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Handbook of Flood Risk Management and Community Action
Recurring and worsening flood incidence around the world has necessitated the understanding and strengthening of community-based flood risk management from an international perspective. This handbook emphasises the need for community action as part of an integrated flood risk management approach, highlighting case studies that have received recognition and made positive impacts, resulting in resilience-enhancing actions which can improve global community understanding. The content has been arranged such that it covers flood risk management approaches in the three main interfaces of before, during and after the flood event. Experts writing on case studies from Africa, Oceania, Europe, Asia and the Americas come together to present lessons from regional and continental experiences that will be useful in providing an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of the human-centred approach. The successful implementation of local and scientific knowledge as complementary measures is also highlighted in a systematic review on the use of technologies for flood risk reduction. This interesting and diverse range of contributions seeks to showcase opportunities for crosscultural knowledge transfer and uptake in the field of flood risk management. This handbook is essential reading for researchers, policy makers and leaders involved in flood and disaster management in the built environment, risk assessment, environmental and civil/construction engineering and community action planning. Professor Divine Kwaku Ahadzie is an experienced award-winning researcher in Construction and Human Settlement Development. He is the Head of the Centre for Settlements Studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana with a demonstrated history of working in construction, housing and disaster risk reduction. Professor David Proverbs is Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. He has over 25 years of experience in higher education and has held strategic leadership roles in three modern universities where he has championed student learning as a research-driven, curriculum active and enterprising academic.
Robby Soetanto is Reader in Construction Innovation Management and Programme Leader of Construction Engineering Management in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, UK. Victor Oluwasina Oladokun is a Professor of Industrial and Production Engineering at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a Senior Fulbright Scholar and a Commonwealth Academic Fellow.
Handbook of Flood Risk Management and Community Action An International Perspective
Edited by Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oluwasina Oladokun
Designed cover image: © Getty Images First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oluwasina Oladokun; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oluwasina Oladokun to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 9781032324708 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032324791 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003315247 (ebk) DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247 Typeset in Times New Roman by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
About the editors viii Contributors x Foreword xiv 1 Handbook of flood risk management and community action: An international perspective 1 Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oladokun SECTION I
Building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions 2 Co-production of knowledge for flood risk management: Case study of multiple stakeholders at Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia Nurul Zainab Binti Along and Iftekhar Ahmed 3 Local knowledge’s roles for nature-based solutions as flood risk management: Pangpang Bay, Indonesia Saut Sagala, Danang Azhari, Medhiansyah Putra, Belia Ega Avila and Indah Salsabiela 4 Preserving heritage, historical artefacts and culture for social resilience and tourism amid flood disasters: A case study of Morten Village of Sungai Melaka, Malaysia Zerafinas Abu Hassan, Farah Shahrin, Chukwudi Ogunna and George Foden
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SECTION II
Governance and community response 5 Managing emergencies – failure and success: Lessons from a village in the Czech Republic Mohan Kumar Bera 6 Drivers, services gaps and improving disaster management for displaced people: A case study of prolonged displacement following the 2022 floods in Lismore, Australia Anastasia Mortimer, Temitope Egbelakin and Willy Sher 7 Capturing the effectiveness of early warning and sustainable community-based early action interventions for disaster risk reduction in Bangladesh: An analysis from flood-prone areas Muhammad Abdur Rahaman and Zereen Saba 8 Emergency animal-safe facilities assessment to enable livestock evacuation during disasters in Australia Sandra Carrasco, Temitope Egbelakin and Olabode Ogunmakinde
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Community-based flood resilience 9 Home owner/occupant property flood protection: An appraisal of the options and opportunities used to mitigate and minimise impacts Fiona Gleed, Colin A. Booth, Quésia D. Silva, Ricardo G. Santana and Silas N. Melo 10 The prevention policy and experiences of flood resilience in Brazil Francisco Henrique de Oliveira, Guilherme Linheira, Regina Panceri, Renan Furlan de Oliveira and Victor Luis Padilha 11 Building resilience through community-based flood risk management: Pathway and reflections Irene-Nora Dinye, Henry Mensah, Eric Kwame Simpeh and Rudith Sylvana King
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Flood insurance options and support systems
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12 Flood insurance uptake in Nigeria; building resilience by promoting a culture of risk protection Adaku Echendu
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13 Community flood insurance in Ghana; individual and institutional diffusion of uptake Sandra Serwaa Boateng, Solomon Asamoah and Divine Kwaku Ahadzie
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SECTION V
Technologies to support community flood initiatives 14 Technology-mediated flood risk management tools: A review of smart and mobile applications Eric K. Simpeh, Henry Mensah, Rudith S. King, John J. Smallwood and Athenkosi Sogaxa 15 River naturalisation and load sediment detection sensor for communitybased flood risk management in Indonesia Rian Mantasa Salve Prastica, Zulis Erwanto, Data Iranata, Mahendra Andiek Maulana, Tabrizy Azkiyan Nafil and Muhammad Sulaiman 16 Towards flood resilient supply chain systems: A facility location model for flood-prone communities K.I. Abisoye, O.A. Adebimpe and V.O. Oladokun 17 Conclusion and final remarks Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oladokun
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Index 241
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About the editors
Professor Divine Kwaku Ahadzie is an experienced award-winning researcher in Construction and Human Settlement Development. He is the Head of the Centre for Settlements Studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana with a demonstrated history of working in construction, housing and disaster risk reduction. He is an educational professional with a PhD in construction and project management from the University of Wolverhampton, UK. He also studied at the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, UK, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. He is a member of the Ghana Institute of Construction, a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (UK) and an affiliate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is the regional editor for Africa of the Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, and associate editor of the Journal of Urban Planning and Development of the ASCE. He reviews for numerous international journals including the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate and Development, Cities and the Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering. He is the first African winner of the Emerald Driving the Impact Agenda Research Award. He is also a two-time outstanding reviewer recipient for the International Journal of Project Management, Elsevier, and the Journal of Urban Planning and Development of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has been recognised by Elsevier for his contribution to research seeking to address the SDGs. He is credited with having pioneered flood risk management research in Ghana and is a strong advocate for flood-resilient construction at the property and community levels. Professor David Proverbs is Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Wolverhampton. He has over 25 years of experience in higher education and has held strategic leadership roles in three modern universities where he has championed student learning as a research-driven, curriculum active and enterprising academic. David has developed significant regional, national and international research and enterprise collaborations drawing on a range of funding sources to pioneer innovative solutions for improving resilience to flooding. He has pioneered the development of flood recovery approaches to the benefit of many governments, agencies, charities, companies and institutions worldwide. His research has had significant national and international impact in the development of UK climate change policy; as a trustee advising on global research grant awards; and through supporting the development of national flood risk strategies, for example in Brazil, China, Nigeria, Peru and the UK. He is a member of and lead innovation adviser viii
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to the Environment Agency’s Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. He has published extensively on a range of flood risk management topics including adaptation, resilience and recovery. David is an experienced editor and is chief editor of the International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation (Emerald), guest editor to two recent Special Issues of the Water journal on flood risk and editor of a number of books related to flooding and climate change. He is co-chair of the bi-annual International Conference on Flood and Urban Water Management (FRIAR) and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Flood Risk Management. Robby Soetanto is Reader in Construction Innovation Management and Programme Leader of Construction Engineering Management in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, UK. He was visiting professor at Ryerson University, Canada, and World Class Professor at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya, sponsored by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Indonesia. His research concerns the management of innovation processes, particularly on the adoption and diffusion of innovation in two specific areas: (1) flood and community resilience, and specifically the adoption of blue-green infrastructure and financial instruments, and (2) digital innovation in design and construction. His areas of expertise include structural and non-structural measures for adaptation and mitigation for reducing flood risk, lean construction, productivity, process mapping, the adoption of digital technologies, scenario planning and technology road mapping. His research was funded by governments (EPSRC, NERC, EU, HEA, British Council, UKRI, Newton Fund, GCRF) and private companies (Lloyd TSB, Hewlett Packard). He led the award-winning BIM-Hub initiative (http://bim-hub.lboro.ac.uk/), has received the Premier Award of the CIOB’s International Innovation and Research Awards 2014 and has won four ( ) international best paper awards. He has published 3 books and more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and enjoyed over 2,400 citations in Google Scholar. Victor Oluwasina Oladokun, PhD, a Professor of Industrial and Production Engineering at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, is a Senior Fulbright Scholar and a Commonwealth Academic Fellow. Professor Oladokun is a certified SAP trainer/consultant, a member of the Academic Board of SAP University Alliances Africa (ESEFA), a member of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission Alumni Advisory Panel, a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and a former Deputy Dean of the University of Ibadan School of Business. Professor Oladokun has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in applied optimisation, operation management, project management, scheduling, reliability engineering, soft computing, entrepreneurship, supply chain management and enterprise systems. He has extensive experience in mentoring, leadership, curricula development, multidisciplinary research and international collaboration. He has served as visiting research fellow at universities in the UK, the USA and Nigeria. As the Chair of the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, he led the successful development and deployment of a professional master’s programme in engineering management to create a vital university–industry linkage. His research interests include disaster risk management and resilience modelling with the aim of generating insights about communal systems and processes that influence urban resilience and how to frame or integrate such insights into policy formulation and practice.
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Contributors
K.I. Abisoye
University of Ibadan, Nigeria O.A. Adebimpe
University of Ibadan, Nigeria Divine Kwaku Ahadzie
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Iftekhar Ahmed
University of Newcastle, Australia Nurul Zainab Binti Along
Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Solomon Asamoah
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Belia Ega Avila
Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia Danang Azhari
Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia Mohan Kumar Bera
BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, India Sandra Serwaa Boateng
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Colin A. Booth
University of the West of England, Bristol, UK x
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Sandra Carrasco
University of Newcastle, Australia Irene-Nora Dinye
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Adaku Echendu
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Temitope Egbelakin
University of Newcastle, Australia Zulis Erwanto
Banyuwangi State Polytechnic, Banyuwangi, Indonesia George Foden
Loughborough University, UK Fiona Gleed
The Open University: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK Zerafinas Abu Hassan
Nottingham Trent University Data Iranata
Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Surabaya, Indonesia Rudith S. King
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Guilherme Linheira
Santa Catarina State University – UDESC, Brazil Mahendra Andiek Maulana
Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Surabaya, Indonesia Silas N. Melo
State University of Maranhão, Cidade Universitária Paulo VI, Brazil Henry Mensah
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Anastasia Mortimer
University of Newcastle, Australia Tabrizy Azkiyan Nafil
Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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Olabode Ogunmakinde
Bond University, Australia Chukwudi Ogunna
Loughborough University, UK Victor Oluwasina Oladokun
University of Ibadan, Nigeria Francisco Henrique de Oliveira
Santa Catarina State University – UDESC, Brazil Renan Furlan de Oliveira
Federal University of Santa Catarina – UFSC, Brazil Victor Luis Padilha
Santa Catarina State University – UDESC, Brazil Regina Panceri
Santa Catarina State University – UDESC, Brazil Rian Mantasa Salve Prastica
Polytechnic of Public Works, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Indonesia David Proverbs
University of Wolverhampton, UK Medhiansyah Putra
Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia Muhammad Abdur Rahaman
Center for people and Environ (CPE), Dhaka, Bangladesh Zereen Saba
Center for people and Environ (CPE), Dhaka, Bangladesh Saut Sagala
Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia Indah Salsabiela
Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia Ricardo G. Santana
Maranhense Institute of Socio-economic and Cartographic Studies, Av. Jerônimo de Albuquerque, Brazil Farah Shahrin
Nottingham Trent University xii
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Willy Sher
University of Newcastle, Australia Quésia D. Silva
State University of Maranhão, Cidade Universitária Paulo VI, Brazil Eric Kwame Simpeh
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana John J. Smallwood
Nelson Mandela University, South Africa Robby Soetanto
Loughborough University, UK Athenkosi Sogaxa
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa Muhammad Sulaiman
Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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Foreword
Flood disaster management requires multiple stakeholders and multiple measures to secure an integrated effort for reducing risk. Flood protection and defences, early warning systems and prediction and evacuation and resettlement schemes are imperative and highly critical. However, recent flood events around the world have invigorated increasing attention and advocacy for a sense of community ownership in fully engaging and participating in the risk reduction process and in building resilience to deal with the hazards. Indeed, with adaptation in mind, it has become clear that communities can significantly help reduce the risk of flood if they are better aware of the risk and prepared to proactively enable community-oriented initiatives in building social resilience. Concomitantly, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction drawing on the Sendai Framework promotes this implementation strategy by emphasising “understanding and strengthening societal capacity for resilience” in flood disaster risk management. However, perceptions differ across governance and leadership systems around the world on how communities should be engaged in encouraging community cohesion for flood resilience. In particular, cultural and climate differences can influence community and stakeholder systems in how to deal with the human and social dimension of community-engaged flood risk management initiatives. There is a need now for an international platform to recognise what communities are doing in the local context that can be beneficial to the global effort and also for cross-cultural lessons and knowledge transfer. It is this need for some consistency in the approach of community-oriented initiative in building flood resilience which excited me in writing this foreword for the Handbook of Flood Risk Management and Community Action. As a former Director of Science Policy and Capacity Building in Science and Engineering in UNESCO, Headquarters in Paris, France, I am indeed also pleased to note that this unique opportunity of seeking to provide a global collective understanding of local initiatives is the work of academics, researchers and practitioners from all corners of the globe. This great collaboration, gathering authentic case studies for educational purposes, resonates very much with UNESCO knowledge sharing evidence-based policies around the world. Indeed, UNESCO is very much involved in flood mitigation measures for heritage sites, and I am happy to note that one of the topics treated is on preserving heritage sites and culture to promote tourism. In my current position as Executive Director of the African Academy Sciences, I am also excited to see the wide range of articles coming from developing countries in particular including in Africa. This handbook is useful for research, the xiv
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exchange of information, education and training and empowering communities. It will no doubt be beneficial for policy makers, government departments and experts, local and international universities, development partners, NGOs and community leaders. It is in line with the UN action for supporting disaster risk reduction for resilience and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 on empowering communities to be climate resilient and natural disaster prepared. I highly recommend this handbook as a unique contribution in encouraging community-based flood risk management. Dr (Mrs) Peggy Oti-Boateng Former Director of Science Policy and Capacity Building – UNESCO Currently Executive Director, African Academy of Sciences Nairobi, Kenya
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1 Handbook of flood risk management and community action An international perspective Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oladokun
Introduction Extreme weather events and associated increasing flood events in cities and conurbations across the world have brought to sharp focus the need to intensify community action in flood risk management efforts. Despite significant investments and efforts especially in the provision of flood risk infrastructure, structural defences often become overwhelmed by the frequency and intensity of floods, while early warning forecasting systems are also sometimes not able to predict flood events accurately due to wide variability in data. This means that, communities are becoming more vulnerable which calls for urgent action to intensify community-based flood risk initiatives, driven by a sense of social responsibility towards enhancing community resilience. This is particularly critical with the knowledge that, while communities are generally not well-prepared to cope with floods, their activities are largely fuelling the increasingly devastating impact of floods. Moreover, flooding is influenced by geography and climate, while flood risk management initiatives are shaped by economic circumstances, governmental policies and socio-cultural factors. There is therefore the need for an understanding of the best practices around the world including how government policies and cultures are influencing appropriate risk-taking behaviours toward recognising sustainable community initiatives. This handbook is at the core of understanding enhanced community-based flood risk initiatives that are making positive impacts and are influencing perceptions, behaviours and collective actions at the community level. To this extent, lessons from regional and continental experiences will be useful in providing an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of the human-centred approach required while making a real impact and an understanding of what needs to be improved for upscaling global action in community-based flood risk management. Within this context, the emphasis is on understanding community efforts in mobilising resources into action for engagements in communication task forces, evacuation and recovery, before, during and after flood incidence in addressing the SDGs and beyond. This emphasis on DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-1
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community action aligns very much with Gilbert Fowler White’s floodplain philosophy of “learning to live with water” and the 2015 Sendai Framework which focuses on enhancing community effort in disaster risk reduction. Hence, this handbook represents a unique addition to the flood risk management literature, emphasising grassroot involvement, as the 21st century approach to building resilient communities.
Impact of flooding on communities Recurring flooding events continue to impact many vulnerable communities in many countries around the world, be it in developed or developing regions and often with devastating consequences for lives and livelihoods. For instance, between 1980 and 2021, 5584 deaths were reported to have occurred in 32 European Economic Area (EEA) nations across Europe as a result of floods (ECHO, 2022). In North America, it is reported that floods are amongst the top 10 climate- and water-related events that have led to the largest human losses, with about 58,700 deaths from 1970 to date (WMO, 2021). It is suggested that in the Australia/Oceania regional block, about 103 people died from floods between 2006 and 2019. Subsequently, in Australia itself, 33 people died recently in the devastating Queensland floods, following a prolonged drought in the country (Peden et al., 2023). Flooding in South America has also affected a majority of the countries and caused the displacement of lives and properties, including the deaths of 357 people, since 2019 (FloodList, 2019). In this context, some of the heavily affected countries were listed as Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Brazil (FloodList, 2019). Massive floods in India, Bangladesh and Nepal are known to have recently affected about 17.5 million people, claiming the lives of more than 630 individuals (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 2020). In Africa, 1.21 million people in 12 different countries were affected by floods within the month of August to September 2020, leading to close to 150 deaths (OCHA, 2020). These increasing flood casualties are indeed disruptive to lives and livelihoods around the world (Jha, 2023) and require urgent global efforts in sustaining community awareness, preparedness, response and recovery, especially as climate change is leading to increasing floods across the globe. Confronted with climate change and the increased concentration of people and economic activities in cities across the world, it is projected that flood risk is going to be a continuous threat in the years to come (IPCC, 2012, 2018). While the degree of impact of flood may be better managed based on country- and/or region-specific risk management approaches, it is evident that the casualties, particularly in terms of human losses, are increasing because communities often lack awareness of flood risk and are not well prepared. What is also clear is that, in most countries around the globe, communities perceive protection against flooding to be the responsibility of government and often do not take proactive actions to fulfil their own responsibilities during flood events (Terpstra and Gutteling, 2008; Kievik et al., 2011; Nugraheni and Suyatna, 2020). However, and as suggested by the UNDRR, it is crucial to encourage the equitable and sustainable development of communities in disaster risk reduction, through the understanding and strengthening of societal capacity for resilience, emphasising grassroot participation and education in disaster risk reduction (UCLG, 2020 cited in UNDRR, 2020). To this effect, lessons from country-specific experiences would be useful in providing a crosscultural understanding of the nature and effectiveness of the human-centred approaches that are making a real impact and those that need to improve in global community-based flood risk management action and practices. It will also help in appreciating global community 2
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adaptation solutions and lessons that can be transferred across continents. This attempt at understanding and appreciating community best practices making a positive impact in flood risk reduction is targeted and collated here in this Handbook of Flood Risk Management and Community Action. It is hoped that the collection will be useful in supporting the development of workable community approaches in raising awareness about the links between local practices and how these can be leveraged for global agendas in support of the Sendai Framework/UN SDGs requirements of strengthening societal capacity in flood disaster reduction.
