time data on rainfall, rivers, tides etc. (as appropriate), and installation of new sites if
required
3.11 Alert Systems; Target Groups

Flood forecasting and early warning is used for alerting the likely damage center well in
advance of the actual arrival of flood, to enable the people to move and also to remove the
movable properties to safer places or to raise platforms specially constructed for this
purpose.
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Unit summary
Floods can be managed through structural interventions such as dikes, barrages, diversion
canals, dams and reservoirs. Non-structural measures such as flood forecasting, public
awareness and early warning system would be part of the management process.
Disaster Risk Management includes sum total of all activities, programmes and measures
which can be taken up before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a
disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses.
For river flooding applications, rainfall is often a
key parameter,
although other
meteorological parameters which may be required include observations or estimates for air
temperature, wind speed, net and solar radiation, soil moisture, snow cover, river ice cover
and ice jam locations, and reservoir and lake evaporation. For coastal flooding
applications, information on atmospheric pressure, and wind speed and direction, is often a
key input to surge and wave forecasting models and, for tropical cyclones (and hurricanes
and typhoons), information on storm size, intensity, track and speed is also important
Review Exercise
1. For what extent will the flood reach, and when?
2. Where will the water go at the predicted height?
3. Who will be affected by the flooding?
4. What information and advice do the people affected by the flooding need to respond effectively?
5. How can the people affected by the flooding best be given the appropriate information?
6. What does Hazards Management mean?
7. Give examples of possible flood risk reduction measures?
8. Illustrate the use of early warning for flood hazards?
9. Hazards level can depend on?
10. What is Evacuation?
11. Discus the aim of integrated flood management

12. How can we forecast hazards meteorologically?
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CHAPTER-FOUR
Institutional Framework
Objective of the chapter: at the end of the chapter students should be understand the
measure techniques which are taken before the hazards are happened and role of
prevention by the people and the government.
Institutional framework is the horizontal and vertical coordination of people and
organizations which avoids the creation of new structures for disaster preparedness and
instead works within established networks and systems.
Emphasizing the strengthening of existing communities and structures
Responsibilities which reflect established expertise
And roles and responsibilities which are clearly defined and appropriate.
Institutionally, the following development priorities have been identified in relation to

flood and drought management:
Capacity-building at all levels
Integration of flood and drought management
Extended collaboration between states
Extended collaboration between river basin organisations
Extended collaboration
between decision-makers, affected people,
and the
scientific community
Extended collaboration between agencies
4.1 Organization and Structure of an Early Warning System: Role of

Community, National, Regional and International Agencies.
4.1.1 Organizational Issues
The organization of a flood warning service varies widely between countries and,
depending on the scale of the overall system; duties might include some or all of the
following activities:
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Detection design, installation and operation of rainfall, river level, reservoir, tidal level,
wind, wave, and other monitoring equipment (e.g. for snow cover, soil moisture)
Design design of flood warning schemes, including contributing to decision son who
should receive flood warnings, setting flood warning thresholds, deciding how warnings
should be disseminated, and under what circumstances
Dissemination monitoring measurements and forecasts against thresholds, and issuing

warnings following agreed procedures, and public awareness activities
Operational taking actions to mitigate flooding, such as patrols, channel clearance,

operation of river control structures, or installing temporary barriers
Management general management activities including defining staff rotas, procurement,

performance monitoring and reporting, research and development etc.
Forecasting development and operation of flood forecasting models to provide estimates

of river levels, river flows, tide levels, wave overtopping etc.
The organizational structure which is supposed to clearly assign tasks and responsibilities
to the various municipal departments and other involved institutions. Both, the overlapping
of responsibilities as well as gaps of non-responsibility, within institutions or between
them, hinder effective urban flood risk management. Local authorities are best placed to
cope with flooding from small streams whose catchment areas lie almost entirely within
the built-up area but they may need to interact with basin organization and national
agencies responsible for monitoring and assessment of hydro-meteorological hazards and
risks.
4.1.2 Role of Community

The community has a central role in long term and short term disaster management. The
focus of attention in disaster management must be the local community.
The general public especially the stakeholders must have adequate knowledge of the
weather system and the forecasting of the system. For this purpose some training,
education must be imparted to the responsible section of the public and amongst the
stakeholders so
that Dissemination of the
forecast may be realized in true sense.
Community as key resource in disasters risk reduction. The community is the key actor as
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well as the primary beneficiary of disaster risk reduction. Within the community, priority
attention is given to the conditions of the most vulnerable as well as to their mobilization
in the disaster risk reduction. The community participates in the whole process of disaster
risk management from situational analysis to planning to implementation.
a) Regional level training: This aspect is important as the different countries have their
own method of mitigating the floods and fit in the local scenarios which can be replicated
at other places with some modification and adjustments for increased effectiveness and
efficiency. Some more suitable mitigation programs undergoing in other parts of the
world can also be discussed. In this way the less developed countries can benefit from the
experience of the developed countries.
b) National level training: This is also an important aspect of flood mitigation programme.
A national strategy in case of any disaster can be chalked out while mitigating the disaster
and utilization of national assets for the benefit of the flood victims can be made. For this
purpose the serving of different stakeholders e.g.
Government Society, Financial institution like World bank, ADB can also be involved in
fighting of the time of crises. The mobilization of different forces at the crucial time can be
streamlined and a national strategy is formulated for the reduction of disaster effects.
Moreover public awareness can also be enhanced through the training programs at the
national level.
c) Local Training: This is the most important part of the mitigation strategy as some times
different functionaries do know what is do at the time of crisis but they do not know how
to do. Thus Precisions lead time
giving waste
Incoming into
action. Further the
coordination between different agencies can also be streamlined for efficient and prompt
action. Further the training is also necessary for the grooming of the staff to react properly
and effectively in case of emergency. Refresher courses can play a vital role in motivating
the concerned staff for delivering the best at times.
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4.2 Institutional Structure
4.3 Institutional Responsibilities for Disaster Management and Response

Mechanisms
Institutions charged with disaster mitigation will be required to systematically manage
risks related to natural hazards by identifying these risks, reducing vulnerability and by
preventing and mitigating related disasters before they occur. Their responsibility for
disaster management is best defined by the necessary functions that pave the way for DRR.
Disaster assessment and monitoring
What is the chance of the occurrence of a hazard event and what elements (people,
livelihood, ecosystem and physical assets) are at risk, the likely extent of loss,
damage or injury from the hazard event? Disaster management institutions are
responsible for conducting a systematic analysis of impacts and losses after each
disaster and use the results of impact assessment in risk identification for future
events.
Forecasting, early warning systems and preparedness
The first step in disaster preparedness is to improve on contingency planning which
in turn depend on effective early warning systems. Every disaster management
institution need examine to what extent their hydro-climatic hazards forecast and
early warning systems are developed and used in planning risk reduction.
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Information and communication
Risk characterization and communication should be an integral part of risk
management. Impending hazards need to be effectively communicated at the
appropriate level and often within a very short time. This communication presupposes that the recipients have advanced information on the necessary action
upon sounding of a warning.
Stakeholder participation and coordination
In order to promote involvement in disaster prevention and preparedness,
mobilization, awareness and educational programmes relating to warning systems
and other aspects of disaster preparedness should be developed and implemented.
Committees that include stakeholder representatives should be established. It is
recognized that the most vital response to a disaster must be at the local level and
communities must be well informed about disaster-preparedness measures and be
alert during a disaster.
Disaster mitigation plans
Disaster institutions are required to develop clear plans for protection against
disaster and that will include both structural and non-structural measures.
Relief and emergency management
Emergency assistance is important although not the only element of disaster risk
reduction. It is reliant on rehearsed contingency plans that
include a well-
functioning communication and coordination system as well as logistic support.

