RURAL Strategies for Flood Resilience: Analysis of Community Actions in Narayani River Basin, Nepal

In the context of Nepal, the most devastating disaster is flood in terms of the number
of human causalities, livestock, livelihoods losses and damages. There are structural, soft
structural, and nonstructural methods to reduce flood risks. In addition to these methods, there
are also community actions being used for several years in the rural communities to mitigate,
respond, and recover from the impacts of floods. The main objective of the research is to present
an analysis of such community actions in the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) cycle, livelihood
capitals, and Early Warning System (EWS) and then to summarize the conclusion. Accordingly,
research was carried out in two communities, Kudiya and Paklihawa of Narayani river basin at
Susta Rural Municipality, Nawalparashi-west, Nepal. The paper illustrates overall rural strategies
adopted by community people to cope, withstand, and recover from the impacts of flood. The paper
also includes an effective and efficient holistic approach to explain community-level empirical
evidence. The paper illustrates the overall findings about community actions contributing to
flooding resilience and these empirical evidences are found relevant, realistic, practical, and
durable solutions in reducing the flood risks in the rural context of Nepal.