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I. ENVIRONMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF FLOOD IMPACTS
[ I-A | I-B
| I-C | I-D | I-E
]
E. Effects of floods on social and economic conditions
[ E-1 | E-2
| E-3 | E-4 | E-5
]
2. Monetary value of damages due to river floods
The monetary value of flood damage has been estimated by multiplying physical
units with average estimated unit values for the respective years at constant
1985 prices (Figure 3). From the figure it is observed that during 1987,
1988 and 1995, flood damages in value terms were quite significant and
in all other years the damages were nominal. In 1987, the estimated total
value of damage was US$ 450.55 million, a figure which in 1988 rose to
US$ 774.68 million. Total damage during 1995 was US$ 529.81 million. It
may be noted that the estimated values of flood damage do not represent
the whole damage to the economy since due to non-availability of data,
some of the damages (such as to transport, electricity etc.) have been
omitted. The effect of flood damage is highly visible in the rural economy
as agriculture and rural infrastructure suffer most.
Figure 3. Time series plot of flood damages in monetary units
It is evident from Figure 3 that the percentage of non-crop flood damage
is much higher than crop damage. In 1988, damage to crops was 21 per cent
of total damage, while damage to dwellings was 41 per cent, damage to roads,
bridges and embankments was 26 per cent, and damage to livestock was 0.06
per cent. Thus, the effect on physical stock of capital has a stronger
impact on the economic base of the country. Moreover, the investment required
to recover capital losses also retards the pace of economic growth. Although
some of the flood losses are recovered (mostly in agriculture), the government
still has to undertake reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes of
significant proportion. In 1988-89, the total development expenditure for
flood control and water resources sector
was US$ 241.54 million which was 31.18 per cent of 1988 flood losses and
16.71 per cent of the total development expenditure for that year.
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