Abstract
For the first time flood mortality is analysed and compared between a Western (Portugal) and an Eastern Mediterranean country (Greece). Flood fatalities are examined and compared in terms of frequency, temporal evolution, spatial distribution, deadliest flood types, gender of the victims, circumstances surrounding fatalities, and individual and societal risk.A common flood fatalities database was formed for the period 1960–2010 by merging the DISASTER database for Portugal and the Greek databaseIndividual flood cases generated more deaths in Greece than in Portugal (excluding an outlier flash flood event in the latter). Despite some fluctuations evidence of a gradual decrease in fatality numbers were recorded for both countries. Since the 1980's the number of flood cases with multiple fatalities has been gradually declining, due to changes in qualitative characteristics of mortality. Flood fatalities predominantly occur during autumn in Greece and during winter in Portugal.In both Greece and Portugal flash floods were responsible for more than 80% of the total mortality. The main metropolitan areas of each country were found to be hotspots of flood mortality; a trend connected, with the higher population density along the coastal areas combined with the expansion of urban fabric towards flood-prone areas.Gender distribution of fatalities indicates that males are more vulnerable in both countries. The circumstances surrounding fatalities showed that fatalities occurring inside buildings have been gradually reducing in time, while vehicle-related deaths have been rising, showing that individuals hold an active role when they voluntarily enter in floodwaters during a flood.
Highlights
Flooding has been one of the most destructive natural hazards in the Mediterranean region, causing significant damages [1] and a noteworthy number of fatalities across Southern European countries on a yearly basis [2,3,4,5,6].Flooding in the Mediterranean region can be mostly related to riverine flooding events in major rivers occurring mostly during autumn and winter months [6,7] as well as flash floods that typically occur during autumn in small watersheds and urban areas triggered by high-intensity rainfall [8,9,10]
Comparison showed that the number of flood cases registered in the period 1960–2010 is higher in Portugal than in Greece (737 and 498 flood cases respectively), with the ones recording fatalities being 1.4 times higher (Table 1)
Excluding the 1967 flash flood outlier, the total number of fatalities was higher in Greece that recorded 189 fatalities in 57 flood cases, while Portugal recorded 114 flood fatalities in 80 flood cases in the period 1960–2010
Summary
Flooding has been one of the most destructive natural hazards in the Mediterranean region, causing significant damages [1] and a noteworthy number of fatalities across Southern European countries on a yearly basis [2,3,4,5,6].Flooding in the Mediterranean region can be mostly related to riverine flooding events in major rivers occurring mostly during autumn and winter months [6,7] as well as flash floods that typically occur during autumn in small watersheds and urban areas triggered by high-intensity rainfall [8,9,10]. Flooding has been one of the most destructive natural hazards in the Mediterranean region, causing significant damages [1] and a noteworthy number of fatalities across Southern European countries on a yearly basis [2,3,4,5,6]. There is a wide body of literature analysing the effects of flooding to human health [14,15] and regarding direct mortality, examining risk factors concerning the victims and the environmental circumstances of flood-related accidents [16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. For instance features on fatalities caused by floods can be found in natural hazard databases (e.g. EM-DAT, SICI, DISASTER) based on documentary sources [9,24,25,26], demographic statistics, death certificates from hospitals, civil protection authorities and non-governmental agencies
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