Flood Risk Awareness and Enhancement Strategies among Community Dwellers in Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated flood risk awareness and enhancement strategies among community dwelling adults in Plateau State, Nigeria. Four specific objectives with four corresponding research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted mixed methods approach. The sample size consisted of 810 community-dwelling adults and 23 staff of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in Plateau State. The Flood Risk Awareness Questionnaire (FRAQ), In-depth Interview Guide on Flood Risk Awareness (IDGFRA), and Flood Risk Awareness and Enhancement Strategies Questionnaire (FRAESQ) were used for data collection. Face validity of the two instruments (FRAQ and IDGFRA) were established by seven experts. The reliability coefficients of .96 and .83 were obtained for sections B and C, respectively. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions. Also, the null hypotheses were tested using independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance and appropriate degrees of freedom. The quantitative findings showed that community-dwelling Adults were aware of flood risk to a moderate extent ( X = 2.93, SD = 0.77).There was a significant difference in the extent of flood risk awareness among community-dwelling adults in Plateau State based on age, F(3,785) = 9.335, P = 0.000. The experts considered the enhancement strategies for flood risk awareness among community-dwelling adults appropriate. Based on the study's findings, it was recommended, among others, that flood risk awareness education campaigns should be intensified at the community levels to improve community-dwelling adults' flood risk awareness levels in Plateau State.