I am afraid if we can prevent ...

I am afraid if we can prevent flooding, but we can mitigate it and recover from the disaster by being prepared. As this is a natural phenomena, nature surprises us in different ways. Flood mapping, vulnerability mapping, early warning etc help but have their limitations. With regard to mitigation measures the reliable one would be community based disaster risk reduction and mitigation measures. The community being aware of the vunerability and knowledge to access the resources and safety excercises during the flooding is important. As it needs to be done by the intergration of government, community and other stake holders, the implementation of the program is very challenging. Technical community can contribute with lots of new ideas and resources but the implementation of effective disaster planning rests on the sholders of the government and community. Best way to avert disaster is the be aware of the natural processes and live accordingly !!!