Flood Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategy - Taunsa Barrage Wildlife Sanctuary, Kot Mithan - Chachran, Indus Dolphin Reserve

Flood risk management comprises two phases; the first deals with risk analysis and assessment while the second considers risk prevention and mitigation. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) based multi-thematic scenario is developed, risk extent and quantity were calculated at multiple levels. Taunsa Barrage Wildlife Sanctuary was selected as study area. Assets at risk were estimated in numbers showing annual average damage per unit area and coverage maps show their distribution pattern. Risk zonation layers were also developed to estimate the risk extent in terms of high, medium, and low risk. Population data were acquired and analyzed to find out inhabitants at different risk categories. Similarly, erosion and accretion layers were extracted from temporal land cover/land use datasets to analyze environmental risk. Results of flood inundation were utilized for flood depth analysis. During the 2010 Flood, almost 4200 small and large villages/towns were inundated. Out of 4,200, approximately 1,750 villages/towns are on the right bank and the remaining 2,450 are on the left bank which highlights high economic and financial risk. However, all methods chosen here to estimate the different risk criteria (inundation modeling as well as damage evaluation) are approximate approaches but develop a strong foundation for decision-makers.