Flood Experience Research Articles

Default options and insurance demand

Default options may provide a low-cost way of influencing behaviour without modifying incentives and constraining choices between alternatives. However, an improved understanding is needed on whether they are effective when individuals have experience with making the choice in practice and have preferences for specific alternatives. We study whether defaults can be used to increase insurance coverage against low-probability/high-impact risks, like floods, and whether past flood insurance purchases and flooding experience moderate the effect of defaults. Our study uses a naturally occurring difference in experience, comparing the surveyed flood insurance choices of 1,187 homeowners, half of whom are in the Netherlands, where flood insurance penetration rates are low and recent flooding caused minor losses, and the other half of whom are in the United Kingdom (UK), where the opposite is true. We find defaults are effective among homeowners with little to no flood-related experience: in the Netherlands defaults increase the likelihood of insuring by between 17 and 18 percentage points. Although there is no overall effect of defaults in the UK, defaults increase flood insurance coverage for risk averse individuals, and those who have no reported previous flood experience and have not purchased flood insurance. Anticipated regret about not having insurance coverage in the event of a flood, and perceptions about the insurance cost explain between 34 and 37 percent of the relationship between the default and flood insurance demand. We discuss policy implications of our findings.

Environmental safety in the field of construction and operation of hydraulic structures

The article deals with the environmental safety of construction production, as well as the process of operation using examples of hydraulic structures. The purpose of the article is to show the growing importance of taking into account environmental decisions and measures in the design of the construction project and operation manual. The objectives are to identify and systematize implemented examples of environmental solutions. The objects of the study are hydraulic structures: mooring, river and shelf. The tasks are solved by methods of searching for information on the issues under consideration as part of the analytical review, with further discussions and conclusions. It was revealed that in recent years, environmental expertise has become more stringent in assessing and allowing hydraulic facilities to begin construction and installation work and commissioning, due to the accumulated negative experience of accidents, flooding and other harmful environmental influences. As a result of the analytical review, we obtain generalized conclusions on modern trends in orienting new construction in the primary interests of environmental protection.

Assessing coastal vulnerability index of tourism site: the case of Mataram Coast

Many coastal areas and infrastructure suffered from unprecedented hazards such as storms, flooding, and erosion. Thus, it is increasing the vulnerability of urban coastal areas aggravated with the absence of coastal green infrastructure. Given the state of coastal environments, there is a genuine need to appraise the vulnerability of coastal cities on the basis of the latest projected climate scenarios and existing condition. Hence, to asses, the vulnerability level of Mataram coastal, the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) accompanied by pre-assessment of readiness to climate disruption. The CVI used to map coastal into five classes of using GIS. As a case study, this approach applied to Mataram City: one of the tourism destinations in Lombok. Two of sub-districts in Mataram City, Ampenan and Sekarbela, laying in the shorelines have undergone coastal flooding and erosion. One of them, Ampenan sub-district, experienced flooding due to river-discharge and became the most severe location during inundation. Results indicated that along ±9000 meters of Mataram coast possess vulnerability level in moderate to very high-risk level. The assessment also showed that sea-level rise is not the only critical issue but also geomorphology and shoreline changes, the existence of green infrastructure, also human activity parameters took important part to be assessed.

Sea Level Rise and Portfolio Choice

Many households face uninsurable background risks due to future sea level rise (SLR). Using detailed local variation in SLR exposure and disaggregated geographic information on households in the United States, I show that SLR exposed households participate less in the stock market compared to their unexposed counterparts within the same neighborhood. This effect is driven by long-run SLR risks as opposed to short-run flood risks and is elevated at times when attention to climate change is high. I provide causal evidence of the effect of SLR risks on household portfolio choices by exploiting plausibly exogenous variation stemming from the adoption of state-led climate change adaptation plans that reduced households' SLR risks. Additional tests isolate the effect of SLR exposure as a background risk from alternative explanations, including changes in house prices, past flooding experiences, endogenous location choices, political beliefs, or differences in risk preferences.