Organisation of the book The book is structured into five sections, namely Section I: Building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions, Section II: Governance and community response, Section III: Community-based flood resilience, Section IV: Flood insurance options and support systems, and Section V: Technologies to support community flood initiatives (Figure 1.1). The chapters have been organised to bring together varied views and experiences of flood risk management and community actions in a localised context but with opportunity for global usefulness. The collection comprises 17 chapters authored by a combination of academics and practitioners, experts in the management of flood risk, drawing on cases and examples across the continental blocks of the globe. The chapters particularly focus on the historical-comparative practices of communities based on local knowledge, highlighting the current state of affairs and the changing dynamics as a result of research and scientific knowledge in providing new insight for improvement and further developments.
Handbook of Flood Risk Management and Community Action Section I: Building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions
Section II: Governance and community response
Section III: Community-based flood resilience
Section IV: Flood insurance option and support systems
Section V: Technologies to support community flood initiatives
Figure 1.1 Organisation of the handbook. 3
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Section I: Building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions Communities have relied on local knowledge for flooding mitigation and adaptation for centuries. However, the interface between tradition and modernity can sometimes create difficulties in how to appropriately apply local knowledge to complement scientific and institutional knowledge for disaster risk reduction. This section seeks to highlight the positive community practices which have gained acceptance even in the era of science including how communities have navigated any potential challenges that existed in three case studies from Southeast Asia. The cases are drawn from Malaysia and Indonesia. Both cases highlight the positive interest in how local knowledge is being leveraged in communities to sustain community cohesion and well-being and in building social resilience for flood disaster reduction.
Section II: Governance and community response Governance, be it at the local, regional or national level, is at the heart of delivering structures and institutional frameworks and in creating an enabling environment to engender full community involvement in flood risk reduction efforts. However, it is also known that communities often shirk their responsibilities and are overwhelmed as a result of competing government interest and pressures. Drawing on four case studies from the Czech Republic, Australia and the Bangladesh, the chapters expand on the efforts that local and regional governments are making to support local communities, even amid all of the competing interests in flood emergency management, sustaining community resilience and the flood risk management of displaced persons. In this section, one of two case studies from Australia focuses on enhancing the management of the safety of animals through governance and community response in flood-prone areas, which should add to the uniqueness of this handbook.
Section III: Community-based flood resilience Community flood resilience is at the core of delivering the Sendai Framework and addressing the SDGs. This section provides current and cutting-edge community resilience initiatives that are making a positive impact including mobilising efforts and sustainability actions. The section comprises three chapters involving three case studies from Brazil, the UK and Ghana in West Africa. The first case study focuses on flood resilience and property levels and draws on a comparison between the UK and Brazil on home resilience efforts by homeowners and occupants. Lessons worth learning across continents for the Global North and Global South are elucidated. The second case study provides an added interest especially in the context of study area by examining the relationship between flood resilience and prevention policy in Brazil, offering useful suggestions for policy uptake for improvement. The third from Ghana supports an evaluation of the potential adoption of a communitybased flood resilience framework, aimed towards an affordable flood risk transfer scheme, and suggests ample scope for adoption by communities with similar vulnerabilities as in that country towards flood mitigation policies and management.
Section IV: Flood insurance options and support systems Flood insurance is recognised as a financial instrument and non-structural tool for flood risk management, which can enhance flood risk mitigation and community resilience. However, there are also sharp differences in flood insurance distribution across the world. 4
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Two chapters in this section generally point to the low uptake of flood insurance in developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, the chapter draws on empirical study to elevate the understanding of the uptake of flood insurance in a port city towards promoting the culture of risk protection. Similarly, in Ghana, the chapter draws on ongoing donor support, aimed at developing an affordable flood risk transfer scheme for urban Ghana, to gather empirical data from insurance companies on the potential uptake of community flood insurance schemes. Both cases suggest ample scope for further development and increased adoption of insurance as a resilience strategy.
Section V: Technologies to support community flood initiatives The use of technologies, be they conventional or smart technologies, is becoming widespread and has a lot of potential to assist with flood risk reduction. However, the application of these technologies for flood risk management may be significantly influenced by countries’ peculiarities. There are three chapters featured here. The first chapter employs the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta Analysis (PRISMA) to critically evaluate the use of smart technologies, particularly mobile phone applications, in many countries across the world and draw lessons for developing countries in general. Addressing river naturalisation and load sediment detection sensor for community-based flood risk management in Indonesia, the second chapter also dwells on how communities can leverage closed circuit television (CCTV) to make flood mitigation measures effective and in building resilience against future floods. They demonstrate that by providing training on tool operation and maintenance, the technology can be made cost-effective in helping communities invigorate their resource mobilisation efforts to reduce the impact of flooding. From the perspective of operational research, the third chapter touches on a revealing issue related to the challenges and potential break-down in supply chain systems in communities during floods and proposes a local-based model that can be used in improving the location of facilities in flood-prone areas. This model is then applied in a setting in Nigeria and proves to have potential for enhancing supply chain issues for community resilience. All three chapters do indeed expose readers to the potential of leveraging recent advanced technologies in engaging communities to manage floods and have useful lessons for adoption and adaptation across the world in the local context.
Summary These chapters have highlighted the grave threat posed to vulnerable communities around the world by recurring and increasing flood incidents. The role of communities in complementing institutional efforts has been illuminated as critical in engendering societal capacity and resilience. Case studies, empirical research and systematic reviews of community efforts in advancing positive tenets of flood risk management are presented in this edited book. A total of 17 chapters are presented relating to community issues in the application of local knowledge and nature-based solutions, governance and community response, community resilience strategies and resource mobilisation, community flood insurance especially in the context of developing countries and the uptake of technology for community flood response. The edited book has exposed the positive impact that communities are making in contributing to global efforts in flood risk reduction, potential challenges thereof and lessons that can be adapted or adopted in building community cohesion for the cross-cultural and 5
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continent-wide advancement of a global framework of flood risk management and community actions.
References ECHO. (2022). Fatalities associated with floods (1980–2021). Source: CATDAT by RiskLayer GmBH. https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/observatory/evidence/health-effects/flooding FloodList. (2019). South America – Thousands affected by floods and landslides in Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. https://floodlist.com/america/floods-paraguay-peru-ecuador-bolivia-march -2019 IFRC. (2020). 17.5 million affected by floods and threatened by disease in South Asia. https://www .ifrc.org/press-release/175-million-affected-floods-and-threatened-disease-south-asia IPCC. (2012) Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. in C.B. Field, V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.). Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, pp. 582. IPCC. (2018) Summary for Policymakers. In V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.) Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157940.001. Jha, A. (2023) Forward. In V. Oladokun, D. Proverbs, O. Adebimpe, and T. Adedeji, eds. Handbook of flood risk management in developing countries Handbook of flood risk management in developing countries. London: Routledge, pp. IX–X. Kievik, M., ter Huurne, E. F. J. and Gutteling, J. M. (2011). The action suited to the world? Use of the framework of risk information seeking to understand risk-related behaviors. In Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap 2011: Proceedings. University of Twente. Nugraheni, I.L. and Suyatna, A.. (2020) February. Community participation in flood disaster mitigation oriented on the preparedness: A literature review. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1467(1), 012028. IOP Publishing. OCHA. (2020). Africa: Floods and multiple disasters. https://reliefweb.int/report/chad/africa-floods -and-multiple-disasters-information-bulletin-06-september-2020?gclid=CjwKCAjwov6hBhB sEiwAvrvN6IOcuW3MJJgd4mOFpv6oKFQKJZgNzBYn06ddlYOl-mwfvBRs_z6ADxoC Peden, A. E., Heslop, D. and Franklin, R. C. (2023). Weather-related fatalities in Australia between 2006 and 2019 : Applying an equity lens. Sustainability, 15(1), 813. Terpstra, Teun and Gutteling, Jan M. (2008). ‘Households’ perceived responsibilities in flood risk management in The Netherlands. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 24(4), 555–565. UNDRR. (2020). Retrieved May 15, 2023, from undrr.org/publication/resilience-learning-module-i -fundamentals-governance-development WMO. (2021). Weather-related disasters increase over past 50 years, causing more damage but fewer deaths. https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over -past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer
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Section I
Building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions
2 Co-production of knowledge for flood risk management Case study of multiple stakeholders at Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia Nurul Zainab Binti Along and Iftekhar Ahmed
Introduction The purpose of this book chapter is to demonstrate knowledge co-production between authorities’ knowledge informed by scientific knowledge and indigenous local knowledge. Indigenous local knowledge (ILK) prevails among local communities that deal with the localised scale of disasters, while expert or scientific knowledge is involved in top-level management. In this research, this refers to the authorities that deal with large-scale flood risk, based upon international policies and guidelines. Authorities that have legitimate power over a certain area may give instructions for the local communities to evacuate; they may, however, not clearly understand the reasons why the communities choose to do otherwise. Local communities that have had several experiences with flood risk will remember and learn from those experiences when they face flood risk again in the future (Tran et al., 2009). Through repeated events, the local communities may develop knowledge of signs and indicators of the flood risk that is about to manifest and manage to evacuate themselves (Macherera & Chimbari, 2016). Expert and scientific knowledge is very valuable in predicting flood risk at large scales. Expert knowledge may be used by the authorities to give instructions to the local communities, but there may be a mismatch between the ILK that the communities have and the expert knowledge that the authorities have (Maconachie, 2012). Expert knowledge might have some basis for some of the extent of the overall flood risk, and ILK may have applicability to the local context. Combining the knowledge and integrating, sharing and applying it might be the best approach, in line with the term “knowledge co-production.” Knowledge co-production is still in its infancy in flood risk research, where the co-production of knowledge presents its own challenges in combining expert and ILK knowledge streams (Lavrillier et al., 2016). However, knowledge co-production is the best approach to inform multiple stakeholders, such as local communities and authorities, of the differences in the types of knowledge each of the stakeholders has without underestimating one another. Co-production of knowledge is defined by the National Science Foundation (NSF) DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-3
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as “the combination of various knowledge systems and methods and techniques to comprehensively understand the circumstances, systems, and processes being studied in a research project” (Arnott et al., 2020).
Literature review Knowledge co-production Knowledge co-production has been used concurrently with socio-ecological systems, social learning, the decolonisation of knowledge, epistemological freedom and decision-making processes. Knowledge co-production has been used in research where multiple stakeholders are involved, and the grassroots stakeholders’ voices should be emphasised. Páez et al. (2020) have shown through their research with Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) that knowledge co-production usage is synonymous with socio-ecological systems (SES) as it is characterised by links between human and non-human elements across spatial and temporal scales. Pearshall et al. (2022) propose the principles of knowledge co-production for sustainability through knowledge infrastructure. Shrestha et al. (2018), through GIS-based sustainable urban planning and management, suggest that knowledge co-production happens at its best through social learning, where participants engage in deliberation within a collaborative dialogue; they learn as individuals and as a group about the problem, their goals, the perspectives of other participants and the context of the matter at hand. Khan et al. (2022) advocate for the decolonisation of knowledge through knowledge co-production, where grassroots communities are emphasised as being part of the diverse participation in disaster knowledge co-production. Khan et al. (2022) also stress epistemological freedom, where grassroots communities have the right to think, theorise, interpret the world, develop their own methodologies and write from where they are located. It is observed that knowledge co-production is frequently employed in research involving multiple stakeholders. However, the co-production of knowledge in flood risk is seldom discussed. Understanding the importance and benefits of the co-production of knowledge is essential to enable knowledge co-production in flood risk and other aspects of disaster risk reduction.
Knowledge co-production in flood or disaster risk Schuerch et al. (2022) propose six steps for efficient knowledge co-production to deal with managed realignment (MR) as a solution to mitigate coastal flood risks. Okyere (2022) discusses the knowledge co-production of landslide risk management, which needs mutual recognition of the validity of the different types of knowledge and ways of knowing among the actors involved. Singh et al. (2022) experiment with knowledge co-production with two contrasting communities: smallholder farmers in Jind (Haryana) and Adi women in East Siang district, India. Crawford et al. (2021) and Aguilar et al. (2019), writing on co-production, loosely touch on knowledge; nonetheless, these authors touch on the cooperation that can be achieved between different stakeholders on the co-production of knowledge on disasters. Crawford et al. (2021) report on the outcome of co-production with disability inclusive disaster risk reduction (DIDRR) with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in the Hawkesbury-Nepean region, Australia. Aguilar et al. (2019) search for and 10
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assemble typologies of flood risk governance (FRG) co-production between public authorities and citizens: several scholars have warned against the (potential) consequences of increased citizen involvement in FRG delivery, particularly regarding its social impact, and advocate a more conscious approach to co-production in governance practice. Lejano et al. (2021) lay a foundation for the co-production of risk knowledge: (1) indigenous and local knowledge; (2) social learning; and (3) narrative ways of knowing, known as “three-legged stools.” It portrays a measure of co-management, involving the sharing of power and responsibility and stakeholder participation, and does so through the threelegged stool approach. Khan et al. (2022), through work with women at the grassroots level, propose the need to decolonise knowledge production by activating co-learning and coproduction to highlight their contributions, thus helping to establish their credibility within the research community and beyond. Past studies have demonstrated various applications of knowledge co-production in various fields related to disaster risk reduction. However, research on specific criteria for the type of disaster that allow for effective knowledge co-production among multiple stakeholders should be prioritised. For this study, knowledge co-production is conceptualised as in Figure 2.1.
Conceptual framework Indigenous and expert ways of knowing Observation Observations on running water bodies are one of the local early warning systems (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019). According to Šakić Trogrlić et al. (2019), observations are closely linked to the local communities’ most routine activities. Fisherfolk may identify an increased number of specific fish as a sign of an upcoming flood, whereas farmers report on different species of animals in the crop fields.
Figure 2.1 Conceptual framework of knowledge co-production 11
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Figure 2.2 The location of Kampung Temai Hilir (Malay) and Kampung Permatang Siput (Orang Asli) is indicated by the black-lined square. Both villages are in the red zone, indicating that they are in flood zones.
Older generations Older generations, due to their vast experiences with flood risk, are knowledgeable about local warning signals from the environment (Haokip, 2022). Older generations can be a transfer agent of ILK to the younger generations where the ILK is expressed orally through stories, songs and cultural beliefs (Danasayaka & Matsuda, 2022). Social memory Local communities’ social memories interpret risk or hazard signals and shape their perceptions of any adaptation, mitigation or management options (MacGillivray, 2018). According to Sarmento Buarque et al. (2020) social memories of flood risk become stronger as flood intensity increases. Take the Malay and Orang Asli communities as an example; they recall that their older generations warned them not to build houses in certain areas, and they have vivid childhood memories of flooding (Along et al., 2022). Experiential learning With frequent exposure to flood risk, local communities have developed experiential learning and become familiar with the local geography of flood risk (Bwambale et al., 2022). Membele et al. (2022) support the idea that experiential learning is embedded within the practices of local communities towards flood risk and that expert knowledge should be integrated with the experiential learning of the local communities. 12
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Figure 2.3 The locations of Kampung Permatang Siput, where the Orang Asli live, and Kampung Temai Hilir, where the Malay live, on an enlarged map. On the map, we can see the word Sungai Pahang, a Malay word that translates to English as “Pahang River.”
Data Data is important for flood risk management, as scientific communities use past data to validate the models that are to be tested and used for flood predictions. Data is useful in predicting flood risk; however, higher resolution is needed to get accurate results at local scales. If the higher-resolution issues cannot be solved, integrating general flood prediction with ILK would be the best fit for local flood risk predictions.
Knowledge co-production stages Consultation and engagement Consultation is an essential first step in knowledge co-production. Stakeholders might want to undertake an initial consultation to obtain an idea of who might be the most appropriate persons to consult and who would be key informants. The characteristics of a key informant are having experience with flood risk; being old enough to have experienced many occasions of large flood events in the past; and having experience dealing with society outside their communities or the authorities. Consultation usually begins with authorities who are interested in the grassroots community’s response to flood risk. Engagement is the act of multiple stakeholders working together to acquire, discuss and manage the outcome 13
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of a process. Engagement is a crucial part of knowledge co-production, where stakeholders involved acquire new knowledge while respecting the ways of learning from each other and finding ways to co-produce knowledge. Regular interaction results in knowledge co-production. Knowledge co-production necessitates the sustained, ongoing engagement of practitioners and researchers rather than a one-off or short-lived consultation period that sometimes occurs in conventional approaches to research (Campbell et al., 2016). Knowledge gathering Knowledge gathering involves discussion and meeting with different stakeholders. Knowledge gathering will expose different types of knowledge and involve different perspectives from many stakeholders, contrasting views and knowledge that may seem unnecessary at that given time but prove useful in the future. Knowledge gathering requires the participation of farmers, specialists and researchers as knowledge co-generators (Zarei et al., 2020). The most important requirements in knowledge gathering are trust and partnership (Zarei et al., 2020). Knowledge gathering is an important step in recognising which knowledge is effective. Knowledge sharing Sharing knowledge could mean going to the local communities, finding out how they are preparing for the flood, taking notes on the strengths and weaknesses of their knowledge and figuring out what knowledge they need to manage flood risk. According to Longman et al. (2022) overcoming barriers to knowledge sharing between land managers and researchers is a critical cross-sector strategy for engaging and mitigating or adapting to hazards. Knowledge integration Integration happens in knowledge co-production when standardised sets of actions or decision-making are needed from the stakeholders involved. Usually this involves the local authorities, local communities and NGOs, among others. For knowledge integration to work, the people involved need to know enough about the problem being studied and be willing to leave their comfort zone to work on defining the problem together (Kruijf et al., 2022). Knowledge interpretation When people with knowledge die and leave their knowledge to the next generation, this is called interpretation. The young generations may reflect on the knowledge that their forefathers have left and think about what they can do with that knowledge. Knowledge interpretation is helpful when inherited knowledge needs to be changed to fit the current situation so that flood risk can be managed. Knowledge application The application of knowledge co-production would prove useful when stakeholders that are in charge of the knowledge co-production sort the knowledge that has been gathered and integrate it into the phases of flood risk that the stakeholders will face. When the stakeholders, especially the grassroots community, know how the knowledge co-production will be used, they will be more likely to take part in the process. 14
Co-production of knowledge
Monitoring and evaluation The monitoring and evaluation of knowledge co-production are required to keep current knowledge needs up to date. Over time, the knowledge that has just been co-produced might become outdated. The former knowledge co-production techniques should be evaluated to learn the basic principles and framework for creating better knowledge co-production in the future.
Research question The research was conducted in an effort to answer the following question: How can the co-production of knowledge inform multiple stakeholders in flood risk management?
