Community Perception Study on the Impact of Shebelle River Floods on Livelihoods in Baled Wayne District, Hirsh Belle State in Somalia
Abstract
This study looked at community perception on the impacts of Shebelle River floods on
livelihoods in Baled Weyne District in Somalia. There is minimal research on the extent of the
effects of Shebelle River flooding on community development in Baled Wayne hence this
research sought to investigate more on the extent of these. The objectives of the study were as
follows: to study into the causes of River flooding in Baledweyne district, to understand how
river floods affect the socio-economic state of the residents and to investigate the coping
mechanisms practiced by the local people around Baledweyne district during floods. A sample
size of 397 respondents was extracted from a population of 55,410 using Sample Size
Calculations for Slovene’s formula, and data was collected using the descriptive research design
from 397 respondents through the use of self-administered questionnaires data collection
instrument. The data was analyzed using graphs and pie charts, aided by the Statistical Package
for Social Sciences version 20 and data was presented using tables.
The findings of this study showed that the heavy rains that come from high land of Ethiopia, lack
of control structures of river banks and deforestation causes of Shebelle River flood in Baled
weyne. The respondents indicated that the flooding of river Shebelle causes loss of lives, damage
of infrastructure, increase of mass migration and a decrease in farm productivity.
.Each year, rains are predicted for April – June with potential flood risks in Beled weyne,
Hirshabelle among other areas in the country. In order to mitigate this upcoming disaster, the
following recommendations such as flood water diversion, Preparation before flood coming and
Re-establishing River Management Authority.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: