Flood Disasters and Land Use Planning in Swat Valley, Eastern Hindu Kush

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the fl ood disasters and effectiveness of land use planning and enforcement in Swat Valley, eastern Hindu Kush, north Pakistan. In Swat Valley, fl ooding is a recurrently occurring phenomenon. In upper reaches fl ash fl ood characteristics dominate, while downstream Madyan river fl ooding dominates the scene. Downstream Madyan, Swat River enters into a wide basin and braided into numerous channels. The meandering river is frequently changing its course. In Swat Valley, almost every year in summer, the peak discharge overfl ows the natural levees and in effect causes damages to scarce agricultural land, housing, and other sectors. While in certain areas, deep riverbank erosion is very active and engulfi ng the farmland and built-up areas. Primarily, the active fl oodplain of Swat River was a vast grazing land, but with passage of time, the increasing population has used it for cultivation and other developments without taking into consideration risk of fl oods. This in turn has enhanced the fl ood vulnerability to various developments. For centuries people lived within the valley of Swat River with the reality of fl ood-ing as a natural hazard and with the fact that it has a potential to cause damages to people and their belongings, but so for no attention has been given to land use regulation and zoning. Land use regulations have been widely used as a non-structural fl ood mitigation strategy in reducing exposure of people and their property. It was found from the analysis that frequent human encroachments onto the fl ood channel and absence of land use regulations have been identifi ed as the major factors responsible for heavy fl ood losses. Looking into potential and challenges in land use planning , this is high time to undertake fl uvial morphology and rainfall-runoff model for fl ood risk assessment and spatial land use planning.