Flood Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping in Dadu district and Sehwan city, Sindh

Floods have become increasingly frequent and severe, occurring more often and with greater intensity because of climate change. Pakistan, ranked as the eighth most vulnerable nation to climate change according to the Global Climate Risk Index, has been severely impacted by natural hazards like floods. During floods, vulnerable communities are heavily affected, which causes losses not only to the life of people but livestock, agriculture, infrastructure and socio-economic losses as well. In this study, a GIS-based multi-criteria approach is used to assess flood vulnerability in Dadu district and Sehwan city. The methodology involves Landsat-8 satellite images and data including census, agriculture and rainfall data). With the help of this, we created maps which were further divided into three categories (physical vulnerability, coping capacity and socio-economic vulnerabilities). In total, 14 criteria were selected to develop flood vulnerability maps. These criteria were then weighted with the help of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and supporting AHP criteria were standardized into spatial thematic layers. The results demonstrated that the northeast and southwest areas of Dadu district are highly to very highly vulnerable, the central and northwest parts of Dadu district are moderately to highly vulnerable, and southeast areas are low to moderately vulnerable to floods. With this approach, the outcomes of this study will suggest the most vulnerable areas that need the most attention for disaster preparedness. Our results will help policy makers to make communities more resilient and mitigate upcoming disastrous events.