Post-Flood Disaster Management Challenges and Issues in the Bulathsinghala Divisional Secretariat Division, Sri Lanka: A Comprehensive Analysis and Strategic Framework for Resilience and Recovery

Abstract

Floods are frequently documented as severe catastrophic meteorological phenomena across the globe. In the context of Sri Lanka, floods constitute a significant natural calamity, predominantly occurring during the South-West and North-East monsoon seasons. A comprehensive investigation on the pre, during, and post-flood responses of the Bulathsinhala DSD area has not been conducted to date. The primary aim of this study is to identify the problems and obstacles pertaining to the management of urban flood hazards, and to propose an appropriate framework to enhance the existing flood hazard roadmap. The research methodology focused on the Bulathsinhala DS Division. Within this methodology, two GN divisions were selected using the judgment sampling technique from the thirteen GN divisions in the Bulathsinhala DSD area, for the sake of convenience in the study. Furthermore, the snowball sampling technique was employed to select 60% of the households affected by the 2019 flood in the aforementioned two GN divisions, for the purpose of primary data collection. The collected data, which was of the Likert scale type and aligned with the conceptual framework, was analyzed using the one sample t-test. This analysis revealed that more than 65% of the selected variables had a negative impact on the issues and challenges of urban flood hazard management. The findings of this research indicate that the evacuation and emergency response mechanisms in relation to the 2019 flood hazard were only effective in the short term. Various issues and challenges still persist in terms of finding long-term solutions. Multiple constraints related to existing regulations, institutional cooperation, resource availability, government involvement, and public attitude are evident, particularly during the preparedness, rehabilitation, and mitigation phases. Consequently, this paper recommends the implementation of far-sighted policies to overcome such issues and challenges.