RAPID: Immediate Behavioral Response to Flash-Floods in Uttarakhand, North India

University Of North Texas, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this Rapid Response Research (RAPID) proposal is to better understand people's immediate response to the June 16th - 17th, 2013 flash floods in the hilly state of Uttarakhand in North India. This event has claimed over 1,000 lives with over 5,700 still reported missing and presumed dead as of early August. Data will be collected through field observations and semi-structured interviews of over 300 flash flood survivors from six affected villages. The interviews with survivors will examine their traditional knowledge about floods and landslides and actions they take, their understanding of how the environment changes, number of floods they have experienced, their sources of warning, the actions they took prior to evacuating, their emotional state at the time of the flash floods, and their responses related to protecting themselves, their family and friends. The project activities will advance the state of knowledge about people's response to flash floods and provide a foundation for cross-cultural comparisons of flash flood response. This will be extremely significant because there are few studies of flood response and virtually none on flash flood response in developing countries. Adopting questionnaire items from previous surveys used will provide a basis for comparing responses to the Uttarakhand flash floods with responses to other rapid-onset hazards (the Mt. St. Helens mudflows, the Christchurch and Hitachi earthquakes, and the American Samoa earthquake and tsunami). University contacts made in India during the data collection stage will be of value in catalyzing future collaborations for faculty and student exchanges and research endeavors between UNT and Delhi University. The project activities will advance teaching, training, and learning in the US as the project findings will be incorporated into course modules by the PI. Lectures and exercises will be developed in undergraduate and graduate classes such as Special Populations, Sustainability and Emergency Management, Foundations of Emergency Management, Disaster Response Planning and Disaster Research Methods, reflecting the findings and challenges of disaster management in a developing country. This study will also provide field research and data collection experience to five Indian graduate students and data coding, analysis, and publication experience to a doctoral student at UNT.