Flood risk assessment of cultural heritage at large spatial scales: Framework and application to mainland Portugal

Abstract

Abstract In a global context of increasing flood risk, the development of risk assessments that can effectively support disaster risk management strategies and policies is crucial. This is particularly relevant in the case of cultural heritage, given its socioeconomic value. Although there is a substantial body of literature on the topics of cultural heritage preservation and natural hazard impact mitigation in cultural heritage, the applicability of such studies is usually limited to single assets or sites. The assessment of cultural heritage flood risk at large spatial scales has received little research attention, which contrasts with the importance of the topic. This paper proposes a novel framework to perform semi-quantitative flood risk assessments to immovable cultural heritage assets in a large region, such as a country. The proposed framework employs various scientifically established concepts from the field of natural hazard risk in order to support the computation of coherent and comparable flood risk indices for each exposed asset. This framework can be used to provide a preliminary assessment of risk for a large number of cultural heritage assets with limited resources, as well as to identify those that warrant a more detailed evaluation of risk. The framework is illustrated through an application to immovable cultural heritage assets exposed to fluvial floods in mainland Portugal. This case study is used to discuss various issues related with data requirements, availability and reliability.