Damages Assessment of Flood

Abstract:

Flood damage assessment is the estimation of possible damages which occurred due to the floods of 2010 and 2013. In this study some variable are selected to find out total damages. On the basis of those variables damages can be calculated.

The significance of the research is to calculate the damages in District Chiniot due to the floods in past. The local government will use it as basic information to make policies and implement to overcome the damages of flood. The local government will be able to decrease the damages of flood. The research will also help to aware the people about the loss of the agriculture crops and livestock.

The sole purpose of this research is to protect human being. Because, efforts to predict extreme hazards impacts and damages assessment of subsequent flooding can contribute to more timely and adequate reaction towards prevention and mitigation option. This will be done by apprising information to the concern authorities about the danger caused by the previous floods.

Introduction:

Flood is overflow of water from river due to excessive rainfall and ice melting in the high temperature season. There are three major categories of flood and areal flood is one of them. Areal floods occur when water falls on a flat land which is already saturated. This saturated land prohibits the infiltration of water and flat nature of the land restricts the surface run off. In other words impermeable flat land is suitable for areal flooding. Riverine floods occur when flowing water exceeds the discharge capacity of a stream or a river. Water starts overflowing the leaves of the river and inundates the surrounding areas. Flashflood is another significant type of flood. They occur due to the sudden bursting of the leaves and embankments of the river. Owing to their unpredictable nature Flash floods can be more destructive than riverine floods and areal floods. While riverine and areal floods are predictable but if they are left un assessed they can wreak havoc on a particular area. Therefore their assessment is indispensible to reduce their impacts.

Damage is physical harm that impairs the value, usefulness, or normal function of something. When the capacity of water is increases from the capacity of river it overflows and cause flood in the surrounding areas of river. After this the water covers the surrounding areas and causes a number of damages like damages to life, property, and services. Due to damages people lost their valuable things and are not able to perform any type of activity. In the plane areas water flows everything with it and due to stagnant water it causes many types of problems for local community. The stagnant water causes many types of diseases play havoc with the lives of people andfailure of bridges and cutting of roads unable the commutation of the people from one place to another. In this situation survival of a community is difficult in inundated area. Damage assessment is a method or plan which is used for evaluation of the possible losses caused by flood. Damages assessment of flood is required to find out loses which are caused by flood. With the help of damages assessment plan the local and national government is able to measure damages that a community had to face in the past.

Problem Statement:

Flood is a big concern for the local administration of under developing countries. In these countries mostly rural areas are facing problems of flood. The Chiniot district is located on left bank of the Chenab River. The surrounding villages of Chiniot are severely affected by flood which causes different types of damages. When river Chenaboverflows all areas comes under flood which are in the proximity of the river chanab.Due to flood people face many losses. In the rural areas of district Chiniot most people are performing agricultural activities and tending of a flock. But due to flood they lost their valuable animals like buffalos and the flood destroy their crops and cause epidemic diseases for human, animals and agriculture and due to diseases people loses their lives.Chiniot District comes under the flood whenever river Chanab over flows. Therefor there is need to evaluate possible damages which are faced by the local community. The research is beingconducted for evaluation of damages of flood and will help to overcome the possible damages in future.

Objectives:

- To investigate environmental setup of the study area
- To analyze the damages caused by floods in affected villages
- To determine the total damage caused by flood

Study Area:

Chiniot is a city and administration headquarters of Chiniot District, in the state of Punjab, Pakistan. It is located at 31°43′12″Latitude and 72°58′44″Longitude. Located between the hearts of river Chenab with the heads of small rocky hills, it is known for its wooden furniture architecture which has a great attraction in all over the world.

Chiniot city lies on left bank of the Chenab River inside the small rocky hills, giving a tourism sight and a great attraction for tourists. It is located at the point where Faisalabad-Sargodha road and Lahore-Jhang road meet up each other. It is 158 kilometers in the north-west from Lahore and 38 kilometers in North of Faisalabad. Chiniot city is spread over an area of 10 square kilometers with an average elevation of 179 meters (587 ft.).

District Chiniot has a population of around 1.5 million approximately and has an area of 650891 acres. River Chenab falls 75 k.m in the limits of District Chiniot beginning from Pindi Bhatian to boundary of District Jhang. There are 360 villages/Chaks in this District. The flood in District Chiniot is normal figure of the river Chenab caused mainly by heavy rainfalls in the upper catchment during the moon soon July to September.

Soil:

It contains fertile soil mostly useful for large scale production of wheat, rice. It has become the hub of trade, commerce and education. There are Primary and middle school for boys and girls at government level.

Rainfall :

The rainy season starts in July and ends in September. Annual averageprecipitation in both the district Jhang & Chiniot is 372.3 milimeters (Pakistan Meteorological Department Karachi 1961-90). More rains occur in July and August than any other months. Most of the winter rains are received in the months of January, February and March.

Vegetation cover and trees:

The district's trees consist of jand (Prosopis spicigera), karir (Capparis aphylla), beri (Zizyphus jujuba), van (Salvadora oleoides), kikar (Acacia nilotica), shisham (Dalbergia sissoo) and aak (Calotropois spp). Various herbs can also be found, including harmal, akrey and bathoo.

Map of District Chiniot:

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Figure 1.1 Map of district chiniot

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiniot

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