Pradeep K Rawat
Kumaun University
India
Title: Geospatial analysis of climate change and emerging flood disaster risk in fast urbanizing Himalayan foothill landscape
Biography
Biography: Pradeep K Rawat
Abstract
Himalaya foothill geo-environment is highly vulnerable for flood disaster due to dynamic upstream hydrological process and its associated reshaped downstream geomorphology. Rapid urbanization resultant to high rate of land use change and natural resource degradation which has been accumulating the vulnerability and socioeconomic risks of flood disaster in the region. The Ramnagar Himalayan Foothill area (RHFA) in district Nainital, Uttarakhand (India) has been selected for the case illustration. Key objective of the study was to investigate emerging flood disaster risk in the region through development and integration of multiple GIS modules. Results advocates that the fast urbanization and development of new colonies has caused increase in built up area (with 1.25% annually) and population density (with 87 persons/km2 annually) under different flood hazard zones during last two decades period (1995-2015). Consequently 29% area of very low flood disaster risk zone converted into moderate (6 %), high (8 %) and very high flood disaster risk zone (15 %) with 0.31 %, 0.40 %, and 0.77 % annual rates respectively. This emerging spatial variability of flood disaster risk shows increasing rates in very low to very high hazard zones. Unfortuenelly, the densely populated (2610-9440 persons/km2) hazard areas still have been growing with their rich socioeconomic and infrastural development which needs to be stopped now without being too late and to implement an effective disaster risks reduction (DRR) plan to manage such hydrological events.