**4. Findings and conclusions**

The study shows that the 2014 flood was destructive in Pakistan and clearly depicts incapacity of disaster dealing machinery at the Federal, Provincial, and district level. This flood was caused by heavy rainfall over the Chenab basin particularly in upstream areas.

This study found the extent of 2014 flood damages in agricultural housing and infrastructure sectors. The 2014 flood was one of the devastating disasters and affected the socioeconomic setup in 16 districts in Punjab province. Out of the total affected districts eight were selected in this study located in upper Indus plain.

In the study region, the severely affected districts were Jhang, Sargodha, Gujranwala, and Hafizabad due to damages in agricultural and housing sector. Analysis reveals that the flood has damaged the social and economic life of people. Houses were damaged which not only cause social negative impact but economic as well. On the other hand, study area mostly comprises agriculture, and flood has destroyed completely all crops. Rice, sugarcane, and fodder are mostly affected. The damages to agricultural equipments and loss of livestock further increased the economic losses. To avoid the socioeconomic damages, it is necessary to build embankments along river, develop effective flood warning system, and develop a management cell based on community perception to combat flood.

Pakistan is a disaster prone developing economy and does not have sufficient resources and infrastructure to deal with and recover from devastating disasters. This situation has increased the exposure and vulnerability of communities. The strengthening of the disaster risk management system is highly required in order to reduce exposure and vulnerability by capacity building. In this regard, expansion of structural and nonstructural mitigation measures is vital to enhance the efficiency of the flood risk management system. Flood hazard and risk zonation are also extremely important to identify high risk areas. Similarly, flood forecasting and early warning system are also required to be enhanced by increasing the weather radar network.

This is a time for disaster management authorities to rethink and plan again on sustainable way to protect human life and property by strengthening the flood combating system. Flood risk zonation is very important to highlight the high risk areas.
