'Now it all seems like a Dream': Four years into the 2018 Kerala Floods through local memories and experiences

Abstract

The August 2018 floods in Kerala, India, were one of the worst in history, with over 400 people losing their lives and over a million displaced. Kuttanad in the Alappuzha district of the State was one of the worst affected regions during the floods. Kuttanad is a biogeographic region that embraces a network of backwaters, lakes, canals, and rivers, with a significant part lying 1.2 - 3 m below sea level. Besides the unique geography, the socioeconomic complexity also makes the landscape, including new dynamics in agricultural activity and a number of major infrastructure developments over the last years. However, so far, Indian disaster research has typically viewed the recurring floods in the region as external, objective causes, ignoring such population dynamics and infrastructure developments as well as the routine and resilience which local communities have developed in dealing with the floods in particular ways.

In contrast to this, based on an ethnographic study conducted in Kuttanad four years after the devastating 2018 flood, this presentation will illustrate the experiences of affected residents at the crossroads between floods as part of their everyday lives and the flood as a disastrous threat. Thereby, we will explore different perspectives and factors in memories and retrospection to assess the current negotiation of living with floods, including risk perception and people’s vulnerability. It argues that a critical reflection on the experience of a past disaster event is vital to improving current and future preparedness. Most importantly, it means that survivors’ perspectives, local conditions, and experiential knowledge should be given more significant consideration in political negotiations and decision-making processes about disaster relief and recovery.