Vulnerability of flood prone communities in the lower reaches of Shilai river- Ghatal block, Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India

Climate change, an alteration in the state of the climate can be identified by changes in the mean state and/or the variability of its properties and it persists for an extended period of time. Climate change occurs may be due to natural internal processes or external forces. Specifically, local outcomes of climate change are uncertain in the form of frequency, intensity, spatial extent or duration of weather. Climate extremes like heavy precipitation events increase vulnerability and will ultimately lead to increased stress on human and natural systems and a propensity for serious adverse effects in many places around the world. The main topic of concern in this research paper is the changes in extremes of atmospheric weather and climate variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation), large-scale phenomena that are related to these extremes (viz. change in monsoon character) and collateral effects on the physical environment (e.g. floods etc) and human susceptibility. The study area is the Ghatal block located at the lower reaches of Shilai River catchment and administratively is located within Ghatal subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district of the state of West Bengal. As Ghatal block falls within the Micro-watershed of Shilai River, therefore from the hydrologic point of view, the effect of overland flow rather than the effect of the channel flow is a dominating factor as the channel storage capacity of small watersheds is limited. Moreover a small watershed is very sensitive to high intensity rainfalls of short durations and to land use-changes. The area is very much prone to flood and sediment damage also. The river banks are high and the river itself is narrow here. In winter, waterfalls very low and is further reduced towards its end by being taken –off for irrigating the spring crops. But in Monsoon the river becomes extremely vulnerable and therefore flooding a huge areal extent. This flooding, through the passage of time is subjected to get affected by climatic variations and they inundate all the low lying areas within the block for a longer period of time during monsoon, which affects the agricultural practices and even to human livelihood pattern. The study will focus on the socio-economic conditions of the local people and ways and methods adopted by them to cope with this vulnerability and their adaptability. It will also focus on the developmental plans taken up by the government and proposal of preparing a framework on flood risk-management plans to combat such increasingly adverse environmental conditions.