Objectives The following objectives allowed for answers to be sought to the above research question: 1. To investigate the modes of knowing in each stakeholder group to gain knowledge of flood risk 2. To determine the process of knowledge co-production involved in flood risk management
Study area and methodology This research was conducted in the Pekan district, Pahang state, on Malaysia’s East Coast. Orang Asli (indigenous) and Malay communities coexist, with the Malay living next to the Pahang River and the Orang Asli living in a remote swamp area separated by palm oil plantations, one to two kilometres apart. Interviews were conducted with Malay communities from Kampung Temai Hilir and Orang Asli communities from Kampung Permatang Siput. There are three gauging stations along the Pahang River: Sg. Yap, Temerloh and Lubuk Paku. Based on the gauges, the months of November through March have the highest total annual rainfall. This study uses a case study where Orang Asli, Malays and the authorities are the units of analysis. In this study, these units of analysis are also referred to as participants. The technique for collecting data from these units of analysis is by conducting in-depth interviews. Open-ended questions were used during in-depth interviews, with informed consent given prior to the interview. The researcher explained the objectives of the interview and the rights of the participants. The researcher received approval from the University of Newcastle’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and the Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia under the Prime Minister’s Department to conduct the research. The analysis used in this case study was based on Atkinson’s (2002) method. The interview transcript was analysed using NVivo software, where the researcher went through chunks of data and created codes for each chunk. The codes created were analysed and rationalised from the literature. The codes were created so that a number of codes could be included in a category. A theme was formed by combining several categories. During the fieldwork, the researcher spent nearly a month interacting with the community to collect the necessary data for this case study. During the interview, both Malays and Orang Asli provided excellent cooperation to the researcher. The researcher began by 15
Nurul Zainab Binti Along and Iftekhar Ahmed
recognising one person who was able to interact with every village resident. As a result, the individual would assist the researcher in identifying the key informant for their flood experience. Since the Orang Asli villages are located in a remote region away from the main road, it was difficult for the researcher to access them. With permission from the local Land and District Office and the Department of Orang Asli’s Development, the researcher established credibility with the villagers by providing a thorough explanation of the study’s objective and distributing consent forms to the participants.
Empirical findings The finding shows the intra knowledge co-production between Orang Asli, Malay and the authorities. Orang Asli and Malay have quite similar ways of understanding intra knowledge co-production, which are implicit (Tables 2.1 and 2.2). However, Malay have more of Table 2.1 Orang Asli’s intra knowledge co-production Orang Asli’s intra Interview transcript knowledge co-production Social memory
Experiential learning
Older generation Observation News
“The big flood event 2014 I remember that I felt unusually cold from the floor where I slept on.” “I remember they asked us to evacuate, but we do not want to, we chose to stay in our own house.” “I learn through the floods, where we use whatever resources we can, such as catching the fish under our house, setting the wooden shelves to cook and using the wood fire to light the fire.” “My late father said, do not build houses there, because that’s where the floodwater flows, due to the ground being low.” “Sometimes, we observe the flood is stagnant. No rain, but the flood is stagnant, it did not move.” “We also hear from the TV about incoming floods, apart from the non-stop raining, so we get prepared.”
Table 2.2 Malay’s intra knowledge co-production Malay’s intra knowledge Interview transcripts co-production Social memory Experiential learning
“I remember we need to be evacuated to the nearest evacuation centre.” “From flood events that happen almost every year, we know that our materials will always get soaked up in floodwater … thus, we build the small raft houses, we put our materials in there … there will be authorities who do patrolling while the villagers are in the evacuation centre, to prevent theft cases.” Older generation “We know from the experience that floods will happen based on non-stop raining, murky river water.” Observation “We use the main road and we always keep an eye on the river water, so we know when the water rises.” Instruction from district “When the district officer gives the instruction to evacuate, we will officer evacuate.”
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an inclination to receive instructions from the district officer regarding when to evacuate to the evacuation centre. Meanwhile, the Orang Asli, given the electricity and television available in their households, tend to base their judgement on the news regarding the flood. Meanwhile, the authorities have generated their intra knowledge co-production in explicit ways, such as through historical data, surveys, scientific information and maps (Table 2.3). Table 2.4 shows the platform for co-producing knowledge while Table 2.5 is devoted to a summary of the processes involved in knowledge co-production. Table 2.3 Authorities’ intra knowledge co-production Authorities’ intra knowledge co-production
Interview transcript
Data Survey
“We collect data on how many victims had been evacuated.” “Two to three months before, we go into the villages and do surveys, how many people have chronic diseases, how many women are pregnant, so that before flood happens, we go and get these people and bring them to the hospital.” “For mitigation, we do poldering system, to preserve the historical site of the Pahang district.” “Based on the map, we try to go to the villages, whose communities are not evacuated, to deliver them food and other necessities.”
Scientific information Map
Table 2.4 Platforms for co-producing knowledge Platforms for co-producing Interview transcripts knowledge Meeting
Front bases
Handbook
Leaders’ role
“We will meet during the meeting for coordination purposes … we usually do it in August or September … all the heads of agencies as well as heads of the sub-districts will attend the meeting … we find solutions for issues and we collect information.” “The front bases are indeed the supply area for the relief aid … every subdistrict has their own front bases to supply food for the villages around it.” “For the flood victims that move to the evacuation centre, they already have a food supply from the front bases … usually the Welfare Department will supply flood relief aid and store it at the front base in August or September … once the flood starts to happen, the head of the sub-districts will distribute the food at the evacuation centre.” “The contents of the handbook have the lists of villagers involved with the floods, evacuation centres, front bases, helicopter landings … if anything happens during the floods, there is information in the handbook, and also the list of all the department heads … we list all the information in the handbook and we distribute it to all departments and agencies … in the event of floods, they can contact those on the list.” “When there is an emergency like we have fever and need to go to the hospital we tell the tribal head … the tribal head will arrange for it, he will find transport to the hospital … usually with help from the rescue team.”
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Nurul Zainab Binti Along and Iftekhar Ahmed Table 2.5 Summary of processes involved in knowledge co-production Component
Orang Asli
Consultation and engagement
Authorities will consult the Malay and Orang Asli on their requirements for flood preparedness. The engagement happens when the authorities ask the Orang Asli and Malay who are extremely sick and need to have hospital treatment before a flood happens, and the pregnant women as well need to be taken to the hospital. Malay and Orang Asli consultation and engagement happen during food aid distribution. Knowledge gathering happens when information is gathered, such as when the authorities are doing surveys on Orang Asli and Malay on their flood preparedness and see who has chronic diseases. Knowledge sharing had been demonstrated by producing a handbook, to make communication easier, and every stakeholder has the information needed. Knowledge integration happens more frequently between the authorities and Malay compared to between the Orang Asli and the authorities. Knowledge interpretation involves giving new meaning to knowledge that has been co-produced. Knowledge that has been gathered by the authorities is shared in the handbook. Before the knowledge is shared, knowledge interpretation happens when the local word “tohok,” meaning the water is rising, is interpreted as the water is rising and evacuation is needed. Knowledge application happens in terms of when to evacuate, where to evacuate, when and where to distribute food aid and for timely rescue. Monitoring and evaluation happen when the authorities review the information and knowledge in the handbook and the effectiveness of the flood response.
Knowledge gathering Sharing Integration Interpretation
Application Monitoring and evaluation
Malay
Authorities
Discussion The discussion will focus on the intra and inter knowledge co-production of Orang Asli, Malay and the authorities, the knowledge co-production platform and the process of knowledge co-production (Figure 2.4).
Intra knowledge co-production The local communities should indeed co-produce complete information about flood risk within their communities in order to protect themselves and know how to react when a flood occurs. The co-production of knowledge enables local communities to gain a complete picture of flood risk in their territory. Knowledge co-production consists mainly of communities’ social memories of recurring flood experiences over the years. Flood risk is associated with an extraordinary flood event that a community recalls, as well as the associated dos and don’ts and the possible implications of not adhering to specific procedures or instructions. Social memory is not the only process that the local communities depend on for generating flood risk knowledge. Social memories can thrive better with experiential learning. Experiential learning results from first-hand experience with floods and the communities’ experiences, as well as lessons learned from the flood on how to prepare, respond and recover. As repeated flood events occur, experiential learning becomes routine and is ingrained in the memories of local communities, resulting in enhanced flood preparedness and response. According to McEwen 18
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Figure 2.4 Intra knowledge co-production and inter knowledge co-production in flood risk
et al. (2017), events such as floods that happen frequently will create flood memories that facilitate knowledge sharing and social learning to increase a community’s resilience. Experiential learning and social memories will become more evident and will be used more by local communities if they are shared by the older generations. Older generations pass down experiential learning and social memories to younger generations. Flood risk information is passed down orally and through wise words to future generations. Experiential learning includes how the older generations evacuate and avoid flood risk without going to the evacuation centre. This is in line with Weichselgartner and Pigeon (2015), as they consider knowledge as a continuum of facts, data, information and wisdom. News plays a role in contributing to knowledge co-production. The last activity that local communities do to confirm all of the activities that they carry out to generate knowledge about flood risk is hearing “news” from the television. Social memories and experiential learning are carried by the older generations and the younger generations, respectively. Younger generations will apply the flood risk knowledge and confirm it through the news. The news will bring the weather forecast and predict the flood event. The information is relevant for knowledge co-production during flood risk preparation. News provides confirmation on when the flood will happen. Thus, the local communities will prepare to be evacuated and store food. During flood response, news is not used, as the electricity will be disconnected to reduce the risk of electric shocks. Knowledge confirmation by the younger generations using news is a good practice so as not to be misled by the knowledge or wisdom passed down by their older generations. The intra knowledge co-production occurs within the communities as the people there live in the same locality and interact within the same environment. Intra knowledge coproduction happens within the authorities as well. The authorities enlist the help of several rescue organisations, each with their own set of skills. Authorities may have flood hazard maps, areas of concern, transportation to provide rescue, deliver food and even rescue their staff and instructions for evacuation. The activities of the authorities result in intra knowledge co-production in relation to flood risk. 19
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Inter knowledge co-production Inter knowledge co-production on flood risk is a result of the interaction of flood risk knowledge among different stakeholders that have different ways of generating knowledge. The authorities have the expertise or scientific knowledge through formal training and education, where the training and education are accredited and assessed through national and international professional bodies. The local communities have accumulated ILK through interaction within their communities and the environment. Thus, the knowledge co-production between the authorities and the local communities would result in the inter knowledge co-production of flood risk. The different types of knowledge and the intention to co-produce with the different types of knowledge must involve consultation and engagement. Consultation and engagement should be initiated with the stakeholders that have more legitimate power over the flood risk area. Hence, the procedures for gaining permission to enter the area, initiating meetings, etc., would be more easily accessible. The act of committing to consultation and engagement would require a humble approach from the authorities in order to know how the local communities’ flood preparedness and flood response work. The plan guided by the authorities might be different from the local communities’ approach. As a result, authorities should be open and nonjudgemental about why local communities choose to prepare for and respond to flood risk the way they do. The differences in flood risk knowledge are always related to the local communities’ cultures, and first and foremost, the authorities should respect the cultures of the local communities. However, inter knowledge co-production aims not to treat either knowledge as superior; according to Mercer (2012), it must be built upon the strength of both inside and outside knowledge. After a successful period of consultation and engagement, the authorities can gain the trust of the local communities, and the local communities are then ready to share the knowledge of flood risk that they have. At this time, the authorities can effectively gather the knowledge about flood risks that the local communities share with them. The shared information about flood risk is then put together with the expert information that the government already has. Knowledge integration can happen if the information and the knowledge have the same goals, such as flood evacuation or flood response. Knowledge interpretation occurs when the flood risk knowledge from the older generations has been shared and gathered, but the current surroundings are not the same as when the flood risk knowledge was generated. As a result, knowledge holders must interpret old flood risk knowledge. After the processes of knowledge sharing, gathering and interpretation are completed, the knowledge application is ready for use. Knowledge application usually takes the form of explicit knowledge, such as handbooks, signboards and guidelines.
Knowledge co-production platform Knowledge co-production needs a platform to occur. Knowledge co-production can take place in an environment where multiple stakeholders are free to interact without fear of making mistakes. The informal environment would allow all the stakeholders involved to interact and share the knowledge that they have. One such space for example are stores for keeping food where all the community members will gather to collect food. Indirectly, during the event, informal meetings will occur where the leaders of each of the stakeholders are present to update their knowledge. During
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the exchange of knowledge, knowledge holders should be appointed involving the interaction of all the stakeholders, and guidelines should be included on what information or knowledge should be recorded.
The process of knowledge co-production Knowledge co-production involves the processes of consulting and engagement, knowledge gathering, knowledge sharing, knowledge integration, knowledge interpretation, knowledge application, and monitoring and evaluation. The process is obvious and includes all the processes mentioned in inter-knowledge co-production as compared to intra-knowledge co-production. Knowledge co-production would need a documenter, a person who is knowledgeable about different types of knowledge and adept at the knowledge management process. A documenter can be a person who is a risk knowledge manager who deals with both ILK and scientific knowledge. With the different types of flood risk knowledge, the documenter should be well-informed on the origin of the knowledge and how it is generated, applied and improved from time to time. A flood risk knowledge database should be established, as new knowledge might be gathered and the current knowledge might be outdated and need to be interpreted in light of the current flood situation.
Conclusion The communities, particularly the indigenous Orang Asli and Malay, have local and indigenous knowledge on flood risk management from the point of view of their circumstances, experiences and environment. On the other hand, formal organisations such as local authorities have access to scientific knowledge and are informed by it. Both of these streams of knowledge have their specific values, and therefore, there is the potential to synthesise them for the fruitful production of a hybrid knowledge stream that maximises the benefits of both streams. Knowledge co-production might also empower communities that have different ways of life but live in the same area of disaster or flood risk. The challenges of knowledge coproduction involve different languages, dialects or terminologies between the communities living in flood-prone areas. However, what makes knowledge co-production possible is the willingness of the communities as well as the expert groups to cooperate and generate better knowledge from knowledge co-production. Flood risk knowledge from ILK and expert knowledge have the potential to be co-produced under favourable conditions. Documenters need to have a vast knowledge of both knowledge streams and be aware of the differences and ways of perceiving them. The awareness of knowledge co-production has started to spread in flood risk management, particularly using the data, information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom (DIKUW) concept. For the documenters’ part in knowledge management, more research should be done using disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of things (IoT) and machine learning.
References Aguilar-Barajas, I., Sisto, N.P., Ramirez, A.I. and Magaña-Rueda, V., 2019. Building urban resilience and knowledge co-production in the face of weather hazards: flash floods in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (Mexico). Environmental Science & Policy, 99, 37–47. 21
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Membele, G. M., Naidu, M., & Mutanga, O. (2022). Using local and indigenous knowledge in selecting indicators for mapping flood vulnerability in informal settlement contexts. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 71, 102836. Mercer, J. (2012). Knowledge and disaster risk reduction. In B. Wisner, J.C. Gaillard, & I. Kelman (Eds.).Handbook of Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10 .4324/9780203844236. Okyere, S.A. (2022). Reframing the urban challenge in Africa: Knowledge co-production from the South, by Ntombini Marrengane and Sylvia Croese. New York: Routledge. Páez, D.P., Bojórquez-Tapia, L.A., Ramos, G.C.D. and Chavero, E.L. (2020). Understanding translation: Co-production of knowledge in marine spatial planning. Ocean & Coastal Management, 190, 105163. Pearsall, H., Heck, S., Tablas, M., Pierce, J., Hinrichs, C., Roman, L.A. and Shabazz, J. (2022). Building knowledge infrastructure for diverse stakeholders to scale up co-production equitably. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 54, 101156. Šakić Trogrlić, R., Wright, G. B., Duncan, M. J., van den Homberg, M. J., Adeloye, A. J., Mwale, F. D., & Mwafulirwa, J. (2019). Characterising local knowledge across the flood risk management cycle: A case study of Southern Malawi. Sustainability, 11(6), 1681. Sarmento Buarque, A. C., Bhattacharya-Mis, N., Fava, M. C., de Souza, F. A. A., & Mendiondo, E. M. (2020). Using historical source data to understand urban flood risk: A socio-hydrological modelling application at Gregório Creek, Brazil. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 65(7), 1075–1083. Schuerch, M., Mossman, H.L., Moore, H.E., Christie, E. and Kiesel, J. (2022). Invited perspectives: Managed realignment as a solution to mitigate coastal flood risks–optimizing success through knowledge co-production. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 22(9), 2879–2890. Shrestha, R., Flacke, J., Martinez, J. and Van Maarseveen, M. (2018). Interactive cumulative burden assessment: Engaging stakeholders in an adaptive, participatory and transdisciplinary approach. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(2), 260. Singh, R.K., Singh, A., Kumar, S., Sheoran, P., Jat, H.S., Sharma, P.C., Sharma, D.K., Hazarika, B.N., Bhowmik, S.N., Sureja, A.K. and Bhardwaj, R. (2022). Experimental co-production of knowledge to adapt to environmental change in northern India. Environmental Science & Policy, 136, 357–368. Tran, P., Shaw, R., Chantry, G., & Norton, J. (2009). GIS and local knowledge in disaster management: A case study of flood risk mapping in Viet Nam. Disasters, 33(1), 152–169. Weichselgartner, J., & Pigeon, P. (2015). The role of knowledge in disaster risk reduction. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 6(2), 107–116. Zarei, Z., Karami, E., & Keshavarz, M. (2020). Co-production of knowledge and adaptation to water scarcity in developing countries. Journal of Environmental Management, 262, 110283.
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3 Local knowledge’s roles for naturebased solutions as flood risk management Pangpang Bay, Indonesia Saut Sagala, Danang Azhari, Medhiansyah Putra, Belia Ega Avila and Indah Salsabiela
Introduction Disaster risk reduction initiatives have been combined with local knowledge for years, especially in Pacific Asia (Shaw et al., 2009). However, the discourse on the underutilisation of the integration of local knowledge and disaster risk reduction (DRR) also sparked a valid conversation on disaster risk reduction topics since it is also recognised as a Sendai Framework priority area (Hadlos et al., 2022; Sakic Trogrlic et al., 2022). Hence, a new approach to resilience issues like nature-based solutions (NbS) needs to recognise these gaps to truly transform disaster risk reduction initiatives’ localisation. NbS has emerged as a concept for integrating a range-based ecosystem approach to address societal challenges and increase resilience. Mainstreaming NbS into policies and regulations has encouraged the government of Indonesia to shift its approach from grey infrastructure to green infrastructure. Promoting nature’s important roles in responding to environmental change and hazards in the long term is important for the benefit of the people and the environment (Sagala et al., 2021). Nevertheless, integrating NbS with grassroots initiatives, especially local knowledge, is still rare due to the lack of related studies and minimal attention from related stakeholders. Integrating local knowledge from the community into the flood risk management system is necessary to improve disaster risk reduction planning. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2021) and Grace et al. (2021) also highlighted the importance of local and indigenous knowledge in NbS implementation since the emergence of NbS is a key part of the response to the climate crisis. It will also align with the resulting solution that would be more suitable and relevant for application in the area in which the community lives. Despite the urge to accommodate local knowledge in NbS implementation, the localisation of NbS implementation has not yet been explored more, especially in the global south. Most of the literature focuses on the overall and technical components of implementing 24
DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-4
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NbS. Some literature also tackles local knowledge in NbS, such as Cottrell (2022) highlighting the general need for the inclusion of indigenous and local knowledge in NbS, especially in combating climate change. While others also tackle the local context as an enabling factor of NbS implementation, especially in the global north (Calliari et al., 2022; Grabowski et al., 2022; Mabon et al., 2022). Hence, there is an urge to examine the localisation of NbS from a global south perspective like that of Indonesia. This study explores the southern coastal area of Banyuwangi District, which has a high risk of and vulnerability to coastal flooding due to high tides and high rainfall intensity during the rainy season. The area around Pangpang Bay is also one of the Essential Ecosystem Areas (EEA) in East Java province, located in Muncar and Tegaldlimo Sub-district, comprised of Kedungringin, Wringinputih, Kedunggebang and Kedungsari Villages. Teluk Pangpang/Pangpang Bay, as part of NbS, is also full of historical, cultural, social, ecological and economic components that enrich the local value. The combination of the management of NbS and the local value in Pangpang Bay has made the community more resilient towards disasters. This study therefore aims to provide an example of how local knowledge is important in developing and maintaining NbS in the context of coastal areas in Indonesia. First, this study established the concept of the localisation of NbS that combines the local value and the concept of NbS. Then, it examined the integration of local values and the EAA in Pangpang Bay. Finally, this paper concludes with the lesson learned from the localisation of NbS in Pangpang Bay and highlights the main point that can be scaled up in NbS implementation.