Percepción de los futuros maestros de primaria sobre el riesgo de inundación. La geografía como herramienta para lograr una sociedad más resiliente al cambio climático

El riesgo de inundación se trata del principal peligro natural que afecta a la región mediterránea europea. Este riesgo se ha agravado en las últimas décadas por el incremento de la exposición del ser humano, por ello, tratar estos temas en las aulas de Primaria y la formación de los maestros debe ser una prioridad. La hipótesis de partida de esta investigación es que el futuro profesorado de Primaria tiene la percepción de que el riesgo de inundación se ha agravado en los últimos años debido al cambio climático. Los objetivos de este trabajo son: 1) Conocer las experiencias vividas sobre inundaciones de los futuros maestros durante su formación escolar (Primaria); y 2) Analizar cuál es la percepción que tienen éstos sobre la influencia del cambio climático en la aseveración de las inundaciones. Metodológicamente se ha llevado a cabo una investigación de tipo mixta (cuantitativa y cualitativa) con la realización de un cuestionario a los futuros maestros de Primaria (caso de estudio de la Facultad de Magisterio; Universidad de Valencia). Los resultados indican que la percepción de los encuestados es que la mayoría de sus centros escolares no se situaban en zonas inundables y, respecto al cambio climático, el 50% cree que está afectando al régimen actual de las precipitaciones. The risk of flooding is the main natural hazard that affect the European Mediterranean region. This risk has been aggravated in recent decades by the increase in exposure of the human being. Therefore this theme should be a priority in primary classrooms and the training of teachers. The hypothesis of this research is that the future teachers of Primary school have the perception that the risk of flooding has worsened in recent years due to climate change. The objectives of this work are: 1) To know the experiences of floods of future teachers during their school education (Primary school); and 2) Analyze their perception of the influence of climate change in the assertion of flood risk. Methodologically, a mixed research (quantitative and qualitative) was carried out with the completion of a questionnaire to future teachers of Primary (Faculty of Education, University of Valencia). The results indicate that the perception of the respondents is that most of their schools were not located in flood zones and, with respect to climate change, in 50% of the cases they believe that it is affecting the rainfall regime.

Does flood experience modify risk preferences? Evidence from an artefactual field experiment in Vietnam

We conducted an artefactual field experiment in Vietnam to investigate whether and how experiencing a natural disaster affects individual attitudes toward risks. Using experimental and real household data, we show that households in villages affected by a flood in recent years exhibit more risk aversion, compared with individuals living in similar but unaffected villages. Interestingly, this result holds for the loss domain, but not the gain domain. In line with Prospect Theory, Vietnamese households distort probabilities. The distortion is related to aid received and social networks participation, but is unrelated to flood experience.

Multiple Flood Experiences and Social Resilience: Findings from Three Surveys on Households and Companies Exposed to the 2013 Flood in Germany

AbstractPrevious studies have explored the consequences of flood events for exposed households and companies by focusing on single flood events. Less is known about the consequences of experiencing repeated flood events for the resilience of households and companies. In this paper, we therefore explore how multiple floods experience affects the resilience of exposed households and companies. Resilience was made operational through individual appraisals of households and companies’ ability to withstand and recover from material as well as health and psychological impacts of the 2013 flood in Germany. The paper is based on three different datasets including more than 2000 households and 300 companies that were affected by the 2013 flood. The surveys revealed that the resilience of households seems to increase, but only with regard to their subjectively appraised ability to withstand impacts on mobile goods and equipment (e.g., cars, TV, and radios). In regard to the ability of households to withstand overall financial consequences of repetitive floods, evidence for nonlinear (quadratic) trends can be found. With regard to psychological and health-related consequences, the findings are mixed but provide tentative evidence for eroding resilience among households. Companies’ resilience increased with respect to material assets but appears to decrease with respect to ability to recover. We conclude by arguing that clear and operational definitions of resilience are required so that evidence-based resilience baselines can be established to assess whether resilience is eroding or improving over time.

Christopher Clarkson as a Teacher: His Contribution to Book Conservation Training in Italy

ABSTRACT After the Florence flood experience, Christopher Clarkson went back to Italy on several occasions, being invited as a speaker to international conferences on book history and conservation. In the early 1990s, he took part in the preliminary outline of the educational plan for the due-to-open European School for Conservators - Restorers of Book Materials in Spoleto, Italy. As a full-time tutor of the course for eight years, the author recalls the School program structure and Chris's unique personality and attitude towards training students in the understanding of the historical context of book production and the qualities of materials used in conservation.

Flood Risk Management in Canada's Prairie Provinces: an Analysis of Decision-Maker Priorities and Policy Preferences.

If the aim of flood risk management (FRM) is to increase society's resilience to floods, then a holistic treatment of flood risk is required that addresses flood prevention, defence, mitigation, preparation, and response and recovery. Progressing resilience-based management to flood risk requires both diversity and coordination of policy across multiple jurisdictions. Decision makers and the types of FRM policy decisions they make play a key role in implementing FRM policies and strategies that progress flood resilience. This paper explores how policy preferences held by FRM decision makers relate to the characteristics of resilient FRM policy. The research was conducted in three flood-prone provinces in western Canada using a multi-criteria analytical approach. The results show that while decision maker FRM priorities are similar across the Canadian Prairies, their preferred FRM policies differ. Further, preferred FRM policies were largely resistance-based and influenced at least as much by flood experiences and perceptions of flood risk as by more obvious administrative pressures such as cost, public acceptability, and environmental protection. Several observations emerge from these results for advancing a coordinated, diversified approach to FRM which is required for resilience, both for western Canada and for FRM more broadly.

Factors affecting flood-induced household vulnerability and health risks in Pakistan: The case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province

In recent years the adverse impacts of climate change on the natural environment and the multiple threats it poses to human health, especially in the Global South, have become increasingly evident and these are likely to increase in the near future, with more people likely to be risk. This study investigates households' vulnerability to public health risks in disaster-prone areas of Pakistan. It uses a dataset of 600 households, based on structured questionnaire with household heads from two severely flood-affected districts (Nowshera and Charsadda) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Household vulnerability to flooding and related health problems are assessed through a logistic regression model. The results reveal that respondents' socio-economic and demographic attributes, such as age, gender, education, income, the materials out of which their house is constructed, past experience of floods and social networks are the key factors influencing their flood vulnerability. Households' health vulnerability is affected by their access to information and health facilities, their sanitary arrangements, distance from the main health facility and previous damage to water supply and health facilities from the flood in 2010. The findings suggest the need to overcome households' flood and health vulnerability through capacity building, training and sustainable mitigation efforts. At the governmental level, a comprehensive and realistic stakeholder analysis is needed to ensure the active involvement of all stakeholders, to generate their commitment and support and to identify what actions are most needed. Any actions to minimize household health risks will require an integrated, multi-sector, approach which would increase efficiency through pooling resources and skills.

Rationale and methods for a cross-sectional study of mental health and wellbeing following river flooding in rural Australia, using a community-academic partnership approach

BackgroundClimate change is associated with greater frequency, duration, intensity and unpredictability of certain weather-related events, including floods. Floods harm mental health. There is limited understanding of the mental health and well-being effects from river flooding, particularly over the longer term and in rural contexts. This paper describes the rationale, aims, objectives, study design and socio-demographic characteristics of the sample for a study measuring associations between flood experience and mental health and wellbeing of residents (particularly those most likely to be negatively impacted and hard to reach) in rural NSW Australia 6 months following a devastating flood in 2017. To our knowledge, the study is the first of its kind within Australia in a rural community and is an important initiative given the likelihood of an increasing frequency of severe flooding in Australia given climate change.MethodsA conceptual framework (The Flood Impact Framework) drawing on social ecological approaches was developed by the research team. It was based on the literature and feedback from the community. The Framework describes putative relationships between flood exposure and mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Within a community-academic partnership approach, a cross-sectional survey was then undertaken to quantify and further explore these relationships.ResultsThe cross-sectional survey was conducted online (including on mobile phone) and on paper between September and November 2017 and recruited 2530 respondents. Of those, 2180 provided complete demographic data, among whom 69% were women, 91% were aged 25–74, 4% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, 9% were farmers and 33% were business owners.ConclusionsThe study recruited a wide range of respondents and the partnership facilitated the community’s engagement with the design and implementation of the study. The study will provide a basis for a follow-up study, that will aim to improve the understanding of mental health and wellbeing effects over the longer term. It will provide an important and original contribution to understanding river flooding and mental health in rural Australia, a topic that will grow in importance in the context of human-induced climate change, and identify critical opportunities to strengthen services, emergency planning and resilience to future flooding.

Flooding experience and assessment of climate change: implication of psychological distance, risk perception and place attachment / Experiencia de inundaciones y evaluación del cambio climático: implicaciones de la distancia psicológica, la percepción de riesgo y el apego al lugar

Human-induced climate change is associated with more and more frequent emergent risks and natural disasters. This research aims to study how individuals characterize climate change and flooding, by taking into account their experience of flooding (exposure and/or experience) and their place attachment. In order to do so, we consider the model of psychological distance and the risk perception. A questionnaire was submitted to 325 people. The results show that place attachment and psychological distances linked to climate change and flooding can explain the perception of flooding risk. The analyzes confirm that risk assessment is linked to the experience of flooding. Moreover, individuals without any flooding experience perceive climate change as being closer to them. These results are discussed in relation to the importance of taking context and experience into account when implementing field interventions.