Emergency and relief management should go a step further to include recovery
operations. The recovery time is ideal for applying emergency measures that may
reduce vulnerability for example review the development pattern and re-location.
Financing disaster management
Natural hazards can have potentially serious implications for the social and
economic processes. Government has a responsibility to facilitate reasonable and
sustainable investment for disaster management. Securing finances dedicated to
disaster risk reduction allow the institutions to play a significant role disaster
management. However, in the face of tight budgetary constraints and many
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competing demands for public resources, there will be pressure for the institutions
explore robust secondary avenues for financing disaster management operations.
4.4 Gaps in Institutional Capacity in Integrated Early Warning and

Response Systems
There is big gap to integrate early warning and respond flood hazard immediately due
to the fact that institutions may not give awareness or training for the public in advance
how to prepare and mitigate hazards.
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Unit summary
The community has a central role in long term and short term disaster management. The
focus of attention in disaster management must be the local community.
The general public especially the stakeholders must have adequate knowledge of the
weather system and the forecasting of the system. For this purpose some training,
education must be imparted to the responsible section of the public and amongst the
stakeholders so
that dissemination of the
Forecast may be realized in true sense.
Community as a key resource in disaster risk reduction.

The community is the key actor as well as the primary beneficiary of disaster risk
reduction.
a) Regional level training: This aspect is important as the different countries have their
own method of mitigating the floods and fit in the local scenarios which can be replicated
at other places with some modification and adjustments for increased effectiveness and
efficiency. Some more suitable mitigation programmes undergoing in other parts of the
world can also be discussed.
Review Exercise
1. How the organizations of flood warning service vary from country from country?
2. Discus the role of community in disaster assessment and monitoring?
3. What can we say about disaster management and financing?
4. How can we manage disasters by financing?
5. Discus the use of financing Hazards?
6. How communities participate in disaster management?
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CHAPTER-FIVE
Drought
Objectives of this topic ,in this chapter students should be deal what Drought mean
,ca uses of Drought ,characteristics of drought ,types of Drought ,management and
management techniques effects and reduction measures of Drought.
What is Drought?
Drought is either absence or deficiency of rainfall from its normal pattern in a region for an
extended period of time leading to general suffering in the society. It is interplay between
demand that people place on natural supply of water and natural event that provides the
water in a given geographical region. The more the imbalance in supply the higher is the
drought. The following will help explaining this general definition of the drought further.
It is a slow on-set disaster and it is difficult to demarcate the time of its onset and
the end.
Any unusual dry period this results in a shortage of useful water.
Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate. Climate is expected to show
some aberrations and drought is just a part of it.
Drought can occur by improper distribution of rain in time and space, and not just
by its amount.
Drought is negative balance between precipitation and water
use (through
evaporation, transpiration by plants, domestic and industrial uses etc) in a

geographical region.
5.1 Causes of Drought

Can you think of what causes drought?
Though drought is basically caused by deficit rainfall, which is a meteorological
phenomenon, it manifests into different spheres because of various vulnerability factors
associated with them (see the box).Some of these factors are human induced. Though
drought is a natural disaster, its effects are made worst in developing countries by over
population, over grazing, deforestation, soil erosion, excessive use of ground and surface
water for growing crops, loss of biodiversity.
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5.2 General Characteristics

Types of Droughts
Drought proceeds in sequential manner. Its impacts are spread across different domains as
listed below.
a) Meteorological drought
Meteorological drought is simple absence/deficit of rainfall from the normal. It is the least
severe form of drought and is often identified by sunny days and hot weather.
b) Hydrological drought
Often leads to reduction of natural stream flows or ground water levels, plus stored water
supplies. The main impact is on water resource systems.
c) Agricultural drought
This form of drought occurs when moisture level in soil is insufficient to maintain average
crop yields. Initial consequences are in the reduced seasonal output of crops and other
related production. An extreme agricultural drought can lead to a famine, which is a
prolonged shortage of food in a restricted region causing widespread disease and death
from starvation.
d) Socio-economic drought
Socio-economic drought correlates the supply and demand of goods and services with the
three above-mentioned types of drought. When the supply of some goods or services such
as water and electricity are weather dependant then drought may cause shortages in supply
of these economic goods.
5.3 Measuring Drought:

Elements at Risk
In general, all those elements that are primarily dependent on water are most affected. It
affects the rained crops and then slowly creeps into the irrigated crops. People who are
dependent on agriculture and areas where the other livelihood opportunities are least
developed are greatly affected. The herdsman, landless laborer, subsistence farmers,
women, children and farm animals are the most vulnerable groups.
Can you think of some more vulnerability factors to drought?
Low soil moisture holding capacity
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Absence of irrigation facilities
Livestock without adequate fodder storage facilities
Poor water management
Deforestation
Over grazing
Water consuming cropping patterns
Excessive ground water draft
Soil erosion
Population growth and urbanization
Industrialization
Global warming
Typical Adverse Effects

Drought, different from any other natural disaster, does not cause any structural damages.
As the meteorological drought turns into hydrological drought, the impacts start appearing
first in agriculture which is most dependent on the soil moisture.
Irrigated areas are affected much later than the rained areas. However, regions surrounding
perennial rivers tend to continue normal life even when drought conditions are prevailing
around. The impacts slowly spread into social fabric as the availability of drinking water
diminishes,
reduction in energy production, ground water depletion, food shortage, health reduction
and loss of life, increased poverty, reduced quality of life and social unrest leading to
migration.
5.4 Possible Risk Reduction Measures:

There are various mitigation strategies to cope up with drought.
a) Public Awareness and education:
If the community is aware of the dos and donts, then half of the problem is solved. This
includes awareness on the
availability of safe
techniques, agricultural drought
drinking water, water conservation
management strategies like crop contingency plans,
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construction of rain water harvesting structure. Awareness can be generated by the print,
electronic and folk media.
b) Drought Monitoring: It is continuous observation of the rainfall situation, availability
of water in the reservoirs, lakes, rivers etc and comparing with the existing water needs in
various sectors of the society.
c) Water supply augmentation and conservation
Through rain water harvesting in houses and farmers fields increases the content of water
available. Water harvesting by either allowing the runoff water from all the fields to a
common point (e.g. Farm ponds, see the picture) or allowing it to infiltrate into the soil
where it has fallen (in situ) (e.g. contour bunds, contour cultivation, raised bed planting
etc) helps increase water availability for sustained agricultural production.
d) Expansion of irrigation
Facilities reduce the drought vulnerability. Land use based on its capability helps in
optimum use of land and water and can avoid the undue demand created due to their
misuse.
e) Livelihood planning
Identifies those livelihoods which are least affected by the drought. Some of such
livelihoods include increased off-farm employment opportunities, collection of non-timber
forest produce from the community forests, raising goats, carpentry etc.
f) Drought planning
The basic goal of drought planning is to improve the effectiveness of preparedness and
response efforts by enhancing monitoring, mitigation and response measures.
Planning would help in effective coordination among state and national agencies in dealing
with the drought. Components of drought plan include establishing drought taskforce
which is a team of specialists who can advise the government in taking decision to deal
with drought situation, establishing coordination mechanism among various agencies
Activity: Mention other type of disaster management in your local?
which deal with the droughts, providing crop insurance schemes to the farmers to cope
with the drought related crop losses, and public awareness generation.
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5.5 Drought Severity