Literature review Local knowledge of disaster risk management Local knowledge comes from a set of strategies and adjustments to the characteristics of the area, allowing the community to adapt, mitigate and manage to live with the hazardprone conditions on their own before any external help comes (Hiwasaki et al., 2014; Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019). Communities with high exposure to floods will know how to live with them, from the recurring signs to their periodical observation over generations (Tran et al., 2009; Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019). Local knowledge surely benefits the community by helping identify local needs, increasing the trust, confidence and involvement of the affected community, suppressing the cost and contributing to sustainability (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019). Nevertheless, local knowledge is not one-size-fits-all, and the community still needs to look deeper, not only into the geographical characteristics of the area but also into the socio-economic, global climate and environmental changes that are currently happening and triggering extreme events (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019). Applying disaster risk reduction strategies effectively requires the integration of local knowledge and scientific processes as two equally important components (Hiwasaki et al., 2014; Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019), especially for coastal planning and protection (Hemmerling et al., 2020). Collaboration between the community and relevant stakeholders should be balanced to find a middle-ground solution that is socially and scientifically acceptable (Hemmerling et al., 2020; d’Hont and Slinger, 2022). Local knowledge can be combined with flood risk management by identifying, validating and sharing knowledge at various scales (Fabio Carnelli et al., 2020). We combined the four steps of local flood risk management and preparedness by Kamarulzaman et al. (2016) and d’Hont and Slinger’s (2022) analysis framework to analyse the integration of local knowledge and NbS flood risk management in Pangpang Bay Area (Figure 3.1). Understanding 25
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Figure 3.1 Local knowledge on NbS for flood preparedness framework. Source: Kamarulzaman et al. (2016) and d’Hont and Slinger (2022).
the environment should be rooted in comprehending the dynamic, sustained and continuous bio-geophysical and social factors, calling for a multidisciplinary approach between actors to support community practice.
Integration of nature-based solutions and local characteristics The adoption of NbS is known to significantly reduce the impacts of flooding in a smallscale area (Lallemant et al., 2021), focusing on boosting community resilience to climate change by also exploring locals’ perception of and willingness to implement some NbS into their disaster reduction (Bernello et al., 2022). NbS implementation can be hindered if the locals do not perceive it as practical or cost-effective, but somehow, communities have consciously or unconsciously implemented local knowledge in line with NbS, especially those who live in coastal area. For example, the case of South Malawi (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019) has different indicators or signs as a local early warning approach during a set period of occurrence (e.g., a celestial indicator of moon shape observation during each month or a local phenomenon of villagers unable to sleep due to increased temperatures in September to December). Adopting locals’ knowledge and understanding their perspectives and attitudes toward NbS can be useful in improving the planning (Bernello et al., 2022). Communities may have done it unconsciously or have generally low knowledge about NbS (Chui and Ngai, 2016; Sharma et al., 2016), but it is crucial to unify the awareness of the concept of nature-based 26
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solutions to improve their information regarding NbS and increase their confidence in implementing it more often. Understanding the locals’ perspective may start with knowledge exploration. In South Malawi (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019), the local community was provided with a high level of flood hazard and dynamics comprehension to explore and dig deep into discussing their knowledge of the hazards. They can anticipate incoming phenomena through signs in a certain period. Oftentimes, a particular demographic (e.g., elderly, spiritual or religious people) relates the occurrence to spiritual or supernatural causes, such as the acts of God. This case is relevant to similar demography in the global south. It showcases their holistic understanding that floods, or any other disasters, are caused by complex factors in and outside their geographical locations or characteristics. The participation of the local community and relevant stakeholders in co-designing NbS implementation will be crucial to adjust the strategy to be carried out in the conditions around them. Other examples of actions in managing flood risk using NbS by local institutions or leaders in South Malawi are encouraging tree planting by the village and area civil protection committees and assisting in afforestation initiatives led by community-based organisations (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019).
Methodology The interview results were transcribed, and the key answers were highlighted. Some supporting documents are also derived from governmental decrees and regulations.
Result and discussion Flood risk management in Pangpang Bay Based on the flood risk map and National Disaster Management Agencies data, Pangpang Bay has a moderate risk of flood and coastal flood, indicated by green, yellow and red level indications. The classification is 20,043 ha with high exposure, 954,775 ha for medium exposure and 11,572,559 ha in the low exposure category (Figure 3.1). The coastal floods occur yearly, especially in the rainy season between October and April, exacerbated by high tide and high rainfall intensity. The most vulnerable location is Setail River zone, which is dominated by settlement, fishpond and mangrove conservation areas. The EEA, an NbS approach, could provide ecosystem restoration to adapt and mitigate the flood risk, especially in coastal areas, while conserving, sustaining and protecting coastal biodiversity. It could contribute to achieving a sustainable ecosystem, especially water and food security for the communities. Integrating EEA and DRR and climate action for future management of the environment could address multiple goals, whether to do with socio-economic aspects, carbon sequestration or even hazard mitigation as broader and more holistic aims in ecological services (Halldorsson et al., 2017). In Indonesia, flood risk management uses structural and non-structural measures. Structural measures apply any physical design that decreases the potential impact of hazards or uses engineering techniques or technologies to achieve hazard tolerance and resilience in structures or systems, for example, in the case of tidal floods, constructing embankments, floodways (canals), early warning systems, etc. Meanwhile, non-structural measures are emphasised in policies and regulations, public awareness, training and education, law enforcement and land use planning. Several national regulations dealing with flood-related issues, such as the Disaster Management Law of 24/2007, Water Law of 7/2004 and Spatial 27
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Figure 3.2 Flood risk in Pangpang Bay. Source: InaRISK and National Disaster Management Agency (2022).
Planning Law of 26/2007, have become the basis for local and regional government bodies to integrate their authority through decentralisation mechanisms. In terms of implementation, sometimes these regulations are not enforced sufficiently, considering there is no monitoring and evaluation mechanism at the local level. It is essential to emphasise the community-led initiative, especially in increasing the capacity and framework in order to increase the preparedness for flood risk. Regarding the flood risk management in Pangpang Bay, according to the East Java Governor’s Decree Number 188 of 2020, there are 4 government institutions at the provincial level, 14 government institutions at the district level and 2 non-governmental institutions with roles in maintaining the Pangpang Bay as an EEA. These government institutions have authority in three areas, including (1) planning research, development, monitoring and evaluation, (2) cultivation, utilisation and processing and (3) conservation. In implementing the policies, government institutions also have a mandate to involve other related stakeholders, especially in the management of EEA and to ensure its sustainability. For example, the Section Chief of Nature Conservation and Protection, East Java Nature Conservation Agency (BBKSDA), supports institutional development through socio-economic strengthening, stakeholder mapping and financial evaluation. These initiatives were implemented with communities and non-governmental actors such as the Build Indonesia to Protect Nature for Sustainability (BIJAK) Project and the Alliance of Volunteers to Save Nature (ARUPA). In conservation activities, the Banyuwangi District 28
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Figure 3.3 Mangrove conservation and fishery activities in sustainability principles led by communities in Pangpang Bay. Source: Authors (2022).
Environmental Authority, Alas Purwo National Park Forest Management Unit (KKPH), Conservation Section for Region V Banyuwangi and non-governmental organisations such as Bisa Indonesia have conducted mangrove planting from nursery to nurture. The communities also conduct monitoring and evaluation independently and voluntarily since they acquire benefits from the mangrove’s conservation from the government. This phenomenon can be seen in Wringin Putih Village, which has three conservation communities in each sub-village that are actively involved in the cultivation, utilisation and processing activities of mangrove conservation.
Local knowledge and its impact on flood risk in Pangpang Bay Local knowledge is important for the community as a source of community resilience because it can increase their capacity to adapt to environmental changes and disasters (Shava et al., 2010). The community also still depends on various local knowledge systems for managing natural resources, conserving biodiversity and adapting to climate change (Asmamaw et al., 2020). Regarding the relation between local knowledge and flood risk, the community around Pangpang Bay widely uses their knowledge before and during coastal flooding, demonstrating a relatively high understanding of flood dynamics by describing how seawater overflowed and spread throughout their village. This level of understanding also influences how the community cares for its environment and surroundings to reduce the risk of coastal flooding. This is how the head of the Pesona Teluk Pangpang (PTP) Conservation Group put the level of risk: 29
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most frequent hydrometeorological hazard in Pangpang Bay is coastal flood. The impact of coastal flood damaged the pond area, agricultural land and inundated some housing. (Head of the PTP Conservation Group, 23 January 2022) Communities around Pangpang Bay area utilise their local knowledge to mitigate and adapt to coastal flooding. Generally, the community uses meteorological phenomena to predict the occurrence of coastal flooding, namely strong winds (angin gedhi), intense rainfall (udan deres) and high temperatures (ongkep). From October to March, most communities know there will be heavy rains of long duration and strong winds. Besides, the temperatures in their surroundings will be higher than usual. This phenomenon alerts the communities about upcoming tidal waves and coastal flooding. The situation will deteriorate during the new moon. The community call it padang bulan, when the moon is full, round and brightest. This phenomenon has the potential to increase the maximum height of sea tides. As a result, seawater can overflow and cause coastal flooding in the Pangpang Bay area. Most of those who are aware of the changes in this natural phenomenon are men who work as fishermen. Once they sense the signs of coastal flooding, they share the information with their community or family. That local knowledge is useful as an early warning system for the community (Šakić Trogrlić et al., 2019). However, due to climate change impacts, it is sometimes difficult for them to forecast coastal flooding because of changes in rainfall patterns. These are some of the striking statements that emerged from the interviews in relation to how the community makes predictions through local knowledge: We usually predict coastal flooding by looking at natural changes, such as strong winds, rain intensity, and temperature changes. Tidal waves generally occur at night, at 20.00– 23.00. The calculation of this tide depends on the calculation of the month. (Head of the Pesona Teluk Pangpang Conservation Group, 23 January 2022) we know that coastal flooding will occur by observing wave height and wind speed, if we feel the waves are getting higher accompanied by strong winds, then we will not go to sea. (Sidorukun Fishing Community, 23 January 2022) The community around Pangpang Bay area has experienced coastal flooding several times. The coastal flood damaged the ponds and reached the communities’ houses at a height of approximately 1 metre. Those impacts affected their daily activities. To cope with the situation, the younger generation of families in the Pangpang Bay area built houses far from the shoreline and adjusted the houses’ height. They used cement blocks to raise their door ladder, preventing flood water from entering their room. Those actions can reduce the risk of houses around Pangpang area being flooded. Meanwhile, individuals living for an extended period in Pangpang Bay area have a better understanding of how to predict the occurrence of coastal flooding. Once they feel that a coastal flood is imminent, they will protect their belongings from being flooded. Some of them also leave their valuables in the houses of relatives who live in other villages that are safe from coastal flooding. It indicates that age and length of stay in the area affect how they adapt to coastal flooding. 30
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Coastal flooding often occurs several times in Muncar Sub-District around the Pangpang Bay area, with a height of up to 1 meter and damage ponds and disrupt people’s daily activities. (Head of the Pesona Teluk Pangpang Conservation Group, 23 January 2022) we experienced coastal flooding and tidal waves several times, yet the biggest tidal waves always happen once in four or five years with the height of up to approximately 1 meter. Yet, the fishing community here is used to tide events, when the water is high, we catch fish, but when the water is low, we look for scallops. (Sidorukun Fishing Community, 23 January 2022) There has been an effort from the community to elevate the building of their houses. Besides that, about 1 km from the shoreline is no longer allowed to be used for residential areas. (Staff of Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Banyuwangi, 24 January 2022)
Localised nature-based solution for community resilience Communities around Pangpang Bay areas are surrounded by mangroves enacted by the East Java Governor as an EEA. The EEA is not explicitly mentioned as an NbS category, but its ability to help reduce disaster risk can increase community resilience and maintain biodiversity conservation. Thus, it can be included in the NbS category (Dudley et al., 2010; Mittermeier et al., 2008; World Bank, 2008). Before the EEAs, the previous generation in Pangpang Bay area began to realise the importance of mangroves for adaptation to coastal flooding. Because of the long-standing efforts of coastal communities to preserve the naturalness of mangrove forests, there is a greater emphasis on understanding the ecological, economic and biological benefits. Therefore, they cooperated to plant mangroves around the Pangpang Bay area, but the planting was not so massive. The community around the Pangpang Bay area understands that protecting mangroves automatically protects them from waves and storms. Nonetheless, awareness is still low since some people continue to cut down mangroves for personal gain. Hence, several individuals formed a group focused on protecting and conserving mangroves. The groups were initiated by community leaders and during the formation of the groups, they were assisted by local NGOs. The local NGOs helped them to formulate strategic plan and advocated the communities’ concerns regarding the Essential Ecosystem Area in Pangpang Bay to the local government. These groups are spread along the Pangpang Bay, including Kedungringin, Wringinputih, Kedunggebang and Kedungsari Villages. Besides preserving the existence of mangroves, they also manage and utilise mangroves sustainably to improve their economic, environmental and social life. They have adequate knowledge regarding sustainable mangrove management, identifying mangrove resilience and formulating conservation strategies for their conservation. Based on interviews with the communities there, mangroves in Pangpang Bay area have been shown to generate additional income through ecotourism and its products, such as mangrove crabs, syrup, coffee, tea, bread flour and crackers. So far, the communities involved in mangrove cultivation and utilisation, produce several mangrove products, namely tea, coffee, crackers, syrup, and bread flour. Some of those products are delivered in other cities and exported to other countries. For 31
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instance, the bread flour is usually exported to Bogor City and the Netherlands. The communities’ income is now better than before, because they already know how to utilise mangroves. (Head of the Pesona Teluk Pangpang Conservation Group, 23 January 2022) the income of the community here really depends on the existence of mangroves. We have realised the importance of mangroves to help increase fishermen’s catches. At present, the fishery products that have increased are sea shrimp and mangrove crabs because there are many of them under the mangroves. (Sidorukun Fishing Community, 23 January 2022) Moreover, the community also collaborates with the local government and NGOs to help them manage and scale up mangrove conservation in Pangpang Bay area. This collaboration is strengthened by the East Java Governor’s Decree Number 188 of 2021 on the Management of EEA in Pangpang Bay, Banyuwangi District. The governor’s decree clearly stated the division of roles and duties of each stakeholder. Local communities can also use this opportunity to integrate their local knowledge into programme plans and strategies the government develops. In this case, community leaders will be at the forefront of community development efforts (Kita, 2019) and represent an essential part of local-level governance, including voicing the importance of local knowledge in flood risk management. The collaborative relationships centred on the community could improve the quality of the mangrove area and the quality of the resources of actors and groups. The implementation of locally led nature-based solutions in EEA is also expected to improve the quality of coastal management, promoting broader collaborative management and encouraging sustainable utilisation by communities surrounding mangrove area. The coastal areas are considered to be vital for many aspects of life. Therefore they must be protected and considered in the spatial management process. The diversity of interest of coastal areas led national policies and regulations to emphasise the importance of integrating their management, for example, Presidential Decree No. 73/2012 on National Strategy for Mangrove Ecosystem Management and Presidential Decree No. 51/2016 on Coastline, which prohibits the use of mangrove or activities that reduce and pollute mangrove forests. In Pangpang Bay, evidence shows that the communities’ involvement in managing coastal areas has mutual benefits in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustaining their livelihoods. Based on the interviews, most communities working as farmers, fishermen and tourism actors highly depend on natural resources around and under the mangrove areas. Mangroves can act as the ‘root of the sea’ to become a habitat for fish, prawns and crabs (Barua et al., 2010). Activities in the mangrove areas will be conducted based on sustainability principles as protected areas. The success in the conservation and sustainable management of mangroves in Pangpang Bay reveals the important role of local communities in managing natural resources. The communities’ existence is a key factor in preserving the mangrove forests. It is in line with the findings of numerous studies that community involvement is essential to ensuring the viability of regeneration in forest ecosystems (Matsvange et al., 2016; Onuma and Tsuge, 2018). Lessons learned on collaborative management in Pangpang Bay also show that mangrove forest conservation and participatory community empowerment simultaneously impact awareness and mangrove-based economic improvement initiatives. Forms of collaborative management at EEA have also developed, indicating a transfer of resources in the form of human capital, funding and supervision and positively contributing to building trust 32
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between actors (mutual trust). In addition, the existence of EEA also plays an essential role in integrating local knowledge into biodiversity conservation.
Conclusion The findings show that the community around Pangpang Bay have used their local knowledge to address environmental challenges, especially coastal flooding due to high tides and rainfall intensity during the rainy season. This study indicates how the local value aligned with NbS implementation has practical implications and benefits for the ecosystem and coastal flood risk. The community adapted and restored mangroves along the coast from years ago as part of local values. They have lived near mangroves and have protected, managed and sustainably used them using their indigenous knowledge for years. This localisation of NbS implementation has significantly impacted flood risk reduction but also had a big impact on livelihoods. The localisation of NbS is also proven to co-benefit and increase the social and economic values of the community around the EEA. The communities obtain alternative livelihoods through fishing activities, the existence of ecotourism, mangrove nurseries and the management of mangrove products. Those activities, as part of the co-benefits of NbS, also further affect and increase the community’s income and, most likely, green jobs. Therefore, the localisation of NbS by utilising local knowledge is crucial; the community will be able to optimise their own characteristics and cope with the local risk (climate change and other natural hazards). Nevertheless, consolidating the stakeholder aims is also needed to ensure that the implementation of NbS is impactful and effective. This research has accommodated various perspectives on local knowledge and NbS integration. There are some limitations on data and the scope of the study. Moreover, it is further recommended to explore research on other communities in other global south countries to achieve comprehensive learning on integrating local knowledge and NbS.
