Examination of Household Evacuation Influencing Factors In Flood Disaster: A Case Study of Saptari Flood in Nepal

Abstract

Disaster, a serious disruption in functioning of society whether by natural or manmade cause can happen anywhere. Devastating seismic, hurricane, flood, drought and fire are major disaster. Mitigating disaster risk, prompt rescue and timely evacuation decision during such disaster can prevent loss of lives and properties. The evacuation decision is the choice of people to stay away from the area of risk. The study analyzes the people’s perception of evacuation decisions in a flood disaster in the Saptari district of Nepal affected by Koshi River and other tributaries of it as a Disaster Risk Management. According to United Nations (2016), Management refers to “the organization, planning and applications of measure preparing for, responding to and recovering form disasters”. From the flood-affected site, 246 people were randomly selected for this study and examined the factors influencing evacuation decision-making. The study analyzes the past experiences of the people and their perception. The study has explored that Gender, Destination of evacuation, warning condition, reasons for not evacuating, education, age, proximity to the River from residence, land ownership, the capacity of the people are the factors examined and found no any association with the people’s decision on evacuation during the flood disaster in affected areas in Saptari district. These findings help the student, Disaster Risk Reduction field, Government policy makers and different actors to minimize the loss of lives and properties. The study also recommends for future research on victim’s evacuation decision-making capability in different flood-prone area of Nepal.