36 Flood Hazard and Vulnerability of Slum Dwellers in Dhaka Md. Enamul Huq* and Mallik Akram Hossain Abstract: Presently, economic and disaster induced migration to Dhaka city has been a common phenomenon for secured livelihoods. As a result, slum settlements are increasing in the capital city. These informal settlements are located mostly on marginalized area such as riverbanks, low-lying areas and garbage-dumping sites, which are very susceptible to flood hazard. As such, this paper focuses in flood vulnerability. In this paper, two slums of Dhaka city, which are very often affected by river flood, have been chosen as study area. Data have been collected mostly from primary as well as secondary sources. In determining flood vulnerability of the slum dwellers, four factors: economic, social, exposure and susceptible elements and coping capacity have been considered. The study finds that flood vulnerability varies one slum to another because of the differences in the socio-economic and physical status. To reduce vulnerability of slum dwellers several options have been proposed. Key words: Flood, Vulnerability, Slum. Introduction Flood has become a regular regional phenomenon. Bangladesh is a floodplain country, which is located on the delta of three major rivers the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. The country faces flood almost every year because of its geographical location, excessive rainfall, spillover from rivers, storm surge, and siltation of riverbed. Among the major floods, 1988 and 1998 floods were catastrophic, resulting in massive destruction of properties and loss of lives. (Huq and Alam, 2003 and NPDM 2008-2015, 2008). Dhaka is the capital and biggest city of Bangladesh. The city is surrounded by several rivers like, the Buriganga to the south, the Turag to the west, the Tongi khal to the north, and the Balu to the east. Due to rapid urbanization, the city has turned into a mega-city. Dhaka is also the largest administrative, commercial and industrial hub of the country. Almost 16.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country is generated by the Dhaka metropolitan city alone (BBS, 1998). So, the loss of GDP due to flood is very high in Dhaka city as compared to other areas of Bangladesh. Dhaka city faces a number of environmental problems such as water logging, flooding, traffic jam, solid waste disposal, and pollution of air, noise and water bodies (Tawhid, 2004). The city has been experiencing flooding since its early age (Haq and Alam, 2003). River floods generally take place in the low-lying fringe areas outside the protective embankments in every five to ten years. Stamford Journal of Environment and Human Habitat, July 2012 Volume 1 *Corresponding author