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4 Preserving heritage, historical artefacts and culture for social resilience and tourism amid flood disasters A case study of Morten Village of Sungai Melaka, Malaysia Zerafinas Abu Hassan, Farah Shahrin, Chukwudi Ogunna and George Foden
Introduction Recent years have seen a marked increase in research on sustainable initiatives within the built environment. Whilst most sustainable initiatives focus on improving current working processes for more value-added and efficient processes with the use of digital technology, people are encouraged to change the norm of product processing or services. It is also important to highlight that these changes may also provide an opportunity to improve wellbeing. The current drive for sustainability has also had a positive impact on the socio-economic well-being and citizenship of the people or community. Improved socio-economic well-being will enhance resilience and the resilience will be based on the relationship of the needs of individuals, communities and institutions and their characteristics, functions, culture and citizenship. The tourism industry, which has been driven by economic growth, has frequently exacerbated social injustice and done irreparable harm to ecosystems. These concepts of perpetual expansion might even constitute a threat to the very existence of the travel and tourism sector. The growth of capitalism and a society that values unending consumption is, in fact, dependent on irresponsible environmental behaviour. Climate change and deforestation are exposing humans to new novel viruses, such as COVID-19. Vidal (2020) stated that the loss of biodiversity and human development are related to disease epidemics that spread from animals to people. Climate change is also a factor that contributes to this problem. This interdisciplinary study aims to explore the impact of the sustainable development of heritage preservation in Sungai Melaka, Malaysia, on the resilience of the ethnic minority communities who are living in the area. “Sungai,” which means river in the Malaysian 36
DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-5
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language, is often linked to historical heritage as it has been a prime trading route since 1511. As a result, the city of Melaka has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status due to its rich cultural values influenced by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. According to a focus group interview with the City Council of the city of Melaka, the issue of flooding is a recurring problem, and the flooding has affected the villagers’ quality of life and well-being and caused damage to the cultural artefacts. Therefore, even before the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were introduced in 2015, the mayor of the city of Melaka proposed a flood management intervention project with the main aim to provide a better quality of life for the villagers. The flood management intervention was developed by retrofitting the area, i.e., the construction of a sea barrage to control the seawater and river water flow, and has created a new sanitation system which prevents river pollution (SDG 14: Life below water). In 2002, a project which aimed to improve the social sustainability of the area through sanitation and clean water supply (SDG 6) (SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production) and to preserve the local historical settings resulted in improved tourism activities along the river and surrounding area (SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth). This is relevant to SDG 11 for sustainable and inclusive cities, and tourism will provide a source of income for the council to create a better quality of life: access to clean water and sanitation. This is also relevant to SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production. As a result, tourism activity has increased and become the main source of income for the state of Melaka (SDG 8). The relevance of this research which focuses on an under-researched area of study is the discovery of flood management initiatives and their linkages to community well-being (SDG 3) and tourism as the outcome of the sustainable intervention. This study emphasised the opportunities for flood management as an outcome of economic activities and driver for improved community quality of life. This study contributes to the impact of the practice of improving the social resilience of ethnic minorities and their citizenship. The ethnicities of the community will be discussed in the next section. The area along the Sungai Melaka always gets flooded during heavy rain due to the geographical location of the river exacerbated by the shallow depth of the river and the tides. The council acknowledge the severity of the flooding which has caused damage to the villagers’ houses, and some of these houses have historical value which contribute to the heritage of the area. The flooding may also impact villagers’ health and well-being, especially their access to clean sanitation. In late 2021 and early 2022, heavy rain caused a flood which affected most Malaysian states, including Morten Village. The flood ruined many houses, commercial shops, public assets and infrastructure, vehicles and the agriculture sector. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the total loss caused by floods was RM6.1 billion, or 0.4% of the country’s nominal GDP (DOSM, 2021). Living quarters losses totalled RM1.6 billion, business premises losses totalled RM0.5 billion, vehicle losses totalled RM1.0 billion, agriculture losses totalled RM90.6 million, manufacturing losses totalled RM0.9 billion and public assets and infrastructure losses totalled RM2.0 billion (DOSM, 2021, posing a significant threat to Malaysian citizens’ safety and property, as well as damage to the country’s infrastructures and revenue; hence, an adequate recovery strategy is essential. Until now, most of the research on COVID-19 and climate change impacts and recovery in relation to tourism has taken the form of conceptual or critical reflections, with limited empirical research exploring the resilience and citizenship of the community. However, the current situation indicates that the flooding issues are not yet under control. As a result, the situation is volatile, and research is important in reviving tourism and its associated industries. 37
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Heritage preservation, crisis and tourism industry The heritage preservation of Melaka River aimed to recreate the historical city’s trading activities which started during the Portuguese era back in 1511. In this study, Melaka River has undergone a tremendous transformation with the aim of improving the city and preserving its heritage. The city of Melaka has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status due to its rich cultural values influenced by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. The city of Melaka was occupied between 1511 and1641 for 130 years by the Portuguese, for 145 years by the Dutch between 1641 and1786 and by the British for 171 years between 1786 and 1957. The occupation by the Portuguese, Dutch and British was driven by spices and other trading activities due to its strategic location in the Straits of Melaka, which is considered “the throat of Venice” (Kaplan, 2009). There are many artefacts and intangible values as the result of the long occupation of multiple foreign powers such as cultural traditions and physical artefacts in the form of buildings and structures which have become the main tourist attractions for visitors. In addition to the physical artefacts, there are also living artefacts: three ethnic minorities who were relocated by the colonists from their original setting and placed in the area to perform different economic functions. The Kristang community who are of original Portuguese descent stayed in their village even after the Portuguese left in 1641. Then, the Peranakan Baba Nyonya community who are Southern Chinese settlers from the southern province of China emerged in the Dutch settlement and Malays were relocated to live in Morten Village during the British occupation. These relocated ethnic minorities live with the other communities and have adapted to the local surroundings and changes. In this particular study, we will focus on the villagers who are living in Morten Village. The river was transformed to recreate the historic trading during the trading era (1468– 1540). The first transformation involved the construction of a new sanitation system to transport commercial and domestic waste to treatment plants away from the river and the residents’ buildings were retrofitted by building in-house toilets and bathrooms for the residents. Then, the area along the river and the river were refurbished to rehabilitate the riverfront for increased aesthetic appeal. Finally, the sea barrage system was constructed to control the water level to prevent floods which always hit the area due to its location, the shallow river depth, which is less than 1.5 m deep, and the geographical location, which is very close to the sea. The development of the area was done carefully with utmost consideration of the rich cultural and historical buildings along the river to maintain the originality of the buildings and the well-being of the living residents along the river. This sustainable flood management intervention project, which is relevant to SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, aimed to provide inclusive societies which is especially relevant for this case study where three ethnic communities were displaced from their place of origin. As the result, there is improved well-being and an increase in tourism activity which has become the driver for better socio-economic well-being for the ethnic minority communities. However, when disasters like COVID-19 and flooding occur, tourism stakeholders like hoteliers, travel agents and tourism companies are forced to change their business strategies. These events have created a high level of uncertainty and usually necessitate quick responses in the face of negative consequences (Ritchie and Jiang, 2019). Nonetheless, previous research has revealed that the tourism industry is poorly prepared for a crisis, owing primarily to a lack of resources as well as knowledge and experience about how to respond (Bremser et al., 2018; Ghaderi, 2014; Okumus and Karamustafa, 2005; Ritchie, 38
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2008; Stafford and Armoo, 2002). For example, in this case study, the community changed their routine. During the COVID restrictions, the community continuously adapted their interaction with the river by visiting during less busy times such as at night. As summarised in Table 4.1, previous research focused on response and recovery at the destination, but with limited evaluation and emphasis on response and recovery strategies. In contrast, a small body of research has found that crisis conditions have a significant impact on the travel and tourism industry. Table 4.1 summarises a review of the tourist literature and is organised according to the impact of the various crises and the various response and recovery plans. The immediate consequences include a significant drop in tourist numbers, occupancy levels, average daily rates (ADR) and income per available room (RevPar). In this case, natural disasters, i.e., floods and pandemics, caused longer periods of crisis; as a result, they require more time to recover from than economic crises. The revival of the sector is threatened by additional short-term repercussions like job losses, operational adjustments and service reductions. According to Table 4.1, the tourism sector Table 4.1 An assessment of the tourist literature, organised by the impact and recovery strategies of the various crisis types Type of crisis
Authors
Description of Impact
Response and Recovery Strategies
Terrorism Stafford et al., Destruction of businesses; Ensuring a coordinated response of Terrorist 2002; Taylor Occupancy levels and hospitality industry; Pushing to attacks of 11 and Enz, 2002 room rates drop; Severe reopen airport and other major September disruption of normal tourist attractions; Building a 2001 operations; Occupancy marketing plan; Push local market; levels, Average daily rates marketing strategies; Human (ADR) and Revenue per resources strategies; Focus on room (RevPar) drop. new segments; Cost rate-cutting strategies; Discounts on rates Pandemic SARS Chien and International travel Redirected their marketing and sales; 2003, Law 2003; cancellations; Occupancy Discounted packages to boost Henderson and rate drop; Job cuts; their hotel occupancy; Laid off Ng 2004; Tew, Average hotel occupancy, employees; Cut management Lu et al., 2008 Average room rates salaries; Offering large discounts contracted, Revenues and to lure customers back and earnings drop changing strategic plans; Using guest rooms for purposes other than accommodation (e.g., rent as commercial offices). Natural DisasterHenderson 2007; Hotel infrastructures were Hotels arranged for the delivery of Indian most severely damaged water and food supplies to those Ocean in Thailand, Sri Lanka in need; Collected and distributed tsunami; and the Maldives; Mass items such as clothing; Provided 2004 exodus of tourists and space and complementary cancellation of bookings; accommodation for relief workers; Decline in international Members of staff were released tourists; Revenue per to assist with rescue and recovery room down; Job loss operations as well as tasks such as translating and counselling; Human resource policies; Bargain rates
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does not appear to have a crisis management plan in place or collaborate on recovery efforts either before or after a significant crisis. This might seriously jeopardise tourism’s ability to compete and to survive.
Flood management initiatives as a means to improve social resilience Social resilience refers to two strands of perspectives. The first strand refers to the socialecological perspective, that is, the ability to withstand and adapt to change. The second strand comes from a health and psychology context and relates to the ability to recover from adversity. Berkes and Ross (2013) emphasised that social resilience should be about the practice by the individual, community and institution, co-evolving with the place, building resilience and transforming to improve individual or collective capacity concerning a sense of belonging, place and identity. A strong ‘place’ identity can be a key determinant of the development of social resilience at the community level. This identity can help in fostering relations between community members, based on a shared understanding of their relation to the land on which they live (Peng et al., 2020). Ties to a specific place can foster a sense of belonging, making it easier for a shared social identity to develop amongst members of a community, thus strengthening ties between group members and reinforcing mutual support mechanisms (Hauge, 2007). Therefore, the development of a sense of belonging to an area can serve as a reinforcing positive impact on community resilience. Such a sense of belonging can be fostered through the protection, maintenance and development of cultural heritage sites (Bui et al., 2020). The protection of cultural heritage sites reduces the likelihood of conflict by strengthening ties to place, but how heritage sites are transformed over times of uncertainty can also influence community resilience to adapt to changing contexts (Holtorf, 2018). This is important because building community resilience around cultural heritage sites can support the development of support mechanisms within communities. In their meta-analysis exploring the concept of “community resilience,” Patel et al. (2017) found that some of the key determinant elements of resilience in a community were “local knowledge,” “community networks and relationships” and “mental outlook” (see supplementary table two in Patel et al. for further details on these concepts). Each of these factors can be strengthened by the effective protection and adaptation of cultural heritage sites that have an importance to the affected community, through how cultural heritage can give identity to communities and contribute to sustainable development (Chmutina et al., 2020). Cultural heritage is not limited to specific sites but is demonstrated through local building culture and the way that housing and public space are developed within and by communities (Caimi, 2015). Exploring local building cultures and local concepts of home and place is key to ensuring the physical built environment that a community occupies also supports resilience (Foden, 2022; Hadlos et al., 2022). Particularly when considering how communities respond to disasters, the inclusion and development of local knowledge and networks in the consideration of how physical infrastructure is constructed can moderate the relationship between the built environment and community cohesion. The development of a strong social identity through cultural heritage can facilitate social cohesion, which is a core determinant of community resilience (Carrà, 2016; Patel & Gleason, 2018). 40
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Natural disasters: Flood and its effect on community citizenship Due to Malaysia’s geographic location within the monsoon region, which experiences heavy and frequent rainfall during the local tropical wet season, there is a significant danger of flooding. Malaysia contains inland water bodies in addition to a long coastline in terms of geomorphology. The influence of tidal backwater and the river’s capacity being exceeded also contributed to the floods in December 2021. Storms, landslides, wildfires, droughts, earthquakes and mass migration are other natural risks in Malaysia (dry). However, flooding has been recorded to have affected more than 85.4% of individuals, followed by storms (7.5%) and diseases (5%) (DOSM, 2022). Therefore, the nation’s resilience, competitiveness and prosperity depend on its infrastructure. Floods are a natural occurrence influenced by rainfall, river capacity, sea level rise and the geology of the catchment area, which includes porous and non-porous material, groundwater level and hard (for metropolitan areas) and soft surface (for rural areas). It’s important to comprehend the principles of river flooding. The catchment area and river hydrograph, which depict how a raindrop moves and flows to the sea, should be included in the essentials. It shows how long it takes for rivers to rise after rain. Understanding the river level during flooding is also crucial; it displays both the usual flow level and the flood flow, which includes the water level in the summer, spring or fall as well as during floods. Human activities such as building on flood plains, poorly coordinated drainage systems, uncontrolled urbanisation and changes in land use patterns such as deforestation can all result in lower river flow and less area for floods. The frequency and intensity of floods may both rise as a result of these operations. Additionally, man-made factors such as the urbanisation or development of catchment areas will speed up run-offs, causing flash floods and more frequent flooding. According to Aliagha et al. (2015), the unregulated human usage of rivers, the clearing of forests and extreme weather events brought on by climate change are to blame for the recent increase in flood disasters. Regardless of the cause of the flood, the results are terrible for humans, causing stress, illness and death, with flood victims being among the worst affected. Flooding not only affects the affected area, but also adjacent areas, affecting tourist arrivals, damaging tourism facilities and causing the loss of valuable cultural assets.
Research methods This study obtained a grounded understanding of the daily realities faced by the community within Morten Village through its adoption of an ethnographic approach. This method included “focus group interviews,” “participant observation” and the use of secondary documentation. Focus group interviews with five council staff members was carried out to understand the council and community initiative to preserve the heritage of the place amid flood exposure and how to adequately respond to sustain the tourism industry. Before the focus group, a series of interviews with 16 community members living in the Morten Village was undertaken to understand their motivation and their initiatives to protect the place. Thematic and content analysis techniques were used to analyse the interviews. NVivo 12.0 was used for data analysis. The use of multiple methods in this study reduces the issues associated with relying on a single method of data collection, which aids in overcoming the inherent weaknesses of all research methods.
Case study area: Morten Village Morten Village is a 16-hectare historical Malay town that has been inhabited exclusively by Malay people for more than 100 years (DOSM, 2022). This protected district still retains a 41
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distinctive building style, preserving both the traits of traditional Malay architecture and the ethnic Malay lifestyle, despite having witnessed the growth of the city and currently facing pressure from gentrification. Because of its low topography and river-level location, the region is vulnerable to both flash floods and river flooding (Figure 4.1). The temperature in Morten Village ranges from 21°C to 35°C with average humidity exceeding 82%. Morten Village experienced two periods of rainfall peaks during the transition between monsoons, in April and October to November. The site had already been designated a traditional cultural and heritage village by the Melaka State Government in 1988 and is well known for its extensive history of colonial-era survival and exquisite cultural village scenery. Under the Preservation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage Enactment of 1988, this acknowledgement was published in the gazette. Morten Village is the only traditional Malay village still in existence in the city of Melaka and has an old-world charm. This is because, despite going through numerous modernisation and development programmes, as well as experiencing flood occurrences, it has managed to maintain its Malay character ever since its inception in 1920. This is evident in the houses’ architecture, interior design, landscape and cultural traditions. When Melaka received heritage designation in 2008, it helped to establish the settlement as a core heritage zone and ensured that it became a popular tourist destination. According to a state-conducted population census, the town has 900 total recorded residents (DOSM, 2022), many of whom are third generation and between the ages of 70 and 80. In addition to earning their pension payments, the villagers’ major economic activity is tourism-related, including homestays and small local enterprises like restaurants and snack stands. The community still adheres to its customs and traditions and includes exquisite traditional homes on stilts that are over 100 years old. These are a significant part of the Malay
Figure 4.1 Map showing the location of Morten Village. Map is derived from Google Maps. 42
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community’s cultural and architectural legacy, as well as a popular tourist destination and vital source of income. These serve as a significant part of the Malay community’s cultural and architectural legacy, as well as a popular tourist destination. A sense of community is also fostered by the tranquil village environment along the Melaka River, which also gives tourists the chance to learn about the culture and memories of the past. However, this village has seen an increase in flood episodes as a result of the wet-wetter-dry-drier pattern of documented increasing extreme rainfall (Allan, 2008, 2010) and a rise in urbanisation and population in Melaka Tengah, which has nearly doubled since 1980 to the current population of 597,135 (DOSM, 2022). Hence, future flood risk and exposure in this area should be anticipated given that the patterns for these two variables are neither slowing down nor changing.
Findings This section summarises the results of the focus group discussions and interviews. The narration begins with a description of home as a commodity for the cultural character. This is followed by sustainable heritage preservation initiatives from the government, particularly community initiatives, and the way forward.
Flood management initiatives and social resilience for the community The tourism industry was the first among economic sectors to be affected by the limitations of the pandemic. As consequence, the pandemic has had a huge economic impact on the villagers of Melaka River. Most of the villagers earn economic benefits due to increased tourism activities in their area. The communities have received the benefits of increased economic activities which may have strengthened the socio-economic real estate value of their land and properties. However, there is one major change – the interventions in the community. The flood management plan included the upgrading of community homes by constructing in-house toilets and bathrooms, building a new sanitation system in the area and improving the aesthetics of the surrounding area. The approaches were not only aimed to improve tourism activities but also to build economic resilience in the communities. Each community, which was explained in the earlier section, was no longer performing its specific economic functions which were allocated during the colonisation period. After the completion of the river rehabilitation in August 2008, the way of living of the residents was transformed, giving them the capacity for societal and economic growth and societal development. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether the changes (environment and community) may also create or disrupt the socio-resilience among the communities.
