Flood disaster vulnerability in informal settlements in Bursa, Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey, as in many other nations, there have been many urban flood disasters in recent years, and the greatest impact has often been on informal settlements. This paper reports on interviews with households who were affected by two floods in 2010 in two settlements in Bursa. Interviewees discussed why they lived there, the main problems they experienced, the factors that increased flood damage, the measures they took after the floods to minimize future flood impacts, the costs they incurred and where responsibility for disaster mitigation/preparedness lay. The conclusions emphasize the need for far more attention to disaster risk reduction and to working with low-income communities to identify how best such disaster risk reduction can be planned and implemented.