A Review of Flood Risk in China during 1950–2019: Urbanization, Socioeconomic Impact Trends and Flood Risk Management

Abstract

China is one of the countries that are most severely affected by floods worldwide. Due to the geographical and climatic environment, floods frequently occur in China. Rapid socioeconomic growth and urban sprawl in the past decades have significantly changed both exposure and vulnerability dimensions of flood risk in China. In response to high risks of flood, the Chinese government has adopted a series of effective measures, such as the “Spongy City” Program and building many large dams and reservoirs, and some measures have achieved significant results. However, there is still a lack of studies with an integrated view on analyzing the causes, socioeconomic impact trends, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures of flood risk in China in the past decades. Accordingly, this paper aims to fill in the gap and provides some new insights into China’s contributions in DRR over the period of 1950–2019. Our results show that annual flood-induced fatalities and socioeconomic vulnerability to floods have significantly decreased in China, owing to a range of structural and non-structural measures. Nevertheless, China still faces the complex coupling effects of climate change and urbanization, and thus threats from extreme floods. In addition, China needs to further improve its flood risk management system.