Assessing Adaptive Resilience of Flood-Prone Indian Traditional Villages in the twenty-first Century: A Case of Dayapur & Jhaukhali

Floods are the most widespread disaster after wildfires and have affected over 1.5 billion people in the last ten years. The threat of rising sea levels is becoming more predominant in coastal areas around the globe. This study aims to analyze the vitality and resilience of conventional built forms of two Indian villages in flood-prone zones of Sundarbans, West Bengal, and to identify the viability of strategies adopted by them when a disaster like a flood or a cyclone strikes. The delta region and its inhabitants face floods every year and often have to leave their homes and livelihood to start life from scratch again. The criteria for taking these two villages are that Dayapur has a mud dyke topped with a brick road all around it, and Jhaukhali has no dyke, but the land itself is at a mean 2 m level above the river water. The result showed that a protected village with a mud dyke does not hold through cyclonic floods but works against rising tide levels. Both the villages have adapted to crops more resilient to seawater incursion. Built forms with asbestos/tin roofing have their roof blown off in cyclonic storms, while thatched bamboo roofs with minimum overhangs tied to wall frames sustain. According to the data, mud houses are more susceptible to destruction than when mixed with a binder like straw and put on a bamboo frame. Neither of the villages has any modern flood mitigation techniques like a floating house or amphibious concept. The paper aims to find the design and resilience gaps in paving the way for sustainable flood-resilient built forms.