In most instances, the demand for economic goods is increasing as a result of increasing
population and per capita consumption. Supply may also increase because of improved
production efficiency, technology, or the construction of reservoirs that increase surface
water storage capacity. If both supply and demand are increasing, the critical factor is the
relative rate of change. Is demand increasing more rapidly than supply? If so, vulnerability
and the incidence of drought may increase in the future as supply and demand trends
converge. Other climatic factors such as high temperature, high wind, and low relative
humidity are often associated with it in many regions of the world and can significantly
aggravate its severity. The causes of these problems are complex and relate to increased
dependence on external resources, poor quality of water resources among other factors.
The common consequences of severe droughts are:
Wildfires.
Migration or relocation of those impacted.
Competition for resources leading to Social unrest, War
Disease.
Famine due to lack of water for irrigation.
5.6 Drought Management

Socio-economic and environmental consequences of extreme droughts can be as severe as
the impacts of extreme floods, particularly in case of several successive dry years, where
small scale farmers risk to lose their land. Drought can undermine the national food
security and the economy, and can, at worst, cause famine (although this should not occur
in a well-managed society).
The occurrence and severity of extreme weather, including extreme droughts, can escalate
in case of global warming or general climate fluctuations.
The vulnerability may increase in connection with new (but otherwise more attractive)
crops, which are introduced in order to save water and increase earnings. On the other
hand, even though new crops are always risky, they can sometimes be more droughtresistant than traditional ones, or they can offer a wider range of options for consideration
in connection with delayed rainfall.
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Surface water supplies are much more vulnerable than groundwater supplies. This
circumstance is of little relevance in an operational context, but may be kept in mind in
connection with feasibility studies of groundwater supplies. Access to at least some
amount of groundwater (where available) can ease the damage caused by a drought.
Good management can highly reduce the general vulnerability and the actual damage
caused by drought. Drought management can be divided into the following components:
Components
Urban
Rural domestic
Cultivation
Strategic
Preparedness
Preparedness
Preparedness
Operational
Response
Response
Response
In broad general, the strategic preparedness aims at a reduced vulnerability and

preparations for an appropriate response. This, in turn, requires routines for timely and
adequate information flow, and smooth operational communication. At the operational
stage, routines must be in place for support to prompt and appropriate decision-making
during a drought (for farmers and producers as well as for administrators.
The strategic preparedness can comprise elements such as:
A knowledge-base (of weather, crops and cultivation);
Education in order to support the drought-related decision process;
streamlining of the management framework (clarifying 'who does what', and assuring a
smooth flow of data and information); and
Suitable contingency plans and response tactics.
During a
drought, the management aim shifts from value optimization to risk
minimization.
Once one crop has failed, it is important that the next crop does not.
Operational drought management can be regarded as a continuous decision process
somewhat like a long battle against an enemy with an unknown course of action. The
decision-making is supported by knowledge of risks and options. This knowledge (about
weather statistics, storage operation, and cropping and cultivation options) can be compiled
beforehand. Once the drought occurs, there will be no time to do it.
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The preparedness can comprise emergency stocks of water, seeds, pesticides, or even food.
A close collaboration with farmers, including small-scale farmers, should be maintained
throughout strategy formulation and contingency planning.
In urban areas, supply restriction is a standard measure, supported by awareness campaigns
and enforcement.
High-level support must be mobilized, as well as support from the media. International
support can be available in case of severe drought disasters.
Pastoral Drought Coping Mechanisms

The ways in which pastoralists cope with drought varies from place to place and depends
on the standard of the wealth (see Table I below). Some of the common ways of reacting to
hard times are:
Selling of much number of animals
Reducing meals
Trekking long-distance with livestock in search of better grazing/water.
Fuel wood collection and selling in the local markets
Collection and selling of some local building material
Changing the livestock type e.g. by selling the cattle and buying goats
Sending some younger family members to relatives in urban areas
Out migration of the able bodied in search of labour
Slaughtering of more animals to substitute meat for grain as last resort.
Petty trading
Collection and selling of gums and frankincense
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5.7 Drought Early Warning System

An Early Warning System (EWS) is a comprehensive monitoring framework for early
detection and response to environmental threats .These systems are more than prediction
tools since it encompasses:
Risk knowledge prior knowledge of the drought risks faced by communities;
Warning service technical monitoring and prediction service for these drought
risks;
Dissemination dissemination of understandable warnings to those at risk; and

Response capability Knowledge and preparedness to act by those threatened.
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Unit summary
Drought is either absence or deficiency of rainfall from its normal pattern in a region
for an extended period of time leading to general suffering in the society. It is interplay
between demand that people place on natural supply of water and natural event that
provides the water in a given geographical region. The more the imbalance in supply
the higher is the drought.
Socio-economic and environmental consequences of extreme droughts can be as severe
as the impacts of extreme floods, particularly in case of several successive dry years,
where small scale farmers risk to lose their land. Drought can undermine the national
food security and the economy, and can, at worst, cause famine (although this should
not occur in a well-managed society
Review Questions
1. Define the word Drought in your concept?
2. What a\re the causes of Drought?
3. Mention the types of drought?
4. Discus and mention Drought early warning systems ?

5. Is there any difference between Drought early warning and flood early warning systems?
6. What is the main difference between Hydrological ,meteorological ,socio economical and
agricultural Droughts?
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CHAPTER-SIX
Case Studies
6.0 Introduction
Case studies means
are written summaries or syntheses of real-life cases

based upon data and research
require you to isolate and think through

the key issues involved against both theory
and the larger comparative environment
identify appropriate strategies for the resolution of the 'case'
weigh the pros and cons of the remedial options/strategies
recommend and present a rationale for the best resolution
The process of developing a case study:
Define the objective of the case study
Identify the important players within the organization,

the stakeholders or those who have a vested interest in the outcomes
Identify other target groups of the organization,

whether clients or suppliers
State the official mission of the organization studied
State the historical mission of the organization
State the understood mission of the stakeholders in the organization
Scale the importance of stakeholders,

whether in decision-making or effect of consequences
Outline the formal decision-making process
Note informal decision-making processes
Identify the process of production or service delivery
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Identify support mechanisms
Identify competitors
6.1Flood in Ethiopia
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. Floods Directive
defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense
of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may
result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which
overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual
boundaries.
While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in
precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water
endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.
Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel,
particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if
they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually
eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind,
people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains
of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to
inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near
the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding.
Some case studies of different nation in Ethiopia with related to flood and drought are
presented below:
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6.1.1 Flood in Dire Dawa

Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia (the other being the capital, Addis
Ababa). This chartered city is divided administratively into two woredas, the city proper
and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura.
Dire Dawa lies in the eastern part of the nation, on the Dechatu River, at the foot of a ring
of cliffs that has been described as "somewhat like a cluster of tea-leaves in the bottom of a
slop-basin." With a latitude and longitude of 936N 4152E / 9.6N 41.867ECoordinates:
936N 4152E / 9.6N 41.867E, this city is the second largest in Ethiopia.
The city is an industrial centre, home to several markets and the Aba Tenna Dejazmach
Yilma International Airport. Haramaya University is 40 kilometers away from the city.
Fig6. 1Map location of Dire-Dawa

Dire Dawa was founded in 1902 after the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway reached the
area. The railroad could not reach the city of Harar at its higher elevation, so Dire Dawa
was built nearby. This led to Dire Dawa becoming an important center of trade between the
port of Djibouti and the capital city, Addis Ababa. (Dire Dawa is home to several market
centers; the biggest being Taiwan along with Qefira which is located on the flood plain.
Near Dire Dawa and what is now Kebele 01, trading happened in the town called Melka
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Jebdu and in fact, it has been the gateway for most of the goods sold in places such as
Taiwan.)
The city was flooded in August 2006 when the Dechatu River overflowed its banks. About
200 people were reported dead, thousands were displaced and there was extensive damage
to homes and markets. Floods are fairly common during the JuneSeptember rainy season;
over 200 people in the region had been killed by flooding in 2005 that also did millions of
dollars in damage.
Climate
Climate data for Dire Dawa
Month
Jan Feb
Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average
28
32
31
29
32
34
36
32
33 33
32
29
31.8
high C (F) (83) (85) (89) (90) (93) (96) (90) (88) (91) (92) (89) (84) (89.2)
Average
16
16
19
19
20
21
19
18
18 18
16
16
17.9
612
low C (F) (60) (60) (66) (67) (68) (70) (66) (64) (65) (64) (60) (61) (64)
Precipitation 23
48
53
81
18
33
86
168 76 10
10
mm (inches) (0.9) (1.9) (2.1) (3.2) (0.7) (1.3) (3.4) (6.6) (3) (0.4) (0.2) (0.4) (24.1)
Actevity6.1.a) What is the causes of flood in Ethiopia?

b)Differentiate Flooding in Afar
and Dire
Dawa?
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6.1.2 Massive Flash Flood in Dire Dawa

On April 23, 2010, unexpectedly a massive flash flood scared the people of Dire Dawa.
The Flood waters flowed through the Queen City of the Desert around 6:30 AM in the
morning without human causality or major infrastructural damage. This is with the notable
exception of the recently constructed levees which swiftly crumbled away in just a few
minutes.
Unlike the floods of recent years, this one left no one homeless. Dire Dawa residents
counted themselves as fortunate and blessed to have survived the flooding without major
incident. The popular local sentiment is that emergency preparation and experience served
them well.
Residents of Dire Dawa clearly remember the violent flooding that happened in 2006 and
claimed hundreds of lives in just one night. They are still terrified of that situation being
repeated and sometimes spend their nights in the safety of the nearby mountains during
flood season.
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6.1.3 Flood in Afar Region

Early History
Afar society has traditionally been organized into independent kingdoms, each ruled by its
own Sultan. The earliest surviving written mention of the Afar is from the 13th century
Arab writer Ibn Sa'id, who reported that they lived in the area around the port of Suakin, as
far south as Mandeb, near Zeila. They are mentioned intermittently in Ethiopian records,
first as helping Emperor Amda Seyon in a campaign beyond the Awash River, then over a
century later when they assisted Emperor Baeda Maryam when he campaigned against
their neighbors the Dobe'a.
Following an unsuccessful rebellion led by the Afar Sultan, Alimirah Hanfadhe, the Afar
Liberation Front was founded in 1975 to promote the interests of the Afar people. Sultan
Hanfadhe was shortly afterwards exiled to Saudi Arabia. Ethiopia's then-ruling communist
Derg regime later established the Autonomous Region of Assab (now called Aseb and
located in Eritrea), although low level insurrection continued until the early 1990s. In
Djibouti, a similar movement simmered throughout the 1980s, eventually culminating in
the Afar Insurgency in 1991. After the fall of the Derg that same year, Sultan Hanfadhe
returned from exile.
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Geographical distribution
Fig6. 2 Map of Ethiopia showing the Afar Region

The Afar principally resides in the Danakil Desert in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, as well
as in Eritrea and Djibouti. They number 1,276,867 people in Ethiopia (or 1.73% of the
total population), of whom 108,488 are urban inhabitants, according to the most recent
census (2007). The Afar makes up over a third of the population of Djibouti, and is one of
the nine recognized ethnic divisions (Regions) of Ethiopia.
6.2 Awash River Floods

6.2.1 Background
The UN-Emergencies Unit (UN-EUE) deployed a rapid assessment mission to flooded
areas along Awash River following national newspaper articles, informal reports by a
DPPC/UNICEF visit
to Afar Region and further
information brought
to the UN-
Emergencies Unit by locally based NGOs. The mission's objective was to obtain an
overview of the actual flood and emergency situation and observe ongoing emergency
relief operations. Furthermore, the mission tried to assess possible gaps and needs in terms
of humanitarian aid to the flood victims.
The Awash River basin is mostly located in the arid lowlands of Afar Region in the north
eastern part of Ethiopia. It frequently floods in August/September following heavy rains in
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the eastern highland and escarpment areas. A number of tributary rivers draining the
highlands eastwards can increase the water level of the Awash River in a short period of
time and cause flooding in the low-lying alluvial plains along the river course. Certain
areas which frequently, almost seasonally, get inundated are marshlands such as the area
between the towns of Debel and Gewane in the vicinity of Lake Yardi and the lower plains
around Dubti down to Lake Abe in the administrative Zone 1 of Afar Region. The third
area which often floods is the southern part of administrative Zone 3, about 30 kilometers
north of Awash town in the vicinity of Melka Werer.
Afar Region, predominately populated by nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists, is
generally not known for settled agriculture. But the riverside land, especially the flat
lowlands, is fertile and in parts intensively cultivated and relatively densely populated.
Certain areas were developed by the former socialist government into large irrigated state
farm plantations for production of cotton, sugar and other cash crops and in recent years
some of these formerly government operated farms have been taken over by private
entrepreneurs. These big farms attracted a considerable number of migrant workers, mostly
from overpopulated areas in the southern part of the country, i.e. Wolayita and Gurage,
who settled around the farms and whose families arrived a while later.
In previous years, especially in 1996, the lowlands around Wonji, about 10 kilometers
south west of Nazareth town and further down the river around Metehara were flooded and
state and private owned agricultural plantations were put at risk. In this upper section of
Awash River the flooding was usually caused by the release of water from the Koka dam's
flood gates which are necessary when the reservoir reaches its maximum capacity.
Unfortunately, in previous years the reservoir authorities experienced difficulties in
releasing water in controlled intervals, often causing flooding downstream.
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6.2.2 General Situation

