Vulnerability of riparian inhabitants to river bank erosion hazard in lower Ganga: an integrated approach

River bank erosion is a serious problem in the riparian inhabitants of the alluvial plain. The study attempts to develop an integrated vulnerability index for bank erosion in the lower Ganga basin of India, employing a socio-spatial approach. The methodology for the assessment of the vulnerability index is comprised of three dimensions such as exposure, sensitivity and capacity which include 34 indicators covering social, economic, physical and environmental dimensions. A comprehensive survey encompassing 600 households across 30 villages was conducted to gather socio-economic indicators. These indicators include exposure, sensitivity, and capacity data for each village, which were aggregated to formulate an integrated vulnerability index. Subsequently, this index was exported to a geographic information system for the visualization of spatial patterns. The result shows that more than 60