International Journal of Disaster Risk Managemen (IJDRM)

International Journal of Disaster Risk Management is a peer-reviewed (twice a year) journal serves all aspects of disaster studies, policy, and management. It provides a platform for academics, policymakers and practitioners to publish high-quality research and practice concerning natural disasters, anthropogenic disasters, complex political emergencies and crises around the world. View - http://internationaljournalofdisasterriskmanagement.com/index.php/Vol1/about

Recurrent Urban Flooding in Nairobi City: A Systematic Review of Environmental Determinants, Public Health Impacts and Policy Gaps

First page of “Recurrent Urban Flooding in Nairobi City: A Systematic Review of Environmental Determinants, Public Health Impacts and Policy Gaps”, published in IJDRM, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2026).

Authors

Henry Koech

Abstract

Nairobi has experienced recurrent and increasingly severe urban flooding over the past two decades. The April–May 2024 floods claimed between 267 and 294 lives and displaced approximately 380,000 people across Kenya, while the March 2026 flash floods — triggered by 112mm of rainfall within 24 hours — killed at least 66 people nationally and caused an estimated USD 300 million in infrastructure damage. These events reflect a systemic failure of intersecting environmental, structural, and governance determinants. This narrative systematic review (PRISMA 2020-adapted; final search: 31 March 2026) synthesizes evidence on the environmental determinants, public health burden, and governance gaps driving Nairobi's recurring floods. Searches across PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar, WHO IRIS, ReliefWeb, and national government portals identified 443 records, of which 68 sources met inclusion criteria across three evidence tiers. Five interconnected environmental determinants were identified: rapid unplanned urbanisation with significant green space loss; illegal encroachment on riparian reserves in violation of Kenya's 60-metre buffer zone mandate; ageing drainage infrastructure; intensifying bimodal rainfall amplified by climate change and El Niño; and upstream land degradation reducing catchment retention. Public health consequences include direct mortality, mass displacement, cholera and diarrhoeal disease outbreaks, vector-borne disease resurgence, and significant mental health burden, all disproportionately affecting informal settlement residents. Persistent governance gaps in land-use enforcement, flood risk assessment, inter-agency coordination, and community inclusion perpetuate this vulnerability. Lastly, 19 evidence-grounded recommendations are proposed across environmental, public health, and governance domains. Recurrent urban flooding in Nairobi is a preventable public health emergency amenable to structural intervention, with findings applicable to urban flood risk management across sub-Saharan African cities facing comparable intersections of rapid urbanisation, governance failure, and climate-change exposure.

Keywords: disaster; urban flooding; Nairobi; public health; climate change; diarrhoeal disease; riparian encroachment; urban planning; waterborne disease; Kenya

Publication details

International Journal of Disaster Risk Management (IJDRM), Vol. 8, No. 1 (2026), pp. 331-366.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.66050/ac1fpr38

Read the full open-access article:
https://internationaljournalofdisasterriskmanagement.com/index.php/Vol1/article/view/213

Download PDF:
https://internationaljournalofdisasterriskmanagement.com/index.php/Vol1/article/view/213/225

Suggested citation

Koech, H. (2026). Recurrent Urban Flooding in Nairobi City: A Systematic Review of Environmental Determinants, Public Health Impacts and Policy Gaps. International Journal of Disaster Risk Management, 8(1), 331-366. https://doi.org/10.66050/ac1fpr38

Нема коментара:

Постави коментар

About IJDRM

International Journal of Disaster Risk Management (IJDRM) is a double-blind peer-reviewed (twice a year), open-access journal that serves all aspects of disaster studies, policy, and management. It provides a platform for academics, policymakers, and practitioners to publish high-quality research and practice concerning natural disasters, anthropogenic disasters, complex political emergencies, and crises around the world. The publisher is Scientific-Professional Society for Disaster Risk Management, Belgrade, Serbia - link. The founder of the journal is Assist. Prof. Vladimir M. Cvetković from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Security Studies - link ISSN (printed edition) 2620-2662, ISSN (electronic edition) 2620-2786, UDC: 614.8.069 Submission of the articles doesn't involve article processing charges (APCs) neither submission charges. The journal crosses and affects interdisciplinary boundaries to promote communication, collaboration, and teamwork between professions and disciplines to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development. The journal encourages the interchange of ideas and experience, to decrease the risk of disasters and build community resilience within the context of sustainable development and planetary boundaries. This is an open-access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. Keywords Disasters, disaster risk management, natural disaster, technological disaster, emergency situations, crisis management, theory and practice, mitigation, preparedness, hazards, policy, natural, complex, emergencies, political, aid, relief, developing, humanitarian, field, reports, refugee, journal, research, analysis, review. This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication while providing bibliographic details that credit, if applicable, its publication in this journal. International Journal of Disaster Risk Management (IJDRM) allows authors to deposit publisher's version/PDF in an institutional repository, research gate, Academia.edu, and non-commercial subject-based repositories, or to publish it on Author's personal website (including social networking sites) and/or departmental website, at any time after publication in compliance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial – NoDerrivatives 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The Publisher's copyright and source must be acknowledged and a link must be made to the article's DOI (HTML link). Journal will cover all aspects of disaster risk management from a global perspective, including but not limited to: Disaster and crisis management theory and practice, Risk awareness and assessment, Hazard and vulnerability analysis, Knowledge development including education, training, research, and information on disasters, Public commitment and institutional frameworks, including organizational, policy, legislation, and community action, Disaster prevention, mitigation, response, recovery planning, policies, and implementation, Promotes the interchange of ideas between practitioners, policy-makers, and academics. Submission Process Authors are kindly invited to submit their formatted full papers. All paper submissions will be blind peer-reviewed and evaluated based on originality, research content, correctness, relevance to conference, and readability (reviewer form). Please read the complete submission and formatting guidelines before submitting your paper. Please, use the template for writing the article - link and guidelines for contributors - link Papers that are not adapted to the form will be rejected. You can submit your paper through the following - http://internationaljournalofdisasterriskmanagement.com/index.php/Vol1/about/submissions

Editor-in-Chief - Assist. Prof. Vladimir M. Cvetković

Vladimir M. Cvetkovic is the Assis. Prof. (Disaster Risk Management) at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Security, and has been engaged in research in the field of disaster studies for 15 years. He has published over 250 research papers and 20 scientific monographs. He is the founder of the Scientific Professional Society for Disaster Risk Management in Serbia, the International Institute for Disaster Research, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Disaster Risk Management.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Managemen (IJDRM)

International Journal of Disaster Risk Management (IJDRM)

Recurrent Urban Flooding in Nairobi City: A Systematic Review of Environmental Determinants, Public Health Impacts and Policy Gaps

Authors

Abstract

Publication details

Suggested citation

Нема коментара:

Постави коментар

Archive

Bridging Defense Studies and Disaster Risk Reduction: Comparative Perspectives from the Former Yugoslavia

Translate

Followers

Странице

Претражи овај блог