This year, mainly two sections of the Awash River with villages, private and state owned
agricultural plantations were affected by inundation. The first area is situated in Zone 3 and
the second in Zone 1 of Afar Region. Minor flooding also occurred near Metehara town in
neighboring Oromiya Region. No flood damage has occurred in the upper reaches of the
Awash towards the Koka dam. The actual flooding destroyed approximately 9,500 ha of
cropped farmland, both private and state owned (~ 5,000 ha in Zone 3, ~ 4,000 ha in Zone
1, and ~ 230 ha around Metehara, Oromiya Region). The total area flooded this year is
unknown and the number of affected population is also difficult to assess and ranges from
3,000 to 35,000 in Zone 3 and from a few hundred to 50,000 in Zone 1.
The Federal Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission in Addis Ababa states that
approximately 3,000 people need assistance in Zone 3. Where as in Zone 1 no request for
assistance has yet been forwarded by the regional government in Assaita. The Bureau for
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness (DPPB) in Assaita reported 19,500 affected people
to the UN-EUE mission during its visit to the regional capital. The number of affected
Peasant's Associations has been reported as per the following: (for Zone 3) 12 PAs in
Amibara and 3 PAs in Dulecha wereda; (for Zone 1) 3 PAs in Assaita, 5 PAs in Afambo
and 8 PAs in Dubti wereda. A number of human settlements, especially within the affected
commercial crop farms, have been inundated and some others have been surrounded by
water and are therefore inaccessible by road. This is the case for Melka Werer village in
Amibara wereda in Zone 3.
At the time of the visit the water level in Zone 3 was decreasing whereas in Zone 1 the
level was still rising, reaching a critical level at the dykes which were built by the
agricultural enterprises to prevent flooding and destruction of the cash crop plantations
(mainly cotton, maize and sorghum).
The health situation may become an issue of concern once the water level regresses.
Stagnant water and little lakes left behind in the crop fields by the retiring flood become
perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes and are also a source of other diseases of which
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dysentery is the most frequent. In all the visited areas apparently no deaths directly related
to the flooding were reported.
6.2.3
General Causes of Flooding
This year's flooding along Awash River was mainly caused by heavy rainfall in the eastern
highlands and escarpment areas of North Shewa and Welo and not because of heavy rain in
the upper watershed areas (i.e. upstream of the Koka Reservoir). Over the years soil and
water run-off in the escarpment areas has steadily increased as a result of deforestation, the
most serious environmental degradation
in the escarpment areas being caused by
overpopulation in the highlands. Tributaries to Awash river such as Kessem, Kebena,

Hawadi, Ataye Jara, Mille and Loqiya rivers contributed most to the lowland flooding in
Afar.
It was unanimously agreed among interviewed experts, governmental officials and local
farmers that the causes of flooding cannot be attributed to the partial release of water from
the Koka reservoir upstream. It seems that the opening of the flood gates and the partial
release of water is now being well managed and did not cause flooding further downstream
as in previous years. Warnings were also broadcast through the public media in advance of
the planned release of water providing sufficient time for preparations immediately
downstream of the dam.
Some observers argue that the dykes constructed by the
state farms and private
entrepreneurs to protect cropped farm land in the vicinity of the riverbed were not strong
and high enough. This may be the main cause of this year's flooding and damage in Melka
Werer area. On the other hand, silt is building up rapidly, causing the rise of the riverbed
and forcing farm entrepreneurs to raise and reinforce their protective and preventive dykes
every year. For communities living in the lowland areas the result is one of growing
vulnerability to sudden and potentially catastrophic flooding when the river inevitably
breaks through the increasingly unstable dykes. The rise of the riverbed due to silting is
causing the Awash River to overflow in places where it never used to overflow.
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The vulnerability of the population living along the Awash River and in the marshlands
has also been exacerbated due to seemingly inappropriate settlement patterns in these flood
prone areas in recent years. Even though most of the settlers are nomadic and seminomadic pastoralists and very well aware of the annual flooding and its danger for
themselves and their livestock, these particular areas, with their fertile soils and abundant
vegetation, are very attractive. Especially during the dry season the riverside areas are the
only places in Afar with grazing land and are essential for the survival of humans and
livestock. People are voluntarily taking the risk of possibly being trapped by flood. Also,
migrants working for the commercial and state farms have established permanent (and
often unofficial) settlements close to their places of work and these villages have expanded
further with the arrival of the worker's families. As the villages have grown and become
permanent, the seasonal movements of people to the Awash farms are no longer as marked
as they were a decade ago.
6.2.5 Problem of Dismissed Temporary Commercial Farm Employees

Unsolved
Significant number of temporary state and commercial farm employees have been
dismissed from their jobs due to the flooding and the damage caused to the cash crop
plantations. The local authorities counted approximately 7,000 dismissed employees and
dependants who have been dislocated by the floods and took, among other places, refuge
in 4 schools. These people, for whom (according to government policy) their respective
employers are responsible, were compensated for their dismissal with one monthly salary
of 120 Birr and a onetime donation of 6 kg of wheat per family member. Furthermore, they
were told to leave the area and look for work somewhere else. It is estimated that some
1,500 workers did so, but the remaining and all the dependants were left behind. The local
authorities do not feel responsible for them and fear that they might not vacate their school
refuge which should have opened for the new Ethiopian school year. Most of these parttime farm workers and dependants arrived many years ago, mainly from overpopulated
areas in the south. It is out of question for them to return to their places of origin and most
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have nowhere to go. Solutions should be discussed among local authorities and farm
entrepreneurs for they will not be able to remain in the school compounds.
6.3 Awash River floods

The national media reported on 4 June 1996 "heavy flooding" in Gewane Wereda
(estimated population 37000) and Bure-Mudaitu Wereda (estimated population 35000),
both located along the Awash River in Zone 3 of Region 2 (Afar). Having had no direct
reports from the respective wereda officials the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Commission, DPPC (formerly the CDPP), upon taking notice of the media reports, decided
to respond immediately and to launch, jointly with the UNDP Emergencies Unit for
Ethiopia (EUE), a helicopter survey to the area. The mission was carried out the following
day (5 June 1996).
The survey area is situated at an aerial distance of 240 kilometers north east of Addis
Ababa (by road approximately 400 km) at an altitude of 620 meters above sea level. Part of
the arid lowlands of the Afar region, the area has a history of getting inundations after
heavy rain falls in the mountain range of northern Shewa. Tributary rivers flowing down
the mountain slopes eastward increase the water volume of the Awash river, which is not
following a stable river bed but meandering freely through most parts along his way to lake
Abe on the Djibouti border. Consequently, marshlands such as the area between the towns
of Debel (Seat of Wereda Bure-Mudaitu), Gewane (Seat of Wereda Gewane) and lake
Yardi get inundated seasonally. Populated predominantly by Afar Nomads - whose
livelihood is based on cattle and shoats - the respective area is traditionally not used for
agriculture. In the past some state farms grew cash crops such as cotton. However, those
cotton fields were abandoned after the transition in 1991. Currently, a private investor
based in Gewane is about to cultivate again some cotton.
Generally it may be important to note that the survey area lacks both development and
infrastructure. For instance, there is no permanent market. Furthermore, it is rather difficult
to obtain solid information and reliable data (e.g. referring to population figures) at the
local wereda level.
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The most significant finding was the persons contacted confirmed that floods were indeed
recessing and, moreover, that they had already occurred by early March. The breaking of
the dikes near the former cotton fields due to heavy belg (short) rains in the highlands of
North Shewa was stated as the main reason for the occurrence of floods. During that
neither period no loss of human life was recorded nor loss of cattle and shoats. However, it
was claimed that from a starting point, approximately 10 km south of Debel up to an area
north of Gewane (total distance approximately 50 km), thousands of people had to leave
their settlements alongside the river to seek temporary shelter in Gewane, Debel and Bora
(a town south of Debel in Bure-Mudaitu Wereda). No exact numbers of the displaced
persons were obtainable. The claims included the partial and total destruction of some
homes (number unknown) and the consequent.
Also the Ministry of Water Resources Development is currently seeking to implement the
"Awash Master Plan" to research and develop ways of overcoming (or accommodating)
the problem of periodic flooding in certain areas along the Awash River
An earlier report by a DPPC/UNICEF team claimed the death of three people due to the
flooding.
This year, like in previous years, Koka dam had to release some water to regulate its water
level.
The "Awash Master Plan" elaborated by the Ministry of Water Resources has been
mentioned several times in national newspaper articles in connection with this year's
flooding river. Nevertheless, the document is not yet publicly available and therefore its
content unknown.
Flooding in Afar, caused by the overflow of the Logia River .The agency said crops and
livelihood assets were destroyed, roads submerged and bridges swept away.
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Fig 6. 3 Flood in Ethiopia

