Household vulnerability and adaptation to floods: a comparative study of rural and urban Ghana.
| dc.contributor.author | Abass, Kabila | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-19T09:38:37Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-03-19T09:38:37Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-10 | |
| dc.description | A thesis submitted to the Department of Geography and Rural Development, College of Humanities and Social Sciences in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy | |
| dc.description.abstract | The study examined household vulnerability and adaptation to floods involving a comparative study of rural Central Gonja and Kumasi Metropolis using an adapted MOVE (Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability Assessment in Europe) analytical framework. It employed a concurrent triangulation mixed method design of quantitative and qualitative methods, using both primary and secondary sources of data. A survey of eight communities each from Kumasi Metropolis and rural Central Gonja involving 367 and 400 households respectively were undertaken. Different methods involving one-on-one in-depth interview, focus group discussions and direct observation, were used to collect primary data from households and key informants. Data from household survey was analysed using appropriate statistical tools in IBM SPSS (Version 21) and Microsoft Excel 2010 for household quantitative data and NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software for the qualitative data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, including percentages, Pearson‘s Chi-square and logistic regression were used for analysing the quantitative data while the qualitative data has been presented mainly as direct quotations. Satellite images were analysed using ERDAS imagine 13 remote sensing and ArcGIS 10.2 geo-information software. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) of the study districts were used to show the relief of the study areas from which the stream networks were derived. The MAKESENS and time series plots were used to detect the monotonic trend of the rainfall data with data analysed using the Mann-Kendall test (Z) and Sen‘s slope (Q) tests. The study found that anthropogenic factors rather than physical-environmental factors are responsible for the past cases of floods in both rural Central Gonja and Kumasi Metropolis urban. The rural households were more vulnerable to floods than the urban households in respect of all the indicators and criteria used for vulnerability assessment. From economic and health effects point of view, a higher proportion of the rural populations suffered negatively than their urban counterparts. The non-structural measures of adapting to floods were limited. Over-reliance on the structural defence mechanisms has not helped to mitigate the sufferings of the rural and urban flood-prone communities. Institutional interventions in flood risk mitigation have not been effective due to mainly financial constraints. It is recommended that there should be sustained public education, institutional strengthening and enforcement of land use regulations as enshrined in the Land use and Spatial Planning Act (Act 925). | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | KNUST | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/17672 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | KNUST | |
| dc.title | Household vulnerability and adaptation to floods: a comparative study of rural and urban Ghana. | |
| dc.type | Thesis |