Applying systems thinking to flood disaster management for a sustainable development

Junaid Rehman, Osama Sohaib, Mohammad Asif, Biswajeet Pradhan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The rapid urbanization and environmental imbalance have significantly challenged Pakistan's organizational capacity to respond and initiate relief efforts and hence increasing its vulnerability to flood disaster situations. This study considers systems thinking approaches such as, Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) and Driver-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework to identify key stakeholders to disaster risk reduction and analyze various social, technical, institutional, cultural, infrastructural and environmental factors that contribute to flooding in Pakistan. Based on the information collected through expert interviews with key government officials and analyzing the existing literature and research reports on floods and disaster management, policy recommendations for long-term flood disaster response strategies have been made. The comprehensive set of recommendations towards effective flood management and mitigation would help build resilience from floods by raising community awareness and enhancing institutional capacities at federal, provincial and district government levels in the countries like Pakistan and other developing nations facing catastrophic flood situations.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101101
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Volume36
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Disaster management
  • Disaster risk reduction
  • Pakistan
  • Risk management
  • System thinking

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