In 1994, when the last serious flooding occurred in the presently assessed area, 8,900
people received flood-related assistance in Gewane wereda and 6,800 people in BureMudaitu wereda. As compared to that year and looking back at the anecdotal records of
this area which is prone to regular natural flooding, the assessment team came to the
conclusion that the situation found on 5 June 1996 does not require emergency response.
Therefore, the DPPC will not launch an appeal. However, also taking into consideration
that the only operating aid agency in the area (Save the Children - USA) stopped its
operations last year, it was decided that close monitoring should continue. Since the
nutritional status of the population appeared to be satisfactory and, since no food relief
request had been made by the regional authorities in Aysa'ita, no food assistance would be
considered at this point.
Regarding the local complaints about the health situation the DPPC will forward to the
Ministry of Health a request to look into possibilities of countering the threat of malaria
(through medical care, spraying and other needed interventions).
Another events which occurred in
Ethiopia due to floods that cause mass devastation
Arba Minch, Ethiopia (AFP) - Search and rescue teams kept up frantic efforts to save
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thousands marooned by fatal flash floods in southwest Ethiopia, where relief workers
reported near-total devastation. With poor weather continuing to hamper operations,
officials said the death toll in the remote Omo River valley would rise above the current
figure of 364, potentially sending the nationwide tally from recent floods soaring.
Across the country, the United Nations said Friday nearly 75,000 people had been affected
by raging waters from unusually heavy seasonal rains, some of them displaced, others
losing property, including valuable livestock.
Ethiopian Red Cross Society told AFP. Helicopter pilots at a military base in Arba Minch,
about 500 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of Addis Ababa, from where relief flights are
taking off, said they had been able to rescue only a handful of stranded people. "We were
able to airlift about 400 people to higher ground yesterday," one pilot told AFP on
condition of anonymity."Our flight spotted another 1,000 or so people stranded, but we
weren't able to land." Where the pilot was able to land and speak to survivors, , home to
some 70 million people, has repeatedly suffered heavy floods and droughts in recent years,
ruining agriculture that provides livelihood for the majority in the Horn of Africa nation.
6.4 Drought in Ethiopia

6.4.1Introduction
Drought is a period or condition of unusually dry weather within a geographic area where
rainfall is normally present.
During a drought there is a lack of precipitation. Droughts occur in all climatic zones.
However, its characteristics vary significantly from one region to another. Drought usually
results in a water shortage that seriously interferes with human activity. Water-supply
reservoirs empty, wells dry up, and crop damage ensues. Its seriousness depends on the
degree of the water shortage, size of area affected, and the duration and warmth of the dry
period. In many underdeveloped countries, such as India, people place a great demand on
water supply. During a drought period there is a lack of water, and thus many of the poor
die. Most precipitation depends on water vapor carried by winds from an ocean or other
source of moisture. If these moisture-carrying winds are replaced by winds from a dry
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region, or if they are modified by downward motion, as in the center of an anticyclone, the
weather is abnormally dry and often persistently cloudless. If the drought period is short, it
is known as a dry spell. A dry spell is usually more than 14 days without precipitation,
whereas a severe drought may last for years. Statistics indicate that every 22 years a major
drought occurs in the United States, most seriously affecting the Midwestern states. The
drought of 1933-35, during which large areas of the Great Plains became known as the
Dust Bowl, is an example of a disastrous drought that took place in the United States.
The effect of the drought was brought about by over cropping, overpopulation, and lack of
relief measures. Although drought cannot be reliably predicted, certain precautions can be
taken in drought-risk areas. These include construction of reservoirs to hold emergency
water supplies, education to avoid over cropping and overgrazing, and programs to limit
settlement in drought-prone areas. The Southern Africa Development Community
monitors the crop and food situation in the region and alerts the people during periods of
crisis.
6.6 Response to the Famine

Despite the fact that the government had access to only a minority of the famine-stricken
population in the north, the great majority of relief was channeled through the government
side, prolonging the war.
The Ethiopian governments at that time inability or unwillingness to deal with the 1984-85
famine provoked universal condemnation by the international community. Even many
supporters of the Ethiopian regime opposed its policy of withholding food shipments to
rebel areas. The combined effects of famine and internal war had by then put the nation's
economy into a state of collapse.
The primary government response to the drought and famine was the decision to uproot
large numbers of peasants who lived in the affected areas in the north and to resettle them
in the southern part of the country. In 1985 and 1986, about 600,000 people were moved,
many forcibly, from their home villages and farms by the military and transported to
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various regions in the south. Many peasants fled rather than allow themselves to be
resettled; many of those who were resettled sought later to return to their native regions.
Several human rights organizations claimed that tens of thousands of peasants died as a
result of forced resettlement.
Another government plan involved which was a response not only to the famine but also to
the poor security situation. Beginning in 1985, peasants were forced to move their
homesteads into planned villages, which were clustered around water, schools, medical
services, and utility supply points to facilitate distribution of those services. Many peasants
fled rather than acquiesce in relocation, which in general proved highly unpopular.
Additionally, the government in most cases failed to provide the promised services. Far
from benefiting agricultural productivity, the program caused a decline in food production.
Although temporarily suspended in 1986, villagization was subsequently resumed.
International View
Airplane dropping food during 1985 famine

Close to 8 million people became famine victims during the drought of 1984, and over
1 million died. In the same year (October 23, a BBC news crew was the first to document
the famine, with Michael Buerk describing "a biblical famine in the 20th Century" and "the
closest thing to hell on Earth". The report shocked Britain, motivating its citizens to bring
world attention to the crisis in Ethiopia.
In January 1985 the RAF carried out the first airdrops from Hercules C-130s delivering
food to the starving people. Other countries including Sweden
West Germany, Poland,
Canada, USA and the Soviet Union were also involved in the international response.
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6.6.1 Live Aid

Live Aid, a 1985 fund-raising effort headed by Bob Geldof (who had also organized the
charity group Band Aid the previous year), induced millions of people in the West to
donate money and to urge their governments to participate in the relief effort in Ethiopia.
Some of the proceeds also went to the famine hit areas of Eritrea.
[26]
The event was one of
the most widely-viewed television broadcasts in history. However, the aid was not actually
used by the Ethiopian government; instead, 56,000 tons of food was left rotting in a port
while the forced relocations continued.
6.7 Why another Drought is not occurred in Ethiopia?

