Title: Identifying Factors that Affect Flood Vulnerability of Informal Sector Businesses in Sri Lanka
Stream: Humanities - Science, Environment and the Humanities
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Authors:
Vindya Hewawasam, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Kenichi Matsui, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Abstract:
Informal businesses play a key role in developing countries by providing more than half of employment and livelihoods. Due to a tendency to be located in sub-optimal lowlands in highly congested urban areas without disaster protection measures, these businesses have suffered some of the worst consequences of floods. In Sri Lanka, informal businesses play a vital role in the economy by arguably representing 96% of establishments although we do not have accurate information about informal businesses yet. The question remains as to what factors contributed to the vulnerability of some businesses whereas some other businesses in the same area appear to cope better. This paper attempts to better understand these factors that affect flood loss and damage to the informal business sector by focusing on business owners’ perceptions and insights. We conducted field observations and a questionnaire survey among 180 small business owners in Colombo and Gampaha districts from February to March 2023. Only 16.7% in Colombo and 12.2% in Gampaha had operated registered/formal businesses. The majority of the respondents had experienced floods after every heavy rain though small businesses in relatively more gentrified areas tended to do better in coping with floods. We also identified that more vulnerable businesses exhibited low disaster risk awareness/preparedness and financial difficulties. These reasons affected their decisions refrain from adopting the National Natural Disaster Insurance Scheme and the flood/disaster insurance. The paper also elaborates on how proximity, flood frequency, business size, business registration status, and government compensation availability affected their flood preparedness and responses.
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