Socio-Economic Damages of Floods in India: (1953-2011)

Abstract

Natural disasters, especially floods after 1950's, are raising the social and economic losses in India. The most severe hazard in India is flooding induced by summer Monsoons. In comparison of other rivers of the world India have the high discharge of water per unit area in a short time of Monsoon months (June to September). Rapid urbanization without proper land uses managements usually worsens the flood problems. It has been found that flood affected population in the country is increasing with a slope of 0.31 million people per year. A total of 97551 human lives were lost and Rs. 2131.14 billion with an average of Rs. 36.12 billion per year of economy have been reported damage due to floods during 1953-2011. These findings sustain the common belief that the flood and related damages are with time increasing in the country. In this study an effort made to highlight the different type of socio-economic damages, so that a strategy may be formulated to solve the flood problems in India.