Home as a commodity for cultural character Cultural assets such as a house, buildings or an area provide information to present-day society on past events. As societies mature, they become more appreciative of their ancestors’ resourcefulness in surviving and adapting to their environments, and previous generations’ influence on society (Samat, 2014; Amin, 2018; Abu Hassan, 2019). According to the study, Morten Village and its houses have a significant role in the community’s identity, along with the families that have lived in the village over the years. The study portrays the personalities of the community and their impact on people. The respondents claim that Morten Village served as their home while they were learning about life, history and culture. 43
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In other words, the environment and the knowledge passed down from their ancestors had an impact on their character. As a result, the cultural asset is intrinsic and is conserved for use by future generations in the form of heritage, cultural, artistic or historic value. The research revealed that tourism has helped to preserve the area’s unique cultural identity. Traditional foods, crafts and architecture all contribute to the rich cultural heritage of the area and create a welcoming atmosphere for visitors. Since the growth of tourism, these material riches have been effectively protected. Even though the area has been involved in a series of flood events since the 1960s, the traditional character of the village still stands out due to the design of the houses. Most of the houses in the area called “rumah melayu Melaka” were constructed as “Rumah Panggung” (stage houses). The main character of a stage house is high timber stilts and steeply sloping roofs (Figure 4.2) compared to a terrace house/bungalows which sit squarely on the ground (Figure 4.3), leaving them vulnerable. The respondent claimed that these houses had steeply sloping roofs and a floor placed on stilts as significant traits related to the local environmental conditions. These houses were constructed with the assistance of locals under the direction of “tukang kayu.” The Malay word for carpenter is tukang kayu. The house takes a while to build since different community members take turns doing it. It requires careful sculpture, design and the use of a priceless material, teak wood. Furthermore, since boats were utilised to deliver all the materials, such as teak wood from Indonesia, weather and mobilisation concerns contributed to the
Figure 4.2 The oldest traditional house in Morten Village, Villa Sentosa, resembles a floor raised on stilts and has a steeply sloping roof. Photograph by the author.
Figure 4.3 House that has been renovated to become a low-upkeep residence. Photograph by the author. 44
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prolonged building of houses during that time. These two prominent architectural elements make these houses naturally adaptable to the Malay environment, shielding the interior from the intense downpour and frequent flooding. In other words, cultural assets and character knowledge of the place can provide valuable examples of successful strategies to deal with uncertainty and risk. It proved that community ingenuity has shaped iconic cultural landscapes to enable societies to cope with water hazards such as floods. Therefore, cultural and heritage knowledge can help us to better understand the dynamic relationship between the community, the area and their adaption to the development. In addition, some cultural and historical assets by their very nature cannot be replaced if they are lost or destroyed. For instance, it is prohibited to replicate cultural assets like photographs, written historical documents and traditional clothing since these items are valued as much for who authored them and under what conditions as for what is written in them. In this situation, the present technology can only restore or copy the original; it cannot recreate the special intrinsic value that the original contained. Only while the original asset is still in existence will this value endure. Therefore, it is crucial to adopt an effective protection plan, such as a flood prevention and development plan, to preserve the intrinsic value and advantages of these cultural assets and the unique character of the location. With heritage and cultural legacies supporting this “character” within these dwellings, this conservation plan aids in building the basis or identity of a community.
Sustainable initiatives for preserving heritage and community well-being Sungai Melaka is a narrow river with a width of 20–30 m and a depth of 1.5 m to the bed of the river. Every time it rains and receives high tides from the sea, the water overflows from the river. The depth of the river is 1.2 m from the natural riverbed, which will cause a flood. The sustainable intervention was delivered in four stages. The interventions started in 2002 and were completed in 2010. The procurement for the project was Design and Build and the project cost around MYR 323 million including all construction work and land acquisition. The project includes the rehabilitation of the river to create a riverfront to protect the historical artefacts of the shops and houses and the creation of a new sewage system to protect the river from pollution. The riverbank was protected from erosion, using natural approaches such as planting mangrove trees, and the riverbank along the houses was stabilised using sheet piling. An artificial island was created to control the flow and as a diversion to prevent high tides from the sea; a barrage system was also built. The riverbed was treated and left as a natural bed with the aim of maintaining the ecosystem of marine life and natural preservation. The construction work was done live with the residents still living in their houses and the shops operating as usual. The completion of the rehabilitation has caused a positive change for the people and created economic resources in the area through increased tourism activities. As a result, it is clear from the evidence that tourism has encouraged the development of local roads and other forms of physical infrastructure in the region, enhancing the village’s appeal as a tourist destination. The village’s sanitation was the most significant change. The sewage was safely cleaned, and the villagers’ homes and toilets were retrofitted to raise the standard of their residences. The respondents concurred that tourism has improved the region’s physical and environmental conditions while preserving its unique cultural identity. This case study showed that urbanisation enhances people’s quality of life, and it acknowledged that the local government, specifically the council, is crucial in providing incentive laws and financial assistance for the early stages of village tourism development. They have 45
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helped the village with promoting village tours, organising and staging local festivals and events and repairing roads and other physical infrastructure. Prior to the growth of tourism, Morten Village was a slum, with Melaka River debris polluting the area and making it appear unsightly and filthy. The state government of Melaka provided funding for several river mitigation projects between 2002 and 2009 (DID, 2009) intending to safeguard the local socio-economic environment, historical artefacts and the tourism industry as a whole. Sungai Melaka is now a popular tourist destination and is sufficiently clean to support boating and other water sports. However, the effects of flood events and COVID-19 are now endangering the local economy, residents’ health and safety and their property. This study found that human-induced changes such as the obstruction of rivers, increased runoff rates due to impervious urban areas and increased rainfall during the monsoon seasons are to blame for the local flood occurrences. Inadequate drainage systems and unsuccessful localised initiatives to improve downstream flow are two other factors that could result in flooding. Although the state government has completed a lot of Melaka River rehabilitation projects, flooding issues still exist. The focus group interview analysis indicates that the necessary actions to stop the flood were taken before the epidemic. Unfortunately, several development projects to redirect river water before it enters the Melaka River were left unfinished as a result of the financial impact of COVID-19 on the construction firms. As a result, the respondents’ earnings, health and the safety of their possessions are at risk, and it will be difficult and take a while for their economy to recover.
Initiatives for community citizenship and the future way forward What is compelling about this case study is that the aspiration for river rehabilitation was inspired by the San Antonio project in Texas, USA. According to the council members who were involved in this project, San Antonio River and Sungai Melaka possess many similar characteristics. Each river runs through a city and faces the issue of flooding. The transformation of San Antonio which created tourism activity has elevated the socioeconomic well-being of the people living around the area. Gunn et al. (1972) reported that the main business case for the San Antonio River rejuvenation project was to improve the current state of the river and to improve the socio-economic activities of the area and the environmental consideration of the river and the people due to flood. However, this solution was created to solve a developing country’s problem with a developed country approach. A more innovative way must be considered now to bring out the best opportunities for both cases. In particular, Sungai Melaka may require a more innovative way of engaging public and community-led initiatives to manage the flood issue within this heritage community. Rather, the initiatives should consider moving away from an institutional focus in which most initiatives are directed from the council and irrigation department. Ali et al. (2020) proposed the use of information and communications technology (ICT) as another alternative to share a glimpse of the culture and artefacts with other people. This initiative has to be organised and balanced effectively to allow the correct balance of information shared with people and the information will create enthusiasm for people to come. The young generation can participate in this initiative and be part of creating the community. The collaboration between the practitioners, the community who have the local knowledge (Patel et al., 2017) and the researcher may provide better outcomes for any initiatives. Duxbury et al. (2021) explained their experience of co-creating outputs for creative 46
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tourism and made some important points to consider for such a reciprocal partnership. One important element to highlight is the longitudinal element, which was important for building synergy between practitioners and researchers. In this case study, the initiatives should have a balance with an emphasis on community engagement and community-level responsibility to increase resilience for the villager who is living with flooding. Nye et al. (2011) suggested public consultation with communities in building trust for stakeholder engagement and community engagement as a proactive way to increase value-led concerns in the social process of meeting the needs of the community as the result of interaction between people and nature (Becker, 1999). It is vital to create ownership of the initiatives among the residents to preserve the place and the initiatives should be led by the community and supported by the council. From the period of 2008 until the present, the council has been leading most of the initiatives to preserve the artefacts of the place and maybe it is time to encourage the citizens of the place to manage and direct their approaches to protecting their heritage. Citizenship can be developed through the participation of the community in managing resilience, which may create environmental responsibilities as part of building environmental citizenship for the place (Eden, 1993).
Conclusion Climate change has made a significant impact on the residents of Morten Village and the Melaka River community through flooding. The flood has caused an economic imbalance in tourism-dependent communities and may trigger more youth migration due to flood reoccurrence and lack of job opportunities in the area. It is important to acknowledge the urgent need to achieve a balance in creating sustainable economic activities through job opportunities and to encourage growth while emphasising the importance of creating community inclusion, improved well-being and resilience. The severe effects of the flood crisis are thought to be the impetus for the government to assess the true urgent needs, not just focused on rebuilding the socio-economy but also on improving the well-being of the Morten Village community for sustainable tourism and development. The findings and ideas in this chapter are intended to contribute to a larger conversation on the significance of integrating resilient tourist development and to encourage regenerative methods of creating resilient communities. This crisis also presents an opportunity for broader plans and initiatives to regenerate a community of diverse age profiles, backgrounds and interests. This is more effective through the creative use of technology and expanding the inclusion of stakeholders who may have the knowledge to improve current practice to build more sustainable and resilient strategies to ensure the benefits are shared and enjoyed equally and widely by all residents, communities and practitioners. In developing such initiatives, collaborative decisionmaking between communities or the citizen of the place and the local council should be proactively engaged and placed at the centre of strategic planning. The decision-making process should achieve a balance between practice-led and research-led (Duxbury et al., 2021) to allow innovation in heritage tourism with a particular interest in protecting the well-being and resilience of communities, without disregarding the main aim of local development, heritage preservation of the artefacts and practices (Berkes and Ross, 2013) and fostering cultural vitality. As such, in enacting a recovery approach, it is important for the community to be included in the development of a strategy that 47
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explicitly considers and prioritises the holistic sustainability and well-being of the local community. The limitation of this study is that some of the sites could not be visited due to movement control orders and interviewees were not comfortable being interviewed due to the COVID19 virus. Hence, half of the interviews were conducted online to ensure the safety of both the interviewer and interviewee.
Acknowledgement We acknowledge and thank the state of Melaka, i.e., Melaka City Council, the community of Morten Village and tourists that participated in the historical artefacts and culture for the social resilience of the Sungai Melaka project for their dedication, insights and generosity in sharing their development journeys.
References Abu Hassan, Z. 2019. Critical analysis of stakeholder’s perceptions of community-based tourism impacts in a world heritage site (Doctoral dissertation, Nottingham Trent University, UK), Nottingham Trent University Repository. Ali, A., Rasoolimanesh, S. M., Cobanoglu, C. 2020. Technology in tourism and hospitality to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 11(2), 177–181. Aliagha, G. U., Iman, A. H. M., Ali, H. M., Kamaruddin, N., Ali, K. N. 2015. Discriminant factors of flood insurance demand for flood-hit residential properties: A case for Malaysia. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 8(1), 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12065. Allan, R. P., Soden, B. J. 2008. Atmospheric warming and the amplification of precipitation extremes. Science, 321(5895), 1481–1484. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1160787. Allan, R. P., Soden, B. J., John, V. O., Ingram, W., Good, P. 2010. Current changes in tropical precipitation. Environmental Research Letters, 5(2), 025205. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/5/2/025205. Amin, H. M. 2018. The impact of heritage declines on urban social life. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 55, 34–47. Approach and the Future of Urban Heritage. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers. Becker, E., Jahn, T., Stiess, I. 1999. Exploring uncommon ground: Sustainability and the social sciences. In E. Becker, T. Jahn (eds.), Sustainability and the Social Sciences: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Integrating Environmental Considerations into Theoretical Reorientation. London: Zed Books, pp.1–22. Berkes, F., Ross, H. 2013. Community resilience: Toward an integrated approach. Society and Natural Resources, 26(1), 5–20. Bremser, K., Alonso-Almeida, M. M., Llach, J. 2018. Strategic alternatives for tourism companies to overcome times of crisis. Service Business, 12(2), 229–251. Bui, H. T., Jones, T. E., Weaver, D. B., Le, A. 2020. The adaptive resilience of living cultural heritage in a tourism destination. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(7), 1022–1040. Caimi, A. 2015. Assessing Local Building Cultures for Resilience Development. Villefontaine: CRAterre. 121 p. ISBN 978-2-906901-86-5. Carrà, N. 2016. Heritage/culture and social cohesion in the project of Metropolitan City. ProcediaSocial and Behavioral Sciences, 223, 583–589. Chien, G. C., Law, R. 2003. The impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome on hotels: A case study of Hong Kong. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 22(3), 327–332. Chmutina, K., Jigyasu, R., Okubo, T. 2020. Editorial for the special issue on “securing future of heritage by reducing risks and building resilience”. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 29(1),1–9. 48
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Section II
Governance and community response
5 Managing emergencies – failure and success Lessons from a village in the Czech Republic Mohan Kumar Bera
Introduction Floods are the most destructive natural hazards in the Czech Republic. Data covering the period from 1995 to 2021 shows that 14 out of 32 major disasters in the Czech Republic were floods (EM-DAT 2022). Floods occur due to heavy rain and rapidly melting snow accompanied by rainfall. The seasonal variation of flood disasters in the Czech Republic depends on a number of factors, including geographical location, precipitation, sudden increases in temperature during winter and wind direction. The country experienced the highest number of floods during the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries. Flood disasters have already affected 1,622,347 people in the Czech Republic and damaged properties worth US$5,964,112 (EM-DAT 2022). After the fall of Communism in 1989, the centralised flood management responsibility was moved to smaller administrative units (i.e., municipality) (Čamrová and Viktorová 2006). The new approach to disaster management was strengthened in 1997 by the Act No. 18/1997. The act emphasised emergency preparedness, an on-site and off-site emergency plan and an emergency planning zone in the Czech Republic. In 1998, the Czech Republic also implemented an emergency response system with the Constitutional Act. No. 110/1998 under which the government ensures the safety of the citizens. The Act No. 239/2000 on Integrated Rescue System emphasised preparation for extreme events and the competence of the government authorities and local government to carry out disaster management. Thus the changing paradigms of emergency management have increased the responsibility of the local government to reduce the impact of disasters. As a result, the role of the mayor has become even more crucial in dealing with emergencies at the grassroots level. This research has explored the challenges experienced by the mayor of a local government during an emergency, how these challenges are overcome and how intra- and inter-institutional coordination, cooperation and networking can influence the leadership of a mayor during emergencies.
Leadership in the emergency management phase of disaster: A conceptual understanding Flood emergency management is often beyond the capacity of individuals, but communities and responsible government departments respond to an emergency effectively. The DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-7
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most important components of managing an emergency are coordination, cooperation and communication among governmental agencies. Unified activities help in sharing more information and ensuring better emergency management. Drabek (1987) argued that the effectiveness of emergency management depends on the effective coordination and collaboration of the emergency manager rather than on technical skills. An emergency manager acts as a coordinator and facilitator of emergency operations and manages essential links with policy makers. It is also the duty of the emergency manager to adopt suitable strategies to reduce the adverse impact of the hazard (Waugh Jr. and Streib, 2006). Emergency leadership is a special ability to provide guidance in an atmosphere of uncertainty and crisis. It may also be understood as a set of individual characteristics and skills that include confidence, vision, belief, values, norms, trust, skills, knowledge and communication (Demiroz and Kapucu, 2012; Photiou, 2021). Clark (2015) describes trust and respect as important leadership characteristics that are crucial during an emergency. There are five leadership skills: anticipation, vision, value congruence, empowerment and selfunderstanding (Millet and Porche, 2017). These skills support Anderson’s (2002) description of an emergency leader as someone who remains visible, accessible and engaged throughout the crisis and communicates with followers to achieve the vision. They also support Mitroff’s (2005) assertion that emergency leaders have critical thinking abilities; social and political skills; technical skills; a social network; and the skills of organisational thinking, planning and decision making. Such a leader needs to adopt a set of competencies in order to resolve the emergency efficiently and develop resilient strategies. Porche (2009) argues that leadership during an emergency is exhibited rather than made. The kind of leadership required for extreme events is different from that required in non-extreme situations. This difference can be attributed to a number of factors, including the motivation to work in conditions of danger and fear; the need to share risks with subordinates; and the high level of competency, trust and loyalty demanded (Kolditz, 2007). Hannah et al. (2009) argue that leadership in emergency situations has a unique character and often requires an authoritarian approach. By referring to the hurricane Katrina in 2005 and 9/11, Hannah et al. (2009) have argued that a leader must have crisis management plans and an efficient crisis leadership team. Researchers have mainly focused on how the strategies adopted by a leader during a crisis can influence the performance of an organisation. They have also explored how team work and the relationship between the leader and the organisation can help to deal with an emergency situation in better ways. The transformational leadership style has been widely discussed in emergency management (Bass and Stogdill, 1990; Yukl, 2006; Kearney and Gebert, 2009; Fox, 2009) as a style that motivates others to improve their performance. Transformational behaviour includes idealised influence, inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation. Fox (2009) and Antonakis et al. (2003) have also discussed the relationship between transformational leadership and environmental risk, where the expectations from a leader are different at different phases of risk. Discount (2009) has argued that power and authority have a significant role in emergency management. In particular, the power that comes from knowledge, experience and expertise can change the nature of leadership. Expertise is the most important factor that enables leaders to adopt sound decisions and strategies during an emergency (Yates, 1999; Discount, 2009). Maxwell (1993) strongly emphasises trust and integrity as essential for ensuring stress-free emergency management. Trust is also necessary to improve leadership skills and abilities (Goleman, 2002). The team members express their concerns, acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses, cooperate with one another and adopt strategies collectively in order to achieve 54
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the proposed target. Building trust, collaboration, cooperation and mutual understanding during emergency management helps to avoid or reduce obstacles (Hammond, 2005). Jeseník nad Odrou is a village located in the Nový Jičín district in the Moravian-Silesian region of the Czech Republic. The village is composed of 484 family houses which consist of a total of 1785 people out of which 913 are female and 872 are male (Czech Statistical Office, 2013). The village is highly prone to floods because of its geographical location between the Odra and Luha rivers. The most devastating flood in the village occurred in 2009, leading to the loss of 6 lives and causing damage to 150 private houses, 21 government buildings and several private properties. The total losses incurred amounted to US$13 million (AFP, 2009). The municipality of Jeseník nad Odrou has adopted several measures, such as the regulation of the flood plain, the dissemination of flood warnings, monitoring and risk assessment and rescue operations, aimed at prevention and mitigation. There is a plan for managing flood disaster in the village of Jeseník nad Odrou that addresses the strategies that need to be adopted to reduce the impact of floods. The plan helps to establish and implement the different strategies and components of emergency management and provides information on floods to the villagers. The flood commission of the municipality is responsible for managing flood disasters in the village. The mayor of the municipality is the chairman of the flood commission. The commission coordinates with different departments and prepares plans and strategies for flood management in the municipality. However, despite these strategies, the municipality had limited success in controlling the adverse effects of the flood disaster in 2009. In spite of its shortcomings, the municipality made important contributions to the flood emergency management process in the Czech Republic and received the honorary title of “Village of the Year” in 2013 (Lidovky, 2013). Since the 1990s, municipalities in the Czech Republic have played an important role as local self-government bodies dealing with flood-related risks. As an integrated part of the crisis management structure, it is the legal responsibility of the local self-government bodies to be significantly involved in managing disasters. Thus, a shift of governance in flood-related risks from the central government to the local self-government bodies has been widely embraced with the increasing potential in flood disasters. The mayor represents the local self-government and decides on development-related matters and disaster management within the purview of the municipality (Jüptner, 2014). It has also been found that many organisations do not engage in emergency management because of poor and ineffective leadership. Besides, many leaders fail to respond effectively during a crisis. This brings us to the question of whether the resources and strategy of local self-government are adequate to manage disasters effectively. And whether there is any contribution of the local leadership in making a successful disaster management strategy at the grassroots level. And what challenges influence the strategy of the local leader for tackling and reducing disasters? This research explores the leadership and management strategies undertaken by a representative of a local self-government of the Czech Republic, in the context of an emergency.
