Spatio-temporal distribution, composition and influencing factors of economic losses from storm surge disasters: An empirical study from China (2007–2016)

Abstract

Storm surge disasters (SSD) have caused severe damage to China's coastal areas, and they have become an essential influencing factor for the social and economic development of China. This study uses an input-output model to assess the storm surge economic losses in 11 coastal regions of China for the period of 2007–2016, and also explores its influencing factors. The results show that: (1) From 2007 to 2016, the southeastern coastal areas were the most severely impacted by SSD, the Total Economic Losses (TEL) reached 742.8 billion CNY. Among them, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces suffered the worst economic losses, with 81.3% contribution to TEL; (2) The Indirect Economic Losses (IEL) from SSD accounted for a total percentage of 74%–96%, and the TEL have not decreased over the years; (3) SSD have seriously impacted the Chinese manufacturing industry, accounting for an average of 50% of the TEL per year; (4) Different regions had different sectoral distributions of IEL, while the manufacturing and service industries were still the most affected sectors; (5) The more frequent the occurrence of SSD, the greater the losses caused by SSD, with no such correlation observed for the intensity of SSD; (6) The aggregation of marine industries and populations can significantly increase the damage from SSD, while the development of science and technology can reduce the damage from SSD. Overall, this study evaluates China's SSD economic losses on a long-term scale, which is of great significance for future disaster prevention and mitigation.