Assessment of Flood Risk Governance in the 2019 Flood Events in Golestan Province

Each year, Golestan Province faces damaging floods. Particularly, the province was severely impacted by the 2019 flood events. Therefore, within the context of flood governance, this paper seeks answer to the question of what measures and programs can be adopted to reduce casualties and financial losses caused by floods in Golestan province. The method used is based on the qualitative content analysis considering four components including resilience, efficiency, effectiveness, and legitimacy and the criteria related to each of the components. Through assessing the four components, the overall status of the flood risk governance in the 2019 flood events is categorized as medium (2.4 from 5). The three components of resilience, effectiveness, and legitimacy were assessed as medium, while the component of efficiency was categorized as relatively inappropriate. The criteria of accountability and procedural justice, access to information and transparency, as well as the rate of casualties showed relatively good performance (4 of 5). While the criteria of technology, financial efficiency, and damages had relatively poor status (1 of 5). Based on the findings of this research, to improve the flood risk governance in Golestan Province the components of efficiency, effectiveness, resilience, and legitimacy need more attention, respectively.