Impacts of flood hazard and coping strategies: a case study of Jagatpur village development committee in Chitwan district, Nepal

The major focus of the study is to examine the coping strategy of local people and explore the alternative flood related livelihood strategies through a case study from Nepal. Jagatpur Village Development Committee (VDC) of Chitwan district, which is located in the Central Eastern region of Chitwan, is one of the most vulnerable areas in the region to floods. The effect of the flood of 2002 on the VDC was so serious, that it even caught the media attention with huge and highlighted headlines. Many people became homeless and poor overnight. It is found that economic conditions of the people living in Jagatpur village ward number 1 and 2 have changed in very short period. The self sufficient families also became food deficit. At present the affected households are trying to cope with the situation on the survival level, and they are trying to come out of this to a more sustainable livelihood conditions by employing different coping strategies.