Flood disaster preparedness & emergency response by stakeholders inlower Nyando Basin, Kisumu County, Kenya

The capacity to withstand flood disasters depends on strong disaster preparedness planning by stakeholders, a strong network and the resident’s resilience and ability to bounce back to normal after a disaster.This paper focuses on flood disaster preparedness and emergency response among stakeholders in the flood prone area of Lower Nyando basin, Kisumu County, Kenya. The study targeted heads of households, Govt. officials, heads of NGOs, FBOs, as well as CBOs. The research adopted both correlational and survey research designs. Simple random technique was used to select 384 household heads.Purposive sampling was used to select key informants. Both primary and secondary data were sourced using questionnaires, interviews, FGDs; direct observation and document analysis. The study established that most of the sampled household heads 149 (38.8%) were prepared for floods. In addition,133 (34.6%) of the respondents were of the view that the community was fairly adequately prepared for future floods. A paltry 46 (12.0%) were of the opinion that the community was not adequately prepared.The results revealed that 143 (37.2%) of the respondents were not sure whether the Government was prepared for future floods while 125 (32.5%) were of the view that the Government was not adequately prepared.From the results, 82 (21.4%) of respondents indicated that NGO support was very adequate while 22 (5.7%) indicated that it was adequate. The FGD, participants highlighted the community’s strength in lending a helping hand to friends as adequate. A total number of 167 (43.5%) respondents indicated that there was no support at all from FBOs. This shows that FBOs were not active in offering support during floods probably because the required assistance was too heavy for them. Timeliest support was usually obtained from relatives (82.3%), NGOs (72.4%), friends (66.7%) and neighbors (62.0%).From the findings it is evident that the residents of lower Nyando basin were not passive observers of the risks associated with flooding in particular. They were trying their best to adapt to the situation at household as well as community level. The key finding was that readiness strategies largely depended on individual household efforts. The study concludes that weak systems and poor Government coordination can hamper preparedness and response capacities.The research recommends prioritizing multi-sectoral collaborationapproach to flood preparedness to prevent and respond to disaster as opposed to single sector.