Research methodology and data collection The case study focused primarily on the activities of the municipality of Jeseník nad Odrou during the process of emergency management in 2009. The case was identified through a series of field studies organised between December 2015 and June 2016 in various villages in the Czech Republic. A qualitative methodology has been applied to explore the activities and leadership of the mayor of the municipality in emergency management. A case study method has been used to explore a phenomenon in a bounded system (Yin, 2009; Merriam, 55
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2014; Behera, 2016). A bounded system is a unit of analysis that is limited by a defined place and time (Stake, 2013). A single case study is important when researchers focus on a particular event in a particular environment where the case itself is unique (Stake, 2013). The data collection for a case study includes interviews, field observation and a review of published and unpublished reports (Stake, 2013). The researchers interviewed the heads of households in order to understand the role and responsibilities of the municipality and the expectations of the people in the village. Other members of the family also participated in these interviews. In addition, the policy papers were examined in an effort to understand the emergency planning of the municipality. A series of interviews were also conducted with the mayor and other government officials of the municipality. The study followed the open-ended in-depth interview technique. The interviews covered basic information on the challenges of emergency management; the strategies adopted by the municipality; and the need for collaboration, cooperation and networking during an emergency. The data was analysed by following the inductive method which helps to synthesise information collected through a case study. The data was transcribed from the interview and then coded using a keyword coding scheme for analysis (Campbell et al., 2013; Saldaña, 2014; Behera, 2016). The researchers repeatedly checked the research questions to ensure proper analysis of data (Yin, 2009). Themes were generated from the analysed data that helped to connect research questions and the answers of the respondents from different perspectives. Data has been analysed based on a broad theme of “emergency management challenges and development” that includes sub-themes of emergency difficulties; institutional structure to deal with an emergency; strategies in emergency management; and motivational development (Table 5.1).
Flood emergency management The flood commission of the municipality is responsible for disaster management in the village. It consists of 20 members including the chairman, who is the mayor of the municipality. The commission works within the administrative territory of the municipality under the guidance of the district flood commission. If the municipality is unable to manage the emergency situation on its own, the flood commission at the higher level is requested to provide help. The chairman of the municipal flood commission coordinates and regulates all disaster management activities in the village. Flood management in the municipality is supported by the Hydrometeorological Institute, Povodí Odry, Forests of the Czech Republic, Integrated Rescue Services (IRS), the Army of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. The flood commission of the municipality collects information about the flood disaster and transmits it to the district flood commission. Local villagers, the administrators of the Povodí Odry, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and the IRS are also informed about the crisis. The commission organises patrols, i.e., ‘flood tours’ in the municipality and warns the villagers and government personnel about their disaster vulnerability. It removes barriers and clogging objects on culverts and bridges that curb the flow of the river, protects the riparian gullies from rapidly flowing river water, constructs temporary dykes, adopts measures against the overflow of water and works to prevent landslides at the river bank. It also collaborates with different government institutions to ensure the security of the people and reduce the adverse impact of floods in the village. As per the Crisis Management Act No. 240/2000, the state emergency management committee along with the Moravian-Silesian regional administration is responsible for flood-risk reduction in 56
Managing emergencies – failure and success Table 5.1 Leadership challenges in emergency management Challenges during emergency
Factors of the challenges
Stages of emergency
Emergency difficulties
Gap in early warning and field reality; evacuation and safety; technological restriction; leadership stress; higher level of trust towards the municipality (social restriction); taking correct decisions; not prepared Inter-intra organisational communication; community participation in emergency management; high dependency on district and regional level IRS; economic restriction Emergency plan; flood insurance; resource mobilisation; distribution of humanitarian aids; prioritisation of strategies; difficult decisions; short-term risk reduction planning; disputes over postdisaster aid Avoid migration; confidence building; motivation to participate
Pre-disaster; Taking wise decisions; onset of disaster establishing communication; availability of mayor to communicate
Institutional structure to deal with emergency
Strategies in emergency management
Motivational development
Leadership activities
Pre-disaster; Convincing people; onset of disaster regular contact with flood commissions; coordination with the government departments
Post-disaster
Long-term visionary goal; resolve disputes; establish priorities; avoid bias; mobilise resources
Post-disaster
Enhancing trust; arrangement of alternative safe shelter; implementation of government policy
Source: Authors.
the village. The municipality solicits help from the flood management authority of the Nový Jičín district flood commission if it is unable to manage the situation on its own. The municipality has a local warning system that is connected to the nationally uniform system of warning known as the Integrated Public Warning and Emergency Notification System. This system is built by the Ministry of Interior, General Directorate of Fire Rescue Service. The municipality provides information about flood warnings in cooperation with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and Povodí Odry. These warnings are disseminated through the System of Integrated Warning Service of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. If the existing dissemination system is damaged, members of the flood commission in the municipality directly transmit all relevant information to the villagers. In addition, a “flood tour” is deployed to make people aware of the threat. The patrol team is also responsible for preventing false alarms during an emergency. There are three stages of a flood warning in the municipality: Alertness Stage I, State of Emergency II and State of Emergency III. The flood commission of the municipality disseminates the warning through megaphones, text messages, calls, patrols and the mass media. Villagers are expected to 57
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follow certain guidelines and adopt suitable strategies during the three stages of flood warning. Although the specific strategies of the flood commission are different in each stage, regular documentation is an important activity that is common to all of the stages of emergency management. The major challenge of emergency management starts with evacuation. Evacuation activities depend on the nature of the threat, the different types of evacuation options, the existing transportation facilities, the available resources and the decisions of the mayor. Children, disabled individuals, senior citizens and sick villagers were prioritised during the evacuation activities. While physically disabled people were the first to be evacuated by the municipality, the villagers were given the responsibility of finding safe places for their children. The mayor laid great emphasis on close ties between neighbours to facilitate their security and their children’s safety during an emergency. Emergency evacuation depends to a great extent on the decisions of the evacuees. The structure of the village and the settlement patterns also determine the nature of evacuation and the time required to carry it out. The most challenging task of the municipality is to manage human behaviour and encourage the villagers to participate in the evacuation process. Most villagers prefer to stay at home during an emergency. As one respondent revealed to researchers, “People want to die at home.” Moreover, the villagers were worried that they would lose valuable resources if they abandoned their houses. Therefore, the municipality activated IRS, and the local police were assigned the task of maintaining safety and security. The flood commission coordinates transport facilities from assembly points to evacuation centres; manages the distribution of emergency supplies to evacuees; and coordinates the activities of public authorities, the department of health and various humanitarian organisations. The reception centre of the municipality is utilised for the distribution of relief materials, the provision of medical assistance, the dissemination of information about evacuation centres and the management of evacuation activities. The police of the municipality provide security to evacuees, protect properties, help citizens who are facing difficulties and prevent general panic. As per the Crisis Act No. 240/2000, residents are obliged to follow the crisis management decisions taken by the flood commission of the municipality. The flood commission of the municipality requested the Czech police to divert traffic, modify traffic signals and block the road temporarily. The municipality informed the villagers about roadblocks through local radio stations and notice boards on traffic management. Information regarding the diversion of traffic and alternate roads was also passed on to the district flood commission. A huge amount of debris as well as daily domestic waste materials had to be disposed of by the municipality after the flood. As the waste management system in the village was functioning smoothly, the municipality succeeded in maintaining the desired standards of public health. Doctors from the local hospital gave medicines to villagers and advised them on how they could stay safe. In addition, a number of charity organisations provided essential services during the emergency. The municipality also employed experienced psychologists to offer the necessary support to villagers who were suffering from trauma due to the losses and damages incurred. In the process, villagers were given the opportunity to interact with one another and extend their solidarity to other affected members of the community. The supply of electricity, gas and water are temporarily suspended by the municipality during an emergency. Although this helps to avoid unwanted accidents, the reinstallation of these services is sometimes problematic. The municipality conducts surveys in affected areas before restoring these facilities. Various companies arrive for reinstallation activities at different times in different parts of the village. 58
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Emergency leadership and decision making There are villagers who do not allow the municipality to implement construction measures to manage flood disasters in the village. Being the supreme decision maker in the local government, the mayor has the authority to make difficult decisions. In fact, critics who oppose proposed projects by highlighting their flaws rarely provide alternate solutions to existing problems. Moreover, their disagreement leads to delays in implementation. Although the mayor takes the opinions of both the majority and the minority into account when making decisions, it is his/her duty to plan future projects and set targets for their execution. Critics also play an important role in rectifying the gaps in such projects and finding acceptable strategies to deal with the situation. Villagers sometimes blame the mayor and question his/ her leadership during an emergency. Nevertheless, a mayor must be confident about his/her decisions and determined to implement the necessary measures to reduce floods in future. As the mayor is the head of the municipality, all affected villagers approach him/her for help. It is often quite difficult for the mayor to respond to the specific problems of every affected villager. There are also people who exaggerate their situation to receive extra benefits. The mayor, therefore, looks at issues beyond the personal level and avoids mistakes during an emergency. At the same time, the people should have a space to share their grievances so that their legitimate needs can be met. Therefore the mayor judges the situation thoroughly and understands the needs of the people to provide help on humanitarian grounds. The building of social networks and reciprocal communication between officials and personnel engaged in emergency management are also essential. The mayor communicates with the members of the flood commission and municipality officials in order to manage the situation. In fact, the whole activity of emergency management is based on proper decisions and trust. There is also trust between local government and local communities. As it is not possible for a single individual to deal with the impact of natural hazards, villagers are requested to participate in the activities undertaken to reduce future disasters. In Jeseník nad Odrou, for instance, both the mayor and the villagers are confident that the extreme crisis of 2009 will not be repeated. This confidence stems from an ability to learn from failure and adopt proper strategies. The flood of 2009 was so destructive that many villagers live in constant fear of future disasters. If flood warnings are frequently and unnecessarily issued in the village, some of these residents may decide to leave permanently. Therefore, the municipality is careful to disseminate warnings only if there is a real emergency. It is revealed during the interview that young people living in the flood-risk zone experienced major difficulties in 2009 as a result of extensive damage to their homes as well as loss of property. The resultant anxiety, shock and fatigue made it difficult for them to take active steps to deal with the disaster. It is therefore the responsibility of the local government to build confidence in the people and prevent migration after a disaster. This is done not only by providing financial support for rebuilding houses but also by building shelters in safer locations where people from the high-risk zone may be accommodated on the basis of certain rules and regulations. As the mayor said in response to researchers, “I do not want to lose my villagers.” The distribution of relief and humanitarian aid to affected villagers without discrimination is another challenge for the local government. The government is also faced with the task of identifying people who misrepresent or exaggerate their situation in order to demand more resources. Many humanitarian organisations, NGOs and independent actors volunteer to provide material support and financial assistance to affected villagers. However, these 59
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organisations and individuals are not allowed to distribute materials directly to villagers. As one respondent said to the interviewers, “I received a refrigerator and household materials from the municipality which were donated by a lady but I do not know her.” The municipality also provided adequate monetary compensation to affected villagers so that they could rebuild their houses. The mayor is the key person involved in emergency management in the municipality. However, it is difficult for an individual to take care of all the diverse issues associated with an emergency. Intra-municipality networks, communication among officials and mutual trust are essential for achieving the desired targets. It should also be remembered that while technological advancement can enhance certain aspects of emergency management, the flow of information, at the intra- and inter-municipality levels, is much more important. Although the mayor takes the views of the people into account, the decisions and operations of the municipality are given first priority. The municipality applies the method of discussion and learning to manage the situation effectively.
Discussion and conclusion The main responsibilities of the municipality during an emergency are to provide safety and security, reduce losses and damages, provide support for the rapid recovery of affected villagers and adopt strategies to mitigate the impact of natural hazards. The execution of these duties requires skill, effective planning, intra- and inter-institutional networking, trust and proper decision making (Table 5.2). One of the major challenges of emergency management is to ensure the unrestricted flow of information about the natural hazard. Natural hazards create a sense of uncertainty about the future. It is beyond the capacity of an individual to manage this uncertainty successfully. Therefore, relations of mutual trust and reciprocity between the leader and the villagers are of immense importance. Wooten and James (2008) have emphasised the need for social networks and trust in emergency leadership. In fact, the people’s trust in the mayor builds integrity among stakeholders in the municipality in managing the emergency. The municipality also collaborates with departments and organisations at the district and regional levels to manage the crisis. Officers and personnel work as a team under the leadership of the chairperson of the flood commission in the village. Such team work prevents the overlapping of activities and enhances confidence during an emergency. Failures of emergency management are usually considered to be learning opportunities that help the municipality to improve its strategies and ensure better management in the future. Experience with emergencies and adequate preparedness measures increase the confidence of the mayor and the villagers and enhance their ability to mitigate future hazards (Yukl, 2006). Although they cannot prevent natural disasters, they can learn from their mistakes and make wiser decisions in the face of future challenges. The municipality sometimes has to make difficult decisions to achieve broader goals with the support of the people. Being the leader of the municipality, the mayor prioritises institutional goals over individual disputes. At the same time, the suggestions of subordinates and ordinary citizens are accepted if they help to further the process of emergency management. Leadership in emergency management provides vision and adopts strategic decisions and planning for every phase of a disaster. Leadership in emergency management is seen as a catalyst that enhances the resilience and ability of an individual, community and institution to cope with the impacts of disasters (Bongo and Manyena, 2015). The five leadership tasks in emergency management of Boin et al. (2005) are rightly applicable in the local government of the Czech Republic for emergency management: 60
Managing emergencies – failure and success Table 5.2 Challenges and success of the municipality in emergency management Challenges
Success
Administrative challenges
Administrative success
• • • •
• Disaster management plan for the municipality • Coordination with all government departments in emergency management • Building awareness about disasters • Prohibition of human activities at active flood risk zone • Documentation of disaster • Early warning system • Flood tour • Emergency evacuation • Identification and utilisation of public shelter during emergency • Providing public health facility • Providing humanitarian aid without bias • Providing monetary compensation • Stopping migration
Dependency on district flood commission Lack of trained human resources Rules and regulations for compensation Unwanted flow of information about flood and rumour
Financial barrier Inadequacy of resource • Lack of adequate equipment Governance system • Lack of participation of people Institutional challenges • Top-down approach in emergency management • Lack of adequate collaboration with specialised institutions Political barrier Environmental challenges • Frequent floods • Sustainability and development • Structural vs. non-structural measures
Governance system • Importance given to local needs Institutional success • Strengthening cooperation between municipality and residents • Enhancement of trust in the municipality Individual success
Individual challenges of the mayor • • • • • • •
Work load Work and decision on time Intelligent decision Experiences of disaster management Communication skills Ability to convince the residents Coordination with subordinates
• Easy access of mayor • Avoid personal and political bias in emergency management • Clarity and confidence in vision for disaster reduction • Communicate and understand the needs of every resident
Source: Authors.
(a) Making sense: The mayor has looked after all of the possible emergency preparation and processes to eliminate consequences; (b) Decision making and implementation coordination: The mayor took hard decisions and assured and reached out to every single survivor for disaster mitigation and recovery; (c) Making meaning: The mayor directed, motivated and built confidence during a stressful situation; 61
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(d) Accounting: The mayor kept the affected residents on track for final recovery; and (e) Learning: The mayor never took the disaster as a negative but rather rectified the shortcoming for better management in future. It is found that leadership in emergency management mainly focuses on three components: communication, clarity of vision and the value of planning and caring relationships. The mayor experienced certain challenges which were because of individual, organisational and systematic or environmental factors (Table 5.3). The theory of transformational leadership discusses the various positive qualities that characterise every successful leader. If these qualities are accompanied by adequate planning, appropriate strategies and effective implementation, they encourage subordinates and other individuals to participate actively in emergency management. The credibility of the leader stems from honest intentions and visionary strategies (Kouzes and Posner, 2002). Table 5.3 Barriers and competencies of leader in emergency management Key barriers
Key competencies
Individual factors
Communication skill
• • • •
Level of personal preparedness • Ability to convince Knowledge, skills and experience • Ability to communicate Willingness to manage emergency Capacity to educate subordinates and residents Ability to command
Organisational factors • Level of institutional (i.e., municipality and IRS) preparedness, strategies, planning, decision making, logistic and effective communication • Empowerment of subordinates and residents for emergency managementInfluence on government policy in emergency management • Dependency of the municipality on district flood commission
• •
Source: Authors.
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• Activate the IRS at municipality level • Influence and motivate subordinates and residents in emergency management • Respect the decisions of subordinates • Team work Personal competences
• Well-informed and knowledgeable • Ability to inspire Authority to manage emergency • Ability to mentor Degree of coordination with flood commission • Professionalism and IRS at district level • Reachable Prioritisation of emergency management at the municipality Strategic planning Degree of community engagement in emergency management • Future plan • Visionary • Collaboration and coordination • Public sensitisation • Documentation
Systematic factors • •
• Making hard decisions Team leadership
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It has been observed that the mayor creates a “sense of urgency” after assessing the prevailing institutional situation so that the plans to manage the emergency may be implemented immediately (Packard, 2009). Yukl (2006) has focused on “setting challenging goals” in leadership, and this supports the achievement-oriented approach advocated by Northouse (2004). The municipality also improves its disaster management strategies by identifying the causes of failure in the past, rectifying existing gaps, building confidence among villagers and preventing migration. Emergency leadership is dynamic and collective. The leader takes wise decisions to minimise losses and damages. Wooten and James (2008) have discussed leadership competencies in the context of emergency management. These competencies come from experience, the development of human capital, the availability of resources and communication. During a crisis, the flow of information determines the risk perception of the people. Emotional attachment and communication between affected villagers and the mayor enhance transparency and accountability in emergency management. However, as Wooten and James (2008) have rightly pointed out, communication gaps often arise when emergency management activities are carried out. To avoid this, the leader must enter into dialogue with villagers, respect their grievances, meet their legitimate needs and build their confidence. The municipality has stressed the importance of communication and interaction for evaluating and sharing the level of risk in the village. This includes intra- and inter-organisational communication as well as communication with the people. The municipality has also consulted experts to improve planning at the local level and enhance its ability to deal with disasters in the future. A major gap in emergency management is the inadequate emphasis on the development of human capital. Long-term preparedness measures and the active and voluntary participation of people in the IRS are required to develop effective strategies of emergency management. Emergency situations create opportunities for leaders to control their negative emotions and make wise decisions under pressure (Wooten and James, 2008). Another aspect of emergency management is “organisational resiliency” or the capability of an organisation to manage the emergency (Wooten and James, 2008). A leader must have a high level of energy, tolerance and the ability to deal with stress. During an emergency, stress is caused by widespread losses and damages and the inability to provide essential services and support to all affected villagers. Tolerance is also necessary to handle criticism, failure and individual disputes. The mayor was careful not to interpret the behaviour of the people and the failures of management in negative terms. Rather, equal importance was accorded to all villagers, and space was provided for them to express their grievances freely. The municipality also functioned as an unbiased institution by distributing materials and humanitarian aid according to the needs of the people and disallowing the direct intervention of external organisations. Leadership during an emergency requires the integration of skills that help the leader to respond to a crisis, to make plans, to learn and to cope with natural hazards. Competence in emergency leadership comes from experiences and the ability to take decisions. An organisation engaged in emergency management activities must come up with original solutions to problems and improve its strategies after each disaster. Effective emergency leadership is influenced by organisational and managerial processes to a great extent. These processes focus on the causes and consequences of a disaster; the necessary preparedness, mitigation and prevention measures; and the coping capacity of the affected community. Organisations must continuously learn from each emergency in order to enhance their own resilience. Behavioural changes are also necessary to build trust between the municipality and the 63
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people, to motivate them to accept changes in the governance system and to encourage them to participate actively in emergency management. Finally, the challenges or failures of emergency management must not be construed negatively, for they allow leaders and organisations to enhance their capability and confidence through the continuous improvement of strategies and operations.
