TITLE:
Assessment of People’s Awareness and Perception of Flooding in Donga Town, Taraba State, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Kehinde T. Oyatayo, Godwin A. Songu, Timothy A. Adi, Godwill G. Jidauna, Christopher Ndabula
KEYWORDS:
Perception, Awareness, Flooding, Preparedness, Town
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
12,
2016
ABSTRACT: Flooding
is now an annual occurring event in Donga Town especially after heavy rainstorm
which is further worsened by the nature of the topography of the area. The
knowledge of how the public view flooding is considered a crucial aspect in
modern flood management as it steers the development of effective and efficient
flood mitigation strategies. This study therefore assessed public perception of
flooding in Donga town. Two wards were purposively drawn out of ten wards (Gata
Aure and Fada ward). The survey design method was employed in this study.
Yamane (1967) method of sample size determination was used to arrive at a
sample size of 130 for the study. Systematic random sampling was used in the
administration of 130 questionnaires to respondents. Non parametric statistics
of Spear Man rank correlation and descriptive statistics (percentages, tables,
pie and bar charts) were used to analyze the data. The result of the findings
showed that 95% of the respondents were male, 88.4% of the respondents were
aware that the area was prone to flooding. Also, about 46.2% perceived that
rainfall was the major cause of flooding in the study area. Correlation
analysis result was insignificant which implied that in Donga town, educational
level of respondents did not influence respondent’s awareness level of flooding
and that people’s perception of flooding was influenced by factors other than
respondent’s literacy level. The conclusion from the study is that rainfall
intensity and amount is the main cause of flooding in Donga town and also
individual’s response to flooding in the study area is poor. This study
recommends the need to educate the people living in the flood plain on the
dangers of continuous occupation of the area.