How awareness and confidence affect flood-risk precautionary behavior of Greek citizens: the role of perceptual and emotional mechanisms

Abstract. This study examines the mechanisms of flood-risk precautionary behavior among Greek citizens. To that end, we specify and test a mediation model in which awareness-raising factors and confidence attitudes influence the citizens' current flood preparedness and preparedness intention through perceptual and emotional processes. Raw data were obtained via an online survey that received 1855 responses. Causal relations were tested by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). Overall, results indicate that risk perception and worry are significant drivers of preparedness intention. In particular, they act as mediating variables, explaining how flood experience, access to more risk information, vulnerability awareness, and trust in authorities affect citizens' intention to invest in precautionary measures. Especially trust was found to have a negative effect on worry, leading to lower preparedness levels. Worry was also found to have a significant role in explaining the current preparedness levels. Interestingly, citizens who had already undertaken precautionary measures in the past appear to be more willing to invest in more measures. Implications for improving flood-risk management in Greece are discussed.

Can a Simulated Flood Experience Improve Social Resilience to Disasters?

The increase of extreme meteorological phenomena, along with continuous population growth, has led to a rising number of flooding disasters. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop better risk reduction strategies, among which is increased social resilience. Experiencing a disaster is recognized as a factor that positively influences overall community resilience, with particular effects on social resilience; it appears to be more influential than school education. It also has many negative effects, though. Previous studies underline that citizens do not distinguish between different types of experiences. Thus, we investigated whether a simulated experience of a flood can improve social resilience, without being hampered by negative repercussions. The study was executed in five municipalities in three Italian regions involved in the European project LIFE PRIMES, which planned simulation activities for each studied area. Data, collected through the administration of anonymous questionnaires before and after a flood drill, were processed by applying a multicriteria decision analysis tool (PROMETHEE). Results show that the drill significantly augmented perceived social resilience in the smaller studied communities but not in the larger ones, a fact that should be further investigated. Key Words: multicriteria decision analysis, simulated flood experience, social resilience to disasters.

Drivers of flood and climate change risk perceptions and intention to adapt: an explorative survey in coastal and delta Vietnam

This article contributes to current research about determinants of climate change and flood risk perception, and intentions to take adaptive measures. We propose a research model that distinguishes between vulnerability and severity components of perceived risks, and adds perceived adaptive capacity as a third factor to predict the intention to take adaptive measures. We used this combined model as a conceptual lens for an explorative survey among 1086 residents of coastal and delta communities in Vietnam. Pairwise analyses revealed a significant association of flood and climate change risk perceptions with individual’s flood experience, climate change knowledge, frequency of community participation and socio-demographic factors. However, in multivariate analysis, the influence of most socio-demographic factors became weak or patchy. Flood experience was the most influential driver of flood-related risk perceptions but weak for climate change-related risk perceptions and behavioural intentions. Knowledge strongly increased the intention to adapt to flood and climate risks and the perceived vulnerability to and severity of climate change risks, but reduced the perceived capacity to adapt to climate risks. Frequency of community participation increased the perceived vulnerability and severity of climate change risks, the intention to adapt to both climate and flood risks and the perceived capacity to adapt to flood risks, but reduced the perceived capacity to adapt to climate risks. Our research confirms earlier findings that individuals’ knowledge, place-specific experience and social-cultural influences are key predictors of both flood and climate change risk perceptions and intentions to take adaptive measures. These factors should therefore receive ample attention in climate risk communication.

Key Factors Influencing Wider Adoption of Blue–Green Infrastructure in Developing Cities

Numerous fast-growing coastal cities in the Global South are exposed to coastal, fluvial and pluvial floods, as a consequence of decades-long rapid urbanisation and weak enforcement of planning regulations. Integrating Blue–Green Infrastructure (BGI) concepts into the development of the urban landscape has the potential to increase flood resilience and offer broader environmental benefits. BGI is an innovative approach that combines water management and green infrastructure to maintain natural water cycles and enhance environmental and urban renewal. This paper identifies socio-economic, cultural and political challenges influencing BGI adoption in Semarang city in Indonesia. Data was collected from residents of three communities through interviews (n=30), questionnaires (n=180) and focus groups with policymakers and community representatives. The combined quantitative and qualitative data provide an understanding of the specific socio-economic, cultural and political issues at play and reveal flood experience as well as perceptions of community members regarding flood management. Challenges are presented from the point of view of residents and local policymakers and are based on a framework for facilitating local BGI adoption, setting the principles of “inclusive”, “appropriate” and “proactive” as pre-conditions for enhancing community resilience to flooding.

