An Assessment of Vulnerability to Extreme Rainfall and Livelihood Resilience in Hillslope Geography: A Case Study of Malappuram, Kerala, India

Extreme rainfall events and hazards may rise as a result of climate change, which is already known to intensify the global water cycle. Disasters like floods and landslides are also becoming more common in India. Located in the state of Kerala, the district of Malappuram is prone to both landslides and floods. People become vulnerable as a result of disasters because they are initially deprived of their support systems and have few options for recovery. Rural poor communities lose jobs and their income is reduced as a result of such events, limiting their capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from future floods. In order to retain livelihood resilience, livelihoods must respond to global and local changes. For this research study, 127 quantitative household surveys were carried out throughout the Chaliyar Panchayat of the Nilambur block in the Malappuram District. Respondents were categorized into different groups based on their caste category (General/OBC (Other Backward Classes) and SC(Scheduled Caste)/ST(Scheduled Tribes)) to compare their overall household livelihood resilience by index method. The results show that the overall livelihood resilience of general/OBC (0.619) household is higher than SC/ST household (0.330). Better access to five livelihood capitals (Natural, Physical, Human, Financial, and Social) by General/OBC households helped them to build better livelihood resilience compared to SC/ST households. The study additionally looks at how extreme rainfall events affect people’s livelihood, including losses and damages.