Televised images of starving children once again have brought the world's attention to the
Horn of Africa, where three years of drought have pushed millions of the region's poor to
the edge of survival. Haven't we seen this before? Those emaciated faces - are they a cruel
rerun of past droughts, like the one in 1984-85 that killed as many as a million people in
Ethiopia? Hasn't something been done over the years to help those people feed themselves?
Why does the world have to help Ethiopia once again?
The answers to those questions are complex, and weave together meteorological
conditions, changing economic development strategies. Periodic drought seems to have
been Ethiopia's lot for hundreds of years. Yet droughts are becoming more frequent and
severe. A century ago the country suffered a drought every 10-15 years. Today they come
with alarming regularity every five years or less. Although the drought-caused famine of
1984-85 remains well known, less serious but nonetheless significant droughts were
suffered here in 1987, 1988, 1991-92, 1993-94, and 1999.
While global climate change may have something to do with increasing the frequency and
intensity of drought here, other factors have contributed to making Ethiopians more
vulnerable to erratic or scarce rainfall. A high population growth rate, dwindling farm size,
unjust patterns of land tenure, inefficient farming techniques, deforestation, and degraded
soils all contribute to chronic disaster. Ethiopia is a country where some 80 percent of the
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population depends for its livelihood on rain-fed agriculture, yet much of the good topsoil more than two billion tons a year - gets blown away or washed down the Blue Nile River
to Egypt.
Changes in rural lifestyles have meant that what relief specialists dub "coping
mechanisms" - practices that allow people to withstand periodic droughts - no longer
function as well. In recent decades, for example, many of the country's pastoralists have
shifted to herding cattle instead of camels. Cattle are more profitable when it comes time to
sell them, but they're much more vulnerable to drought than camels, as can be seen by the
tens of thousands of cattle carcasses currently littering the arid lowlands in the south and
east of the country.
Many of these issues were widely discussed during and after the 1984-85 famine, what
some Ethiopians somberly refer to as their country's own Holocaust. Leaders committed
themselves to overcoming many of the structural problems that caused such widespread
suffering, and indeed have made great progress in some areas. There's a sophisticated
early-warning system in place, what relief specialists regard as the most advanced system
in Africa for monitoring weather patterns and gathering and analyzing data about food
harvests and relevant social indicators. There's a better road network, allowing more
efficient transport of food supplies. A decentralized government bureaucracy responds
better than the Addis Ababa-focused administrative styles inherited from the emperors. A
more transparent and mature relationship with donor nations and greater freedom for
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also helps.
Yet one of the key advances failed to make a difference this year. In 1992, the government
and foreign donors set up the Food Security Reserve (FSR) to stockpile mass amounts of
food that could be quickly borrowed from and dispatched to needy areas of the country
should food shortages occur. It was the most visible sign of a new joint commitment
between the Ethiopian government and the international community to not let famine
reoccur in this country. The FSR overcame the three- to nine-month lag time inherent in
food donations from major donors, principally the European Union and the United States.
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In a
crisis, food could be rapidly borrowed from the
FSR, distributed to needy
communities, and repaid a few months later. According to Clive Robinson, senior field
officer here for ACT member Christian Aid, the FSR constitutes "Ethiopia's best insurance
against a food crisis."
For most of the 1990s, the FSR worked well. Last year, however, the system broke down
when several promised food loans were not repaid in a timely manner. Rather than being
able to confront the current food crisis with the 370,000 metric tons of grain which the
FSR usually holds, the government has only 50,000 metric tons on hand. That means
donors face the task of not only hurrying to deliver food aid to 8 million Ethiopians
currently affected by the drought, but at the same time they must struggle to rebuild FSR
stocks in order to better respond to future shortages. The Ethiopian government recently
pledged 100,000 metric tons of grain for the FSR, a sign of its own commitment to a
timely drought response.
Some have suggested that political factors contributed to the lateness of recent foreign
contributions to the FSR. Both the EU and US, along with other multilateral organizations,
have cut back or eliminated development assistance here, as well as suspended any
discussion of debt relief, as punishment for Ethiopia's war with Eritrea and some in the
government here feel the delayed replenishment of FSR stocks carries the same political
message. Yet officials of church relief organizations suggest otherwise. Anne Bousquet,
the country representative for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the overseas development
and relief
arm of the U.S. Catholic bishops conference, blames the delay on
"misunderstanding and miscommunication" between donors. And others claim the

government's constant upward revision during 1999 of the number of drought victims from 2.5 million people at the beginning of the year to 7.7 million in December - meant the
severity of the situation crept up on donors who were otherwise unaware of the true
dimensions of the looming food crisis.
Several faith-based relief organizations sounded the alarm last year, long before the current
drought caught the world's headlines in April of this year. Yet most were unsuccessful in
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catching the eye of government aid officials, and many newspaper and television editors
drug their feet on doing yet another Ethiopia drought story.
In response to requests from its Ethiopian members, ACT issued large appeals for aid to
Ethiopia in February and August of last year and in April of this year requested more than
$32 million in new assistance for Ethiopia programs.
In the meantime, in many parts of Ethiopia the rains haven't fallen or didn't fall when they
normally do, and that phenomenon remains the most important factor in explaining the
current crisis. Some areas of the country, especially the south and east of the country,
where there is less presence of both the central government and NGOs, are now well into
their third year of drought. Normal coping mechanisms have been exhausted, and as a
result people are hungry.
There have been scattered reports of government-controlled food distribution being
withheld until a community produces the requisite number of recruits, but relief officials
say the incidents are few and probably don't reflect central government policy. Most admit
that the war enjoys such popular support among ordinary Ethiopians - and the economic
situation of the poor is so desperate - that the military easily fills its quotas. Ethiopia is a
nation fractured by ethnic and linguistic differences, and the government in Addis Ababa
faces a medley of armed opposition groups scattered around the country. One church
official, who asked not to be identified, suggested the slowness of the government's
response to drought conditions in some areas had been affected by political reasoning.
"The government left us alone, ignoring all indications of drought, so that when we starve
the rebels will also starve," the official said. "Starvation will be the ultimate mechanism to
achieve a truce."
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6.8. SADC Early Warning System for Food Security

The REWS is an integrated project comprising a Regional Early Warning Unit (REWU),
based in Zimbabwe, and separate National Early Warning Units (NEWUs) in each of the
10 SADC member States whose activities are coordinated by the REWU. Its primary
objective is to provide advance information on the food security prospects for the region
through provision of regular assessments of regional food crop production, food supplies
and food requirements, end to alert member States of impending food shortages/surpluses
in sufficient time for appropriate interventions to be set in motion. Since the project began
operating in the latter half of 1986, it has benefited member States and SADC by issuing
regular food security bulletins providing early warnings on crop performance, crop failure
and potential shortfalls in food availability, food stocks and projections of regional food
needs, all being information
vital for enhancing food security
intervention and
management at both the national and regional levels.

