Flood Damage Survey and Assessment

New Insights from Research and Practice

Daniela Molinari, Scira Menoni, Francesco Ballio, Daniela Molinari, Scira Menoni, Francesco Ballio

• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781119217923
• eBook ISBN:
  9781119217947
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geology & Earth Sciences

Floods can have a devastating impact on life, property and economic resources. However, the systematic collection of damage data in the aftermath of flood events can contribute to future risk mitigation. Such data can support a variety of actions including the identification of priorities for intervention during emergencies, the creation of complete event scenarios to tailor risk mitigation strategies, the definition of victim compensation schemes, and the validation of damage models to feed cost-benefit analysis of mitigation actions.

Volume highlights include:

• Compilation of real world case studies elaborating on the survey experiences and best practices associated with flood damage data collection, storage and analysis, that can help strategize flood risk mitigation in an efficient manner
• Coverage of different flooding phenomena such as riverine and mountain floods, spatial analysis from local to global scales, and stakeholder perspectives, e.g. public decision makers, researchers, private companies
• Contributions from leading experts in the field, researchers and practitioners, including civil protection actors working at different spatial and administrative level, insurers, and professionals working in the field of natural hazard risks mitigation

Flood Damage Survey and Assessment: New Insights from Research and Practice will be a valuable resource for earth scientists, hydrologists, meteorologists, geologists, geographers, civil engineers, insurers, policy makers, and planners.

Read an interview with the editors to find out more:
https://eos.org/editors-vox/the-value-of-disaster-damage-data

Part I
Introduction

1
Overview of the United Nations Global Loss Data Collection Initiative

Julio Serje

United Nations Office for Disaster, Risk Reduction, Geneva, Switzerland

ABSTRACT

The Year 2015 was marked by the emergence of three international agreements: The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 2015, a global legally binding agreement on Climate Change now known as the Paris Agreement.

All of these frameworks explicitly recognize the importance and usefulness of collecting and analyzing loss data in their corresponding implementations. The Sendai Framework, in particular, calls for the collection of data about disaster of all scales. It also calls for the collection of data about man‐made, technological, environmental, and other hazards, with an emphasis on climate‐related risks.

Most importantly, the Sendai Framework sets out seven targets, of which four relate to losses: mortality, people affected, economic loss, and damages to infrastructure. This implies that the coverage of national disaster loss data sets will have to be expanded to be global so that countries can report on these targets. This development represents a unique opportunity to build a bottom‐up constructed global disaster loss database.

Many actors have collected national loss data for many years. For over a decade, the United Nations (UN) system has supported and promoted the construction of national disaster databases based on the Disaster Information Management System (DesInventar) methodology and software tools. Additionally, a number of countries have been collecting data with proprietary specifications and different levels of resolution. These include several countries that collect data at a localized level, for example, European countries where data are associated with compensation mechanisms.

DesInventar‐based national data sets also cover small disasters, breaking down event data by municipality aggregates and using a rich set of indicators, which contain those that will be required to report against the Sendai Framework. The number of indicators implies bigger efforts may be required to build or retrofit and sustain these databases, which in addition can provide a clearer picture of damage trends and patterns at sub‐national scales and contribute to a better understanding of risk.

There are, however, methodological, conceptual, and practical challenges associated with a relatively localized data collection. These challenges may range from discrepancies in the perception of what an “event” is, to difficulties in the integration of multiple data sources, to the additional effort required to disaggregate information collected otherwise and the challenge of the economic valuation of the damage aggregates using a consistent and homogeneous methodology.

Despite these challenges, the 2015 edition of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) by the UN features analyses using a consolidated, homogenized, and standardized data set covering 82 countries and several states in India, which includes a uniform economic valuation of damage. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction [UNISDR]) has been using this data set as a proof of concept of what a global database could look like. The UN Initiative, which started in 2005 when only 15 countries had these data sets, has continued to approach 100 countries in 2015. It will continue with renewed enthusiasm in the next few years, with the target of global coverage by 2020, as stated by the Sendai Framework.

