Assessment of adaptation strategies to flooding: A comparative study between informal settlements of Keko Machungwa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Sangkrah in Surakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

A large number of informal settlements in developing countries are located in high risk areas(low-lying lands and on river banks). This situation is caused by poverty and the inabilityof authorities to supply planned plots for building to meet demands of the growing urbanpopulations. Informal settlements have, in turn, triggered disaster risks, flooding being just oneof them. As a way of reducing impacts of flooding, residents in informal settlements have resortedto the use of structural adaptation strategies. Despite these efforts, the vulnerability of peopleand properties in informal settlements is increasing. This article aimed to provide an answer as towhy this is the case, by assessing and comparing the technical suitability of adaptation strategiesto flooding in the informal settlements of Sangkrah and Keko Machungwa and recommendingmeasures for improvement. Household interviews, physical observation (visual inspections ofsigns of damage and deterioration), measurements of height of physical adaptation strategies,mapping, photographing, and in-depth interviews were the key methods employed. Generally,in both cases, it was determined that flood mitigation and risk minimisation measures throughstructural adaptation strategies were hardly achieved at the household level, as adaptationstrategies were constructed with little or no attention to acceptable technical considerations.However, when levels of compliance to technical considerations in the construction of houseswere compared between the two cases, they were found to be slightly higher in Sangkrah thanin Keko Machungwa. Residents in Sangkrah demonstrated a slight difference, especially in theuse of reinforced concrete (4.3%) for constructing a building’s foundation, as well as in the useof ceramics (72.9%) to construct the floor. In order to deliver technically suitable adaptationstrategies, efforts need to be directed toward: regulating and controlling the construction ofstructures for adaptation, enhancing individual coping capacity, deployment of a workforcetrained in disaster risk and management and enforcement of relevant urban planning andenvironmental management laws in managing risky areas.