References AFP (2009) Six dead in Czech floods: Emergency services [online]. Available at http://www.terradaily .com/reports/Six_dead_in_Czech_floods_emergency_services_999.html (accessed 12 May 2016). Anderson, D. (2002) Three keys to leadership in times of crisis. Leadership for the Front Lines, 1(427), 1–2. Antonakis, J., Avolio, B. J. and Sivasubramaniam, N. (2003) Context and leadership: An examination of the nine-factor full-range leadership theory using the multifactor leadership questionnaire. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(3), 261–295. Bass, B. M. and Stogdill, R. M. (1990) Bass & Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial application. Simon & Schuster, Inc, New York. Behera, J. (2016) Authentic leadership in disaster: Leader and employee viewpoints in disaster preparation and response. Unpublished PhD dissertation, North-central University, Arizona. Boin, A., ‘t Hart, P., Stern, E. and Sundelius, B. (2005) The politics of crisis management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Bongo, P. P. and Manyena, S. B. (2015) From “government” to “governance”: Tensions in disasterresilience leadership in Zimbabwe. Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies, 7(1), 10. Campbell, J. L., Quincy, C., Osserman, J. and Pedersen, O. K. (2013) Coding in-depth semi-structured interviews: Problems of unitization and inter coder reliability and agreement. Sociological Methods and Research, 42(3), 294. Čamrová, L. and Viktorová, D. (2006) Policy-making decisions under the thumb of disasters – A case of the floods in the Czech Republic. Current Politics and Economics of Russia, Eastern and Central Europe, 21(3), 203–204. Clark, D. (2015) Concepts of leadership. Available at http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/ leadcon.html (accessed 11 August 2016). Czech Statistical Office (2013) [online]. Available at https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/4116-13-n_2013 -05 (accessed 11 December 2015). Discount, K. F. (2009) Adaptive leadership in emergency management: A directed research project. Unpublished MBA dissertation, Strayer University, Alexandria. Demiroz, F. and Kapucu, N. (2012) The role of leadership in managing emergencies and disasters. European Journal of Economic and Political Studies, 5(1), 91–101 Drabek, T. (1987) The professional emergency manager. University of Colorado, Boulder. EM-DAT (2022) [online]. Available at http://www.emdat.be/ (accessed 20 December 2022). Fox, J. C. (2009) Analyzing leadership styles of incident commanders. Unpublished PhD thesis, North-Central University. Goleman, D. (2002) Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review Press. [online]. Available at https://hbr.org/2000/03/leadership-that-gets-results. Hammond, J. (2005) Mass casualty incidents: Planning implications for trauma care. Scandinavian Journal of Surgery, 94(4), 267–271. Hannah, S. T., Woolfolk, L. and Lord, R. G. (2009) Leader self structure: A framework for positive leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(2), 269–290. Jüptner, P., Valušová, P. and Kruntorádová, I., 2014. Participation and elements of direct democracy in the Czech Republic: Part I. Public Policy and Administration, 13(4), pp.644–658. Kearney, E. and Gebert, D. (2009) Managing diversity and enhancing team outcomes: The promise of transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 77–89. 64
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Kolditz, T. A. (2007) In extremis leadership: Leading as if your life depended on it. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. (2002) The leadership challenge. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Lidovky (2013) Village of 2013 became Jesenik nad Odrou Novojičínsko [online]. Available at http://www.lidovky.cz/vesnici-roku-2013-se-stal-jesenik-nad-odrou-na-novojicinsku-pzz-/zpravy -domov.aspx?c=A130914_183737_ln_domov_jzl#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm _campaign=ln_lidovky&utm_content=main (accessed 14 August 2016). Maxwell, J. C. (1993) Developing the leader within you. Thomas Nelson, Nashville. Merriam, S. B. (2014) Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco. Millet, C. and Porche, D. J. (2017) Overburdened systems and dealing with disaster: Nursing administrators’ experiences and nursing leadership recommendations from a state-level perspective. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 41(2), 134–143. Mitroff, I. (2005) Leadership excellence. Crisis Leadership, 22(10), 11. Northouse, P. (2004) Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage, Thousand Oaks. Packard, T. (2009) Leadership and performance in human services organizations. In R. J. Patti, ed. The handbook of human services management. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 143–164. Photiou, E. (2021) Leadership and management in disasters–command, control, coordination, communication. In E. Pikoulis, J. Doucet, eds. Emergency medicine, trauma and disaster management. Cham: Springer, 611–624. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34116-9_49 Porche, D. J. (2009) Emergent leadership during a natural disaster: A narrative analysis of an acute health care organization’s leadership. Unpublished PhD thesis, Capella University. Saldaña, J. (2014) Coding and analysis strategies. In P. Leavy, ed. The Oxford handbook of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, New York, 581–605. Stake, R. E. (2013) Multiple case study analysis. Guilford Press, New York. Waugh Jr., W. and Gregory, S. (2006) Collaboration and leadership for effective emergency management. Public Administration Review, 66, 131–140. Wooten, L. P. and James, E. H. (2008) Linking crisis management and leadership competencies: The role of human resource development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(3), 352–379. Yates, J. (1999) Leadership in emergency services. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 14, 66–69. Yin, R. K. (2009) Case study research: Design and methods. Sage, Los Angeles. Yukl, G. (2006) Leadership in organizations. Prentice Education, Upper Saddle River.
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6 Drivers, services gaps and improving disaster management for displaced people A case study of prolonged displacement following the 2022 floods in Lismore, Australia Anastasia Mortimer, Temitope Egbelakin and Willy Sher
Introduction Between 23 February and 7 April 2022, the South-Eastern Queensland (QLD) and Northern New South Wales (NSW) regions of Australia experienced three severe weather systems, resulting in record-high rainfall flood events across these states (Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2022). The ensuing crisis saw thousands of survivors seeking refuge on their submerged rooftops while waiting for emergency services (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). There were countless media stories on the citizen rescue operations referred to as “the tinny army,” who navigated dangerous flood waters in aluminium boats with a mission to save their drowning communities (Gusmaroli & Harris, 2022; Kurmelovs & Tondorf, 2022). Then there was the aftermath: harrowing images of whole communities underwater; crowded evacuation centres short on supplies (Tondorf, 2022); and the mud from murky floodwaters that caked over the remains of homes when the water finally receded (Keoghan et al., 2022). The trail of destruction caused by the consecutive flood events, known as the “Eastern Australian Floods,” reflects detrimental human, social, financial and environmental losses for individuals and the communities of the impacted regions. However, the rate of housing loss following the floods has devastated the region. From February to April 2022, the floods resulted in the estimated damage of 14,637 homes, 5,303 of which were destroyed and deemed uninhabitable (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022a). The estimated insured residential housing losses are $5.134 billion, making it Australia’s most expensive flood (Insurance Council of Australia, 2022). The magnitude of housing damage and loss rendered flood-impacted communities homeless. These floods are a pertinent example of internal disaster displacement. Displacement following the Eastern Australian Floods is far-reaching across the states of QLD and NSW; the rate of destruction is most recognisable in the community of Lismore 66
DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-8
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in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. On 28 February 2022, Lismore’s Wilsons River overtopped the levee at 14.37 metres, over 2 metres above the previous record flood peak of 12.11 metres in 1974 (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022a). Again, on 29 March, heavy rainfall caused floods with a peak of 11.4 metres (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). As a result, over 3,600 homes in the Lismore region have been deemed uninhabitable (St Vincent de Paul Society, 2022) and “over 7,000 people were displaced and in need of emergency accommodation” (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b) following the floods. In the months since, many Lismore residents remain in housing insecurity and are therefore still displaced (Archibald-Binge, 2022; Chrysanthos, 2022). Disaster displacement is a secondary crisis following disaster events. However, in Australia, displacement has typically been short-term, whereby people need to leave their homes to escape the immediate and foreseeable impacts of natural hazards (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2020b). This form of displacement sees disaster-impacted communities seek refuge in evacuation centres or with family and friends during the emergency response period or remain in evacuation centres and emergency interim housing until the crisis subsides (McAdam, 2020). Evacuation is a necessary and often a temporary form of displacement required to protect against loss of life and to ensure community safety (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019). However, recent disasters such as the 2022 floods and the 2019–2020 Black Summer Bushfires have highlighted experiences where people are being displaced beyond the day of the event to the weeks or months following the crisis. This is an example of prolonged displacement, which sees people experiencing displacement beyond the closure of evacuation centres (McAdam, 2022). It can encompass situations where people are displaced months or years after the initial disaster as they wait for their homes or communities to become habitable (Faas et al., 2019, Oliver-Smith, 2013). Displaced populations in Lismore are experiencing housing issues such as shortages of rental properties, building delays on damaged homes and extended periods of residing in temporary accommodation. Further research is needed to understand prolonged displacement in this context. Internal disaster displacement is an under-researched area of Australian disaster studies scholarship, particularly research that accounts for people’s lived experiences with longterm displacement (McAdam, 2022; Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2020a). As such, there needs to be more understanding of the number of past disaster displacements and information on groups of people most affected by displacement (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2020a). Disaster displacement is a growing global issue that is likely to worsen due to the increased frequency, severity and unpredictability of various sudden-onset and slow-onset natural hazards, exacerbated by climate change (Ferris, 2011; Zickgraf, 2021; Oliver-Smith, 2016b). Currently, Australia has no direct policies or legislative mechanisms governing disaster displacement (Mortimer et al., 2022). When displacement is not accounted for, disaster management approaches are unlikely to result in effective displacement governance in times of crisis, which can fuel the likelihood of people being displaced long-term (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2020a). With the growing occurrences of displacement in Australia (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2021a), there is an imperative to investigate this issue and to establish a knowledge base on best-practice approaches to mitigate and manage prolonged displacement crises that can be incorporated into mainstream disaster management practice. This study contributes to this under-studied issue by exploring people’s lived experiences of displacement in the initial months following the floods. This topic is examined through a case study analysis of the 2022 Eastern Australian Floods in the Lismore City Council 67
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LGA. The question guiding this chapter is: what are the potential drivers of prolonged community displacement following flooding disaster? The central aim of this study is to capture people’s lived experiences with prolonged displacement and what drives it. Understanding these variables and people’s lived experiences of this phenomenon is arguably the first step needed to address this complex problem. This is because displaced people have firsthand knowledge of their situations, having navigated convoluted recovery programmes and challenges. Without such understanding, it is unlikely that targeted and inclusive responses to address displacement will be implemented in disaster response and recovery initiatives, placing people at risk of experiencing prolonged or protracted displacement (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2021b).
Overview of existing research Research on displacement drivers attests that displacement is a secondary crisis following a disaster. Displacement is caused by underlying natural and built environmental, social, economic, political and governance factors that affect the likelihood of people becoming displaced following mass housing loss or destruction. These factors are epitomised by issues such as poverty, housing affordability and availability, social network breakdown, weak institutional governance and inadequate policy or planning for displacement (Spokane et al., 2013; Esnard & Sapat, 2014; Levine et al., 2007; Oliver-Smith, 2013; Oliver-Smith, 2016a, 2016b). When exposure to natural hazards is compounded by these overarching drivers, it fuels displacement risk and can prolong displacement experiences (Cutter et al., 2014; Oliver-Smith, 2018; Wisner et al., 2004). Literature established within environmental science disciplines has demonstrated how environmental factors such as the exposure of regions to natural hazards are a driver of displacement ( Cutter, 2003; Nygren & Wayessa, 2018; Wisner et al., 2004). Such research has also attempted to project and model the future impacts of climate change on displacement (see for example, S. L. Cutter, 2003; El-Hinnawi, 1985; Yonetani, 2011). However, environmental displacement is not solely an ecological problem. When accounting for environmental drivers, researchers have demonstrated how the built environment can contribute to instances of prolonged displacement. For example, residential land use planning in disasterprone areas is a significant factor in housing loss following disasters (Johnson et al., 2020; Ross, 2019; Yildirim et al., 2022). Additionally, mass housing loss following a disaster is an indicator of prolonged displacement when housing loss occurs in the context of the preexisting housing crisis (Bolin, 1985; Comerio, 1997; Hamideh et al., 2021). Limited postdisaster housing and sheltering options are also a major driver for long-term experiences of displacement, particularly for socially or economically marginalised groups (Wu & Lindell, 2004; Peacock et al., 2014; Bolin & Stanford, 1991; Peacock et al., 2007). Most of what is understood about underlying social and economic determinants of displacement stems from disaster vulnerability or sociology of disaster scholarship (Warner et al., 2013; Oliver-Smith, 2016b; Terminski, 2012; Palinkas, 2020; Oliver-Smith, 2009). Such research suggests that disasters interact with pre-existing structural vulnerabilities which fuel the conditions in which displacement occurs and which make people vulnerable to long-term displacement (Offner & Marlowe, 2021; Fröhlich & Klepp, 2018; Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2021b; Cutter, 2003; Oliver-Smith, 2016b; Wisner et al., 2004). These studies tend to focus on the cumulative effects of disasters and displacement such as housing loss, job or income loss, relocation from one’s community and economic hardship and uncertainty during the emergency and recovery phases; and long-term mental 68
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health impacts (Martinez, 2018; Rawlings, 2008; Delavelle, 2013; Oyefara & Alabi, 2016; Cutter, 2011; Cannavò, 2008). Furthermore, this research suggests that these social and economic factors are either exacerbated by, or produced by the cascading crisis of displacement (Oliver-Smith, 2016b; Cutter, 2011). These factors can push people into potentially long-term displacement or homelessness (Levine et al., 2007; Koch, 2015; Cutter, 2011). Literature on political and governance drivers of displacement is focused in areas of human rights law or disaster management and risk reduction. Research from a human rights lens demonstrates that legislative and policy gaps in national-level displacement governance approaches are fuelling poor governmental action to address displacement crises (see for example, Cantor, 2018; Al-Mahaidi et al., 2018; Cohen, 2009; MacGuire, 2018). Such studies advocate for the need for national governments to pre-emptively plan for displacement by aligning crisis management approaches with international best-practice displacement governance standards outlined in the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (see for example, Adeola, 2016; MacGuire, 2018; Finnigan, 2013; Cohen, 2004; McAdam, 2018). Disaster management and risk reduction research argues that there is a pressing need for national legal and policy frameworks on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) that incorporate prevention measures for displacement (Scott & Salamanca, 2020; Black et al., 2013; Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2021b; Lyster & Burkett, 2018; Cantor, 2021; Faas et al., 2019). In addition, national-level policies are recognised as an effective and efficient way to reduce disaster displacement and protect vulnerable groups (MacGuire, 2018; The Brookings Institution, 2005; Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2018). Overall, this research sees legislation and policy as key to adequate displacement governance in times of crisis, which can also meet the rights and needs of displaced people while mitigating the risk of long-term displacement occurring (McAdam, 2022; Cantor, 2018; Peters & Lovell, 2020). Research indicates that the above-mentioned factors may cause initial displacement and also prolong experiences of displacement for individuals and communities by hindering their ability to recover (Guadagno & Yonetani, 2022; Oliver-Smith, 2016b; Peacock et al., 2007). However, in general, drivers of prolonged or protracted displacement remain a significantly under-studied area of disaster displacement scholarship (Guadagno & Yonetani, 2022; Titz, 2021; Peters & Lovell, 2020). Researchers link the limited studies on prolonged experiences of displacement to a lack of data availability on the duration of people’s displacement, across a variety of geographic and demographic contexts (Guadagno & Yonetani, 2022; Peters & Lovell, 2020; Titz, 2021). Therefore, further examination of prolonged displacement drivers is needed (Titz, 2021).
Research methodology and methods This research examines the potential drivers of prolonged displacement stemming from the 2022 Lismore floods. This is achieved through a qualitative case study approach based on the phenomenological research tradition under the lens of the vulnerability paradigm of disaster studies. This study focused on understanding lived experience of prolonged displacement through a thematic analysis of submissions to the NSW Independent Flood Inquiry made by displaced residents of Lismore. Epistemologically, this research aligns with the constructivist paradigm, which sees knowledge as socially constructed by people, their cultures, histories and experiences (Crotty, 1998). The lens of the vulnerability paradigm of disaster studies is the theoretical approach that guides this research design. The vulnerability paradigm asserts that disasters are not solely 69
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a product of nature but the result of the complex interaction between social, political, geographic and economic factors that determine a person’s vulnerability to experiencing the adverse impacts of disasters and their ability to adapt and recover from them (Mascarenhas & Wisner, 2012; Cannon, 1994; Gaillard, 2019; Kelman et al., 2016). This research is based on the idea that the secondary crisis of displacement following a disaster is a product of coexisting and compounding environmental, social, built environmental, economic and political factors that determine displacement vulnerability for individuals and their communities (Esnard & Sapat, 2014; Oliver-Smith, 2013). This research used a single-case study approach to understand underlying factors which may be contributing to instances of prolonged displacement in Lismore. This approach also accounts for displaced people’s lived experiences with displacement. This phenomenological approach captures the perspectives of different people and focuses on their experiences of the topic of study (Yin, 2018), in this case: disaster displacement. Past disaster vulnerability research has used phenomenology to reveal a deeper understanding of people’s disaster experiences (see Basile, 2020, Sadeghloo & Mikhak, 2022). Such firsthand accounts are essential for determining underlying causes of vulnerability and for establishing reforms that enable just and equitable planning and managing of future hazards (Gaillard et al., 2019; Gaillard, 2019; Mascarenhas & Wisner, 2012). This single-case study explores the phenomenon of disaster displacement by examining personal submissions made by flood-affected residents to the NSW Government’s Independent Inquiry into flooding (see O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b), from the suburbs that make up the Lismore Local Government Area (LGA). Yin’s (2018, p. 48) five-component case study method was used in this research