In view of increasing cyclonic activity in the Indian Ocean, nations in southern Africa should prepare well for flood-related disasters. This paper critically examined the level of preparedness of ...the government of Zimbabwe to cyclonic disasters using the country’s three most disastrous cyclones during the past two decades: (a) Cyclone Eline of 2000, (b) Cyclone Dineo of 2017 and (c) Cyclone Idai of 2019. In-depth qualitative interviews, post-disaster lessons learned workshops and a review of disaster policies provided data on five key preparedness measures: (a) prepositioning of resources, (b) early warnings, (c) evacuation, (d) citizen participation and (e) effective response. The findings demonstrate that the government of Zimbabwe remains in the disaster-response-disaster cycle instead of a proactive preventive approach to cyclones. Limited financial and material resources constrain effective preparedness to disasters. These problems stem from a weak legislation governing disaster risk reduction. This study therefore proposes five-policy implications for effective disaster preparedness.
Flood preparedness involves building capacities that enable minimising losses through effective response and recovery. While there are many preparedness assessments at household and community level, ...very few have been conducted at institutional level. This study assessed the households' perspectives of the preparedness of civil protection institutions in Zimbabwe during the 2014 Tokwe‐Mukorsi flood disaster and identified the capacity building needs of the civil protection institutions. It used a 5‐point Likert scale to measure six preparedness indicators: emergency plans, early warning systems, evacuation, resources, disaster knowledge, and relocation camp management. Data came from a cross‐sectional survey involving 656 household‐heads who were randomly selected among the affected villagers of Tokwe‐Mukorsi. The findings revealed various gaps in preparedness both at indicator and at variable level. While some indicators showed incipient levels of development in all their variables, others had a combination of low and developed variables. The preparedness elements that critically need immediate attention include the development of emergency plans, evacuation of populations at risk and the prepositioning of resources. However, it is pertinent to mention that civil protection systems in Zimbabwe need to strengthen most of their preparedness elements. As such, this study recommends strengthening preparedness activities in civil protection systems.
Disasters result from complex interactions of hazards and vulnerability conditions. Reducing human exposure and sensitivity to threats can reduce disaster impact. Prior knowledge about community ...vulnerability levels is crucial to minimizing potential losses from future threats. Most vulnerability studies focus on high-impact disasters and their temporal and spatial analyses. Yet high-frequency, low-impact disasters have a cumulative potential to severely disrupt or damage socioeconomic systems. There is limited knowledge especially in the global south about the creation of vulnerability to hydrometeorological threats. Using a systems approach, this study explores ways in which communities in the northern semiarid tropics of Zimbabwe are vulnerable to hydrometeorological threats. This predominantly qualitative study used literature review, interviews, transect walks, and focus groups to gather data from selected samples involving smallholder farmers with in-depth knowledge about community vulnerability. The results show that the communities are vulnerable to multiple hydrometeorological threats due to multiple interacting factors including rainfed and flood-based farming, land tenure, topography, climate, and other socioeconomic conditions such as inadequate income sources and high poverty. In order to reduce vulnerability, this study provides five policy options for government and nongovernmental organization interventions, including the need to transform rural economies beyond the traditional rainfed and flood-based farming systems.
•Unpacking social vulnerability hidden in dynamic context is possible.•The principal component analysis helps identify hidden social vulnerability.•Proposes novel social vulnerability index to floods ...hazards.•Outlines policy implications for disaster risk reduction decision-makers.
Understanding the complexity of vulnerability to disasters, including those triggered by floods, droughts and epidemics is at the heart of disaster risk reduction. Despite its importance in disaster risk reduction, there remains a paucity of approaches that contribute to our understanding of social vulnerability that is hidden in dynamic contextual conditions. The study demonstrates an accessible means to assessing the spatial variation of social vulnerability to flood hazards and related for the context of Muzarabani district in northeast Zimbabwe. The study facilitated local identification with residents of variables contributing to social vulnerability and used the principal component analysis (PCA) technique to develop a social vulnerability index (SoVI). Using ArcMap10.2 geographic information systems (GIS) tool, the study mapped composite SoVI at the ward level. The results showed that Muzarabani district is socially vulnerable to hazards. The social vulnerability is influenced by a variety of economic, social and institutional factors that vary across the wards. Quantifying and visualising social vulnerability in Muzarabani provides useful information for decision makers to support disaster preparedness and mitigation programmes. The approach shows how spatially distributed multivariate vulnerability, as grounded in interpretations at local level, can be quantitatively derived for contexts such as those of Muzarabani. The study findings can inform disaster risk reduction communities and cognate disciplines on quantitative assessments for managing hazard vulnerability where these have hitherto not been developed.
Many rural communities that depend on smallholder farming face food insecurity induced by climate-related disasters. In response, some communities are taking the initiative to cope and adapt to ...climate-related disasters. Using case study material from the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, this article examines how traditional institutions are enhancing resilience to food insecurity in rural areas. The data were collected through interviews and focus groups involving traditional leaders, ward councillors, village civil protection members and villagers selected in the valley. The findings point to how the Zunde raMambo informal safety net, nhimbe form of collective work and the practice of share-rearing arrangement to access draught power help save lives and alleviate food insecurity induced by flood or drought disasters. The study concludes that the three schemes are evidence of community reorganisation or change in response to food insecurity. They are a form of absorptive capacities enabling the community to cope with food insecurity.
