Voice of Intellectual Man- An International Journal
Year : 2011, Volume : 1, Issue : 2
First page : ( 33) Last page : ( 44)
Print ISSN : 2231–6914.

Mismanagement of a natural disaster: A case of the annually flooded villages of Lucknow

Srivastava Riddhi, UGC Doctoral fellow

Department of Anthropology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. riddhi_sri@rediffmail.com

Online published on 16 January, 2012.

Abstract

Disasters caused by natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, landslides etc. have an adverse effect on human lives, economic and social infrastructure including the ecosystem. While natural hazard s remain a part of our existence, human actions can either increase or reduce the vulnerability of societies to hazards and related disasters. Developing countries like India whose majority of the population still resides in villages, having agriculture as the backbone of their economy, are adversely affected in case of natural disasters as the resources to deal with the impacts of such calamitous events are still fragile. The present paper tries to present an evaluative account of the disaster situation i.e. flood in the rural areas of district Lucknow. The villages in the area are annually flooded and yet situations run out of hand every year during monsoons. Thus, an attempt has been made to understand the socio-cultural as well as the institutional set up so as to locate the factors responsible for an inefficient handling of such a disaster situation and its repeated adverse impact on the area and the community and steps that could be incorporated for a better handling of situation in future.

Top

Keywords

Disaster management, risk assessment, rehabilitation, community response.

Top