1.1. DISASTER RISK REDUCTION: A FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION

The concept and practice of reducing disaster losses and risk through systematic efforts to analyze and reduce the causal factors of disasters and therefore reduce its impacts is known today as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Reducing exposure to hazards, lessening vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improving preparedness and early warning for adverse events are all examples of disaster risk reduction [UNISDR, 2009a].

Progress in reducing risk has been undeniable over the past decades. However, global models suggest that the risk of economic losses is rising as a result of a series of factors, including increases in exposure and vulnerability, exacerbation of hazards because of climate change, and the rapidly increasing value of the assets that are exposed to major hazards [UNISDR, 2015a]. In addition, a large proportion of losses continue to be associated with small and recurring disaster events that severely damage critical public infrastructure, housing, and production, which are key pillars of growth and development in low‐ and middle‐income countries.

The long road of international agreements that started with the declaration of 1990–1999 as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) [UNISDR, 1999a], and which produced the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action, and the subsequent Hyogo Framework for Action, has shown the international continuous concern about the growing impacts of disasters.

1.2. THE SENDAI AND OTHER FRAMEWORKS OF 2015

On 18 March 2015, representatives from 187 United Nations Member States gathered in Sendai, Japan for the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) (UNISDR, 2015). Later in the same year, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was also adopted, and to finalize a golden year in international agreements, countries participating in the Paris COP 21 reached for the first time a global legally binding agreement on climate change, now known as the Paris Agreement.

The international community made a big effort to align these three processes as much as possible. In its first page, the Paris Agreement welcomes “the adoption of United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/70/1, ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,’ in particular its goal 13, the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the third International Conference on Financing for Development and the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction” [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2015].

The Sendai Framework, the first of these to be adopted, sets “the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries” as its main outcome. It also sets as its only goal to “prevent the creation of new risks and to reduce existing ones through different measures and thus strengthen resilience.”

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development embeds within its goals and targets all of the targets set by the Sendai Framework. Goal 11 Target 5 in particular comprises three of the seven targets of the Sendai Framework, all of them aiming at the reduction of human and economic losses [UN, 2015]. Targets in other goals, such as Goal 13 addressing climate change, also address similar challenges as those identified by SFDRR.

The Paris Agreement, in its Article 7 on adaptation, sets a global goal to increase adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability. This is the first time there is a formal agreement on a global adaptation goal. Article 8 on loss and damage (one of the problematic issues that delayed negotiations) includes reducing risk of losses and damages, early warning systems, emergency preparedness, and comprehensive risk assessment and management, all of which are aligned with the Sendai Framework Priorities for Action and Targets [UNFCCC, 2015].

1.3. THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK AND LOSS DATA COLLECTION

The Sendai Framework is structured around one main outcome and one goal, four priorities for action, seven targets and has a much wider scope than its predecessor, the Hyogo Framework for Action.

Priority 1. “Understanding disaster risk” states that disaster risk management should be based on a thorough understanding of disaster risk and losses in all its dimensions of vulnerability, capacity, exposure of persons and assets, hazard characteristics, and the environment. Such knowledge can be used for risk assessment, prevention, mitigation, preparedness, and response.

Priority 2, “Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk” recommends clear vision, plans, competence, guidance, and coordination within and across sectors, as well as participation of relevant stakeholders and fostering collaboration and partnership across mechanisms and institutions for the implementation of instruments relevant to disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.

Priority 3, “Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience” suggests public and private investment in disaster risk prevention and reduction through structural and non‐structural measures, which are essential to enhance the economic, social, health, and cultural resilience of persons, communities, countries, and...

Table of contents

• COVER
• TITLE PAGE
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: Data Storage
• Part III: Data Collection
• Part IV: Data Analysis
• Part V: Information and Communication Technology Tools
• Conclusions
• INDEX
• END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT