Elevating Pakistan’s flood preparedness: a fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approach

In South Asia, Pakistan has a long and deadly history of floods that cause losses to various infrastructures, lives, and industries. This study aims to identify the most appropriate flood risk mitigation strategies that the government of Pakistan should adopt. The assessment of flood risk mitigation strategies in this study is based on certain criteria, which are analyzed using the fuzzy full consistency method. Moreover, flood risk mitigation strategies are evaluated by using the fuzzy weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) method, considering previously prioritized criteria. According to the results, lack of governance, lack of funding and resources, and lack of flood control infrastructure are the most significant flood intensifying factors and act as major criteria for assessing flood risk mitigation strategies in Pakistan. Adopting hard engineering strategies (e.g., dams, reservoirs, river straightening and dredging, embankments, and flood relief channels), maintaining existing infrastructure, and adopting soft engineering strategies (flood plain zoning, comprehensive flood risk assessment, and sophisticated flood modeling) are identified as the top three flood risk mitigation strategies by the fuzzy WASPAS method. The highest weight (0.98) was assigned to the adoption of hard engineering strategies to mitigate flood risks. The study introduces a novel dimension by analyzing the real-time impact of the unprecedented 2022 floods, during which approximately one-third of the nation was submerged. This focus on a recent and highly significant event enhances the study’s relevance and contributes a unique perspective to the existing literature on flood risk management. The study recommends that the government of Pakistan should prioritize hard engineering strategies for effective flood risk mitigation. It also recommends that the government should incorporate these strategies in the national policy framework to reduce flood losses in the future.