Participatory social capacity building: Conceptualisation and experiences from pilots for flood risk mitigation in the Netherlands

Social capacity building is increasingly suggested as strategy for supporting vulnerable communities in dealing with natural hazards such as floods. However, research on the empirical implementation of social capacity building is still limited. This paper presents a conceptualisation and an empirical case study of participatory social capacity building for flood risk mitigation in the Netherlands. We designed and implemented two distinct participatory pilots, studied the processes and outcomes to assess what factors influence social capacity building, and assessed how existing capacity may be leveraged. Social capacity is herein conceptualised as consisting of five dimensions: Knowledge, Motivation, Networks, Finance, and Participation. The first pilot included a walk in flood-prone areas and a discussion session with citizens and flood risk authority representatives. The second pilot involved elementary school pupils interviewing senior citizens with flood experience. Based on qualitative observation and analysis of the processes, findings suggest there is good potential for mutual sharing of knowledge if all participating actors are equal in the participatory process, and that informal settings open up debates, but also that leveraging existing social capacities might inadvertently impede the dissemination of knowledge that is vital in coping with (future) disaster risks.

The causal effect of flood experience on climate engagement: evidence from search requests for green electricity

It has been postulated that personal experience of climate change–related weather events may reduce the psychological distance to climate change and trigger engagement in climate protection measures. We use a novel longitudinal dataset on revealed household behaviour and insured damage data to re-examine this relationship, which has mostly been studied by cross-sectional and self-reported data. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we assess the causal effect of experiencing financial damage from the 2013 floods in Germany on the interest for renewable energy tariffs in online power portals, which we take as a proxy for engagement in climate protection. The results broadly confirm the expected positive effect of flood experience on climate engagement, but there are important non-linear effects. Most notably, the effect drops to zero if damage is very high meaning the causal effect of flood experience on interest in green energy holds only for moderately affected regions. One explanation for this inverted U-shaped effect is that high flood damage may constrain the available budget for costly climate protection, due to high recovery and reconstruction costs. We also suggest a number of psychological mechanisms that may play a role in explaining this non-linear effect, for example non-protective responses such as denial and fatalism if damage is high. When supporting private climate engagement, policymakers should not rely on a motivating effect of damage experience, but should acknowledge the economic and psychological limitations, especially of severely flood-affected households.

Coping with Floods in Pikine, Senegal: An Exploration of Household Impacts and Prevention Efforts

African cities are at increasing risk for disasters, including floods. Pikine, Senegal—located on the outskirts of the Dakar metropolitan region—has experienced regular floods since 2005 due to a rising water table, dense settlement, and inadequate drainage. The goal of this research was to assess household experiences of floods through in-depth qualitative interviews in one area of Pikine. A total of 44 households were interviewed on the economic and health impacts of flooding and their perceptions of flood mitigation strategies. Our research confirmed that floods create substantial economic and health burdens for families and that infrastructure projects have helped, but not solved, the flooding issues. Our research also had some unexpected findings, particularly relating to concerns over drinking water, land tenure and housing prices, and perception of government intervention.

Integrated urban flood vulnerability assessment using local spatial dependence-based probabilistic approach

Vulnerability assessment is an essential step for urban flood risk management. Due to the objective existence of statistical errors in the variables and spatial heterogeneity, as well as the similarity of flood experience, precautionary status and environments for neighbouring areas, an urban flood vulnerability assessment essentially entails a multi-factor decision-making process that accounts for uncertainties and the local spatial dependence of neighbourhoods. To address these issues, an uncertainty-based vulnerability assessment approach embedded with an improved moving split-window (IMSW) analysis and probabilistic method is proposed. To develop an integrated urban flood vulnerability assessment model, three technical issues need to be resolved: (1) the development of damage curves of land-use types, (2) an uncertainty model and spatial dependence model of damages based on an IMSW analysis, and (3) an uncertainty-based framework to quantify vulnerability considering the uncertainties and local spatial dependence of the damage curves as well as the spatial heterogeneity of risky assets simultaneously. The proposed method is applied to an urban area in China and provides an integrated vulnerability assessment for different land-use types. Moreover, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were performed to analyse the spatial differentiation and the dominant parameters of vulnerability. Compared with two other commonly used methods, the proposed local-correlated method (LCM) is more in line with reality, and provides more reasonable information for making a better-informed decision.