An early response by the international donor community, alerted to the southern African
drought largely through the activities of the SADC/REWS, has prevented famine in most
countries. SADC countries also alerted to impending catastrophic food shortages by the
REWS, started making import plans since the first evidence of prolonged drought became
clear, although some countries such as Zimbabwe, which is in the process of implementing
economic structural adjustment programmes, took too long to react.
The prospect of importing an estimated 12 million tones of cereals into Southern Africa
(including South Africa) was a daunting task to SADC economies as nothing on this scale
had ever been done in the region. However, the ready availability of regionally integrated
information on food security provided by the REWS has greatly enhanced the ability of
SADC to take a lead in responding to the adverse effects of the current drought.
While some ad-hoc emergency system of data collection would probably have been created
in response to the drought had there been no REWS, the existence of a well-established
mechanism for assembling and analyzing food security information has saved vital time,
and allowed an earlier coordinated response by SADC countries than would otherwise
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have been possible, thereby averting a certain risk of widespread hunger and starvation
among the 18 million people affected by the drought within the SADC region.
The REWS made timely presentations of the projected and impact of the present drought
to meetings of SADC authorities. The impact of this has been reinforced by the widespread
reporting of the food security implications of the drought in the national electronic news
media and press of SADC countries as well as overseas, based principally on the contents
of the REWU regional bulletins and updates.
As a result of the work of the REWU, in conjunction with FAO crop and food supply
assessment missions, SADC has been able to respond as a single unit to the drought. This
culminated in the preparation of a consolidated UN-SADC appeal that was presented at an
international donors' conference on the Drought Emergency of Southern Africa held in
Geneva in early June this year.
Intentional donors concerned with both national food programmes and with regional aid
coordination have used the regional bulletin as a source of information with which to
support requests for aid back to their headquarters. The regional bulletin has also served as
one source of information on the likely magnitude of port-handling and transport
constraints which have been faced when moving food aid imports.
Of the main organizations involved in the provision of food aid to the SADC region, the
World Food Programme is already working with SADC on the management of food aid
flows and logistical support being provided to the region during the current drought. The
European Commission's Harare-based food security consultant considers the regional
bulletin as the only reliable source of information of the food situation as the key to the
Commission's food security operations.
Unfortunately, the whole dimension of the Awash River flooding could not be thoroughly
assessed by the mission. For such an overall assessment a helicopter survey would be more
appropriate rather than a ground survey as many of the flooded places and areas along
Awash River were not accessible by vehicle.
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The overall situation seemed to be under control and the Federal DPPC does not seem to
be particularly worried, feeling this year's floods were more or less "normal". However,
more drugs may be needed to treat malaria, dysentery and other typical diseases related to
floods in the affected areas. They seem to be available at the Federal level if required.
The mission developed the impression that the Afar authorities and population alike have a
somewhat fatalistic attitude towards flooding, especially in Zone 1 around Dubti and
Assaita. The floods come every year and is viewed as just part of the game nature plays.
Everybody expects it and reacts accordingly. Those who take too many risks and remain
with their cattle in the flood-prone areas have to assume the consequences.
For state farm operators and private commercial entrepreneurs the yearly overflowing of
Awash River is a costly burden. Average production losses caused by the partial flooding
of their plantations need to be an integrated part of their profit calculations. They are aware
that they are trying to make business on risky ground. For the growing population of semisettled migrant workers, their situation is clearly becoming more precarious. Obliged to
settle in some of the most dangerous locations close to the river, the workers and their
families appear to be largely left to their own fate.
Despite considerable investment and effort, the protective dykes broke at several places
before the actual water capacity level was reached. That the dykes were breached at so
many different places is perhaps not so much due to technical deficiencies in their design
as to the growing instability of the river itself as it deposits silt in the lower reaches of its
course thereby raising the river bed and increasing the likelihood of a devastating flood.
A severe drought in East Africa has inflicted wide scale crop failures and food insecurity
throughout communities already struggling to survive, affecting more than 10 million
people.
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Unit summary
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. Floods Directive defines a
flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing
water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the
volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees,
with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries.
During a drought there is a lack of precipitation. Droughts occur in all climatic zones.
However, its characteristics vary significantly from one region to another. Drought usually
results in a water shortage that seriously interferes with human activity. Water-supply
reservoirs empty, wells dry up, and crop damage ensues. Its seriousness depends on the
degree of the water shortage, size of area affected, and the duration and warmth of the dry
period. In many underdeveloped countries, such as India, people place a great demand on
water supply. During a drought period there is a lack of water, and thus many of the poor
die. Most precipitation depends on water vapor carried by winds from an ocean or other
source of moisture
Review Exercise
1. What does case study mean?
2. How can we develop case study?
3. What was the cause of drought from (1984-1985)?
4. Discus the general causes of Drought?
5. Can we forecast drought? if so, how?
THANK YOU
!!!
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DEBRETABOR UNIVERSITY

MODULE COORDINATOR:- Mr. Said M.( B.Sc)

CHAPTER-TWO ............................................................................................................ ..10

3.5.2 Classification ................................................................................................................28

5.1 Causes of Drought..............................................................................................................59

6.6.1 Live Aid .........................................................................................................................85

Introduction of the Module

( early warning for all

Target group;-4 Year, Semester -I

Edited withthe trial version of

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

What are hazards mean

Types and prevention of hazards

Management of hydro climatic hazards

The impact of hydro climatic change

The benefit of early warning

Prepared by Said M. ( B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Meteorological Hazards: Cyclones, Floods, Tornadoes, Heat, hurricanes, drought

Technological Hazard: A hazard originating from technological or industrial conditions,

Prepared by Said M.(B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Prepared by Said M. (B.SC)

Edited withthe trial version of

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Activates1.1. What is the difference between Tornados and Tsunamis?

1.2 Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts

social and economic impacts.

The most important

Prepared by Said M. (B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

1.3 Benefits and Costs of Early Warning and Preparedness

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Prepared by Said M.(B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Prepared by Said M.(B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

1.3.2 Disaster Preparedness

Prepared by Said M. (B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Disaster preparedness minimizes the adverse effects of a hazard through effective

of relief and assistance

coordinated disaster preparedness and response system is an essential condition of any

and sub-national levels among ministries and

Prepared by Said M. (B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Prepared by Said M. (B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

Flood discharge and flood frequency measurements techniques

the origin and

2.1 Meteorological regimes

Prepared by Said M. (B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

2.2 Hydrological Regimes

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

2.3 Physical Characteristics of Floods

2.5 Measurement Techniques

perpendicular to the direction of flow.

Prepared by Said M.(B.SC)

FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

The flow-rate measurements may, therefore, be plotted against stage measurements to

2.6 Frequency of Flooding

Such data allows statistical analysis to