Abstract:
Flood is one of the most common natural disasters affecting Nepal. The principal and most destructive type of flooding is from rivers including monsoon and flash flooding from heavy rainfall in mountainous areas. On an average, floods cause over 175 deaths each year and average annual economic losses exceeding $ 140 million. The government of Nepal and other stakeholders (NGO, INGO, UN and private sectors) have put their efforts to reduce the losses of life and livelihoods and strengthen disaster resilience.There are several disaster risk reduction and management acts, policies, plans, directives,approaches and frameworks with remarkable progresses made for reducing disaster risks in Nepal. This paper is mainly focused on assessing common flood resilience frameworks used in Nepal. The general objective of the paper is to review and reflect on the flood resilience frameworks in Nepal and its implications in the development practices.Accordingly, it is based on the study that entailed an in-depth review of the published documents and disaster risk reduction framework, approaches and water induced policies of the government of Nepal and subsequent field data collection. The primary data were collected from six key informant interviews and eight focus group discussions in three communities of Saptari district and three communities in Nawalparasi-west district in Nepal.Four cases as the framework and approach were reviewed and primary data generated were verified. Sendai Framework and nine minimum characteristics for disaster risk management are found useful frameworks, however these are general frameworks and do not cover all the aspects of the floods. Six pillars of flood resilient community framework are found dedicated to the flooding, but this framework also needs to be further validated through government and multi-stakeholders’ consultation. The paper highlights that below discussed and reviewed frameworks and approaches are beneficial and useful for flood risk management, however, there is need of assigned government authority to monitor, review- reflect, coordination, communication and reporting for further improvements in the flood risk management in Nepal. A flood risk reduction and management framework are necessary to address the needs of flood prone municipalities and communities in Nepal.
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