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Flood hazard mapping in Urban Council limit, Vavuniya District, Sri Lanka- A GIS approach

Author Affiliations

  • 1Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
  • 2Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Int. Res. J. Environment Sci., Volume 5, Issue (9), Pages 27-31, September,22 (2016)

Abstract

Several areas in the Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) are being experienced to inundate during every rainy seasons frequently, thus it is crucial to assess the flooding incidents in this area in order to derive the proper planning and policies to overcome the impacts this hazard. The objectives of this study were to analyze the flood prone areas and to produce flood hazard index map of the Vavuniya district in a GIS platform. The study area is Vavuniya UC which consists 11 GN divisions. Required secondary data were collected from the Vavuniya UC, meteorological department and disaster management centre of Sri Lanka. Flood hazard map was produced by using flood incidents, population density, flood prone areas in percentage and distance from river as variables. Knowledge based ranking system was exploited to produce flood hazard index. Each variable was assigned equal weights. The developed flood hazard map revealed that 2 GN divisions out of 11 in safer zone. While 9 GN divisions were in threat zone. In this context it is critical to develop appropriate preventive strategies in the flood prone zone to protect the people from potential disaster threat.

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