Flood risk studies remain focused on understanding causation, impacts, perceptions and coping and adaptation measures and there remain many inappropriate measures taken to reduce household risk. ...Through a case study approach, this study assessed rural household vulnerability to flooding which helped to determine the level of risk to flood hazards in Mbire District of Zimbabwe. Three hundred and thirty-five (335) households were randomly selected to participate in the survey. The composite index approach was used to calculate vulnerability and risk indices. Results indicated that more than 70% of the households were highly vulnerable to flooding and about 50% were in the medium to very high categories of flood risk. Household vulnerability was not only a question of the natural flood event, but a result of the intersection of poor socio-economic conditions and the physical exposure to floods. The socio-economic determinants of vulnerability included high levels of unemployment resulting in low income and poverty; low levels of education; and over-dependence of the community on rain-fed smallholder farming. Physical exposure of the community mainly resulted from materials used to construct houses. Pole and dagga houses had a higher degree of exposure compared to houses with bricks and cement. Therefore, we recommend that instead of focusing on the whole ward/district the institutional services should first target the most vulnerable and at risk households in order to increase their capacity in dealing with flood hazards.
Disasters result from the interactions of hazards and vulnerability conditions. Considering the perspectives of survivors of a disaster event is critical for reducing the progression of vulnerability ...conditions. The Mbire community in Zimbabwe is facing increasing threats from recurring high- and low-magnitude floods that manifest themselves in the disruption of livelihoods and destruction of crops and infrastructure. This study, therefore, explored the perspectives of flood survivors on vulnerability to floods and examined their vulnerability-reduction measures. Using an interpretivist approach to knowledge generation, a sample of 51 research participants provided data through interviews, a focus group discussion and field observations. Results showed that shortage of land, flood-based farming practices, poverty and climate change, amongst others, are the key drivers of the smallholder farmers' vulnerability to floods. The most affected groups of people include women, children and the elderly. To reduce their vulnerability, the smallholder farmers mainly rely on traditional flood-proofed structures built on stilts, dual home system and indigenous flood forecasting. The study proposes six policy implications to reduce vulnerability to floods. These include diversifying rural livelihoods beyond the farming sector, investment in irrigation infrastructure, increasing access to financial resources, constructing human settlements away from floodplains, enforcing environmental laws regarding flood-based farming and community education on the long-term negative impacts of recession farming. The implementation of these policy recommendations can contribute to community resilience to flood disasters.
Tropical cyclones are among the costliest disasters in the world, with reported losses amounting to billions of US dollars on an annual basis. To reduce the impact of disasters including cyclones, ...Zimbabwe signed the Sendai Framework whose Target C is aimed at reducing the direct economic losses of disasters. Under the direction of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), an open-ended intergovernmental expert working group (OIEWG) developed a simple methodology for estimating direct disaster-economic loss. Therefore, this study tested the applicability of the OIEWG methodology in assessing the direct economic losses induced by Tropical Cyclone Idai (TCI) in Zimbabwe. The results revealed that TCI inflicted huge losses in most sectors of the economy, notably the housing, agriculture and the critical infrastructure. The sectoral analysis approach of the OIEWG methodology worked well in distinguishing direct and indirect loses as well as in underlining the need to adopt and effectively implement adequate risk reduction strategies in the built environment. Strengthening such strategies such as the ‘build back better’ principle, cyclone forecasting and warning systems and constructing cyclone-resilient infrastructure is critical in order to minimise direct losses attributed to cyclones.
Floods are one of the most devastating weather‐related hazards that are affecting millions of people over the world every year. In some poor resource areas such as Mbire District in Zimbabwe, the ...floods are difficult to anticipate and prepare for. Hence the need for spatial modelling of the past flood events for effective response and management. This study modelled the flood extent and depth based on data from household surveys, transect walks and a digital elevation model (DEM). A sample of 304 households was used, with 70% for calibration and 30% for validation of the flood extent. Twenty‐four flood depth measurements obtained from transect walks were used to validate the modelled flood depths based on a linear regression model. The flood depth of the worst most recent flood (January 2015) at each household was combined with altitude from the DEM using the sum function, and the inverse distance weighting was applied to model the worst flood depth. The flood extent was considered as those areas where flood depth was higher than the DEM. Approximately 24% of the area was covered by floods. The modelled flood extent agreed reasonably well with what was reported during the survey (probability of detection 0.93 and accuracy level about 0.8). Most of the areas in the wards experienced flood depths greater than 2 m, especially along the major rivers. Such areas are dangerous for people, animals and properties such as boreholes, houses, schools and clinics located on the floodplain. These results can be used for planning purposes in preparing and responding to stages of the flood management cycle. However, there is a need for further research to improve the performance and applicability of the methodology applied in this study in other settings.
This study highlights the need and application of easy to use models in flood risk mapping especially in poor data or ungauged areas/basins for preparedness and response to floods. The model proposed in this study is based on data from household survey, transect walks and digital elevation model (DEM). The modelled flood extent agreed reasonably well with what was reported during the survey.
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