Impacts of Landslides on Residents Living in The Disaster-Prone Areas of Murang’a County, Kenya

Abstract

Landslides are projected to increase in the future due to population pressure and associated land-use changes exacerbated by climate change in the tropics. Studies about the impacts of landslides pay much attention to the negative effects at the expense of any positivity. This qualitative study seeks to fill the gap by focusing on both the positive and negative impacts of landslides in Murang’a County through descriptive statistics and narrative analysis. Primary data was collected through Household (HH) questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and Interview schedules. The sample size is 393 proportionate HHs in the study area, with a total population of 85,895 people distributed over 26,201 HHs. A total of 8 key informant interviews were conducted alongside 6 FGD. An overwhelming count of 97 percent of local people considered landslides as disasters, and 88.7 percent said that there has been an increase in cases over time. Importantly, 80.8 percent of those who testified to have experienced a landslide (94.3%) reported a landslide at close proximity of less than 1 kilometre from their homes. A significant 92.3 percent of the landslide cases were reported to have caused damages ranging from destruction of properties, displacements, loss of human life and animals, and psychological stress, among others. Prominent negative impacts of landslides are psychological effects reported by 63.4 percent of the affected respondents. Other adverse effects included loss of properties, displacements, deaths, and loss of animals and crops. The positive impacts include monetary gains for the affected residents, income for absentee house owners, and rebuilding resilient infrastructures. The study concludes that landslide disasters in the prone areas of Murang’a County result in both negative and positive impacts. The impacts of landslides on residents living in prone areas indicated more pronounced negative effects compared to the positive ones. Therefore, the study concludes that efforts by different stakeholders should be put in place to minimize the adverse effects of landslides. Both county and national governments should have an all-inclusive disaster management programme involving the residents who are directly impacted.