Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
phases of the disaster cycle, indicating where and
when to target resources and inputs, and aiding
policy-making and planning for future flooding.
Each stage of the disaster management cycle will
now be discussed in turn and key issues
highlighted.
recovery and mitigation. This temporal aspect of
the cycle is important; however, flood impacts and
responses are dynamic and may often be overlap-
ping or present during more than one phase. It
should therefore be noted that the various influ-
encing or intervening factors reported here are not
necessarily discrete to one individual phase. At the
centre of the cycle are the individual and societal
factors, whichmay impact upon the various socio-
psychological dimensions of floods at each stage of
the disaster cycle.
Although being useful as an analytical tool, the
disaster management cycle has been criticized for
portraying disaster response in a circular fashion,
which is said to reinforce the perception of disas-
ters as an aberration from normal conditions, and
that conditions will return to normal once the
event has passed (White et al. 2004; Few 2007).
This assumes, for example, that certain condi-
tions, such as social vulnerability, are not pre-
existing in normal circumstances within affected
societies, which is rarely the case. In reality, pre-
flood conditions such as poverty and vulnerability
may be simply recreated following flooding. The
disaster cycle also fails to acknowledge that, in
certain circumstances, and particularly in condi-
tions of poverty, losses many lead to increased
vulnerability, making people more susceptible to
future flooding. White et al. (2004) refer to this as
a negative downward disaster 'spiral' rather than
a cycle. However, the disaster cycle also implies
that lessons will be learned and that positive
change will take place. In this sense White
et al. (2004) promote the concept of the 'virtuous
spiral' of risk reduction whereby lessons can be
learned from a disaster that may result in positive
adaptation and outcomes. Although acknowledg-
ing the validity of the critical arguments cited
above, this chapter suggests that positive adapta-
tion is possible.
Given the necessary political commitment,
FRM can be improved to reduce or mitigate ad-
verse socio-psychological dimensions of flood
events and enhance positive ones. The framework
shown in Figure 20.1 can be useful in highlighting
the different factors that may influence socio-
psychological aspects of floods during the different
Preparation and Planning Before Flooding
Risk awareness, construction and
flood experience
It is generally acknowledged that preparation and
planning for natural hazards such as floods can
help to avoid or reduce damage and losses and thus
lessen many negative socio-psychological im-
pacts. There are many ways in which people can
prepare and plan for floods; with the increasing
risk of flooding thesemeasures become evenmore
important. Key factors in preparedness and plan-
ning for floods are: flood experience (often related
to length of residence in an area), awareness and
acceptance of the risk, and a desire and ability to
take mitigating actions. Awareness is often relat-
ed to past experience of flooding, which has been
shown to be even more significant in influencing
flood preparedness than simply raising awareness.
It is particularly difficult to raise awareness where
no history of flooding exists, and this has implica-
tions for areas with a low probability of flooding,
but where the potential consequences could be
high (Shaw et al. 2005).
Research by Burningham et al. (2008) found the
following factors to have an important effect on
flood risk awareness: flood experience, length of
time at present address, tenure, age and social
class - with social class being the most significant
in predicting awareness. New residents to areas
appeared particularly unaware of flood risk, which
indicates a need to include information on flood
history to potential purchasers of properties. Ten-
ure has been shown to be a factor in risk awareness
in the UK (Tunstall et al. 2006); homeowners in
particular may seek out information on flood risk
as the home represents a significant financial
investment. Renters are often unaware of such
risk as landlords rarely take responsibility for
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