FLOOD HAZARD ASSESSMENT USING PARTICIPATORY APPROACH AND WEIGHTED OVERLAY METHODS

Abstract. Unexpected growth of population and urbanization eventually leads towards disasters, might be natural or manmade for instance climate change, the rise in sea level, pollution, landslides, floods, etc. Subsequently, floods are the worst effects of agricultural revolution and comes up as a potential most natural hazard in the world. It couldn’t be stopped but the adverse impact can be minimized through structural and non-structural measures. Flood hazard mapping have a vital role and is an essential element of land use and pre-disaster planning. Moreover, the Earth Observation (EO) data can help to prepare the updated flood hazard maps by distant viewing. Pakistan have one of the greatest irrigation systems of the world and is the sixth largest populous country. However, having such a huge irrigation system is also a threat to overflow in heavy rains. The monsoon season in 2010, the unexpected heavy rainfall caused a massive flood which ultimately destroyed the agriculture, infrastructure in several districts all over the country. District Charsadda was affected severely by both riverine floods and flash floods in 2010. Furthermore, the floodplains of district is occupied by dense population showing the immense need to assess hazard zones to avoid additional losses. In this case study for the catchment area of River Kabul and River Swat, Charsadda, the flood hazard was identified using participatory approach and weighted overlay method. Results depict that more than 80% of the area was inundated during 2010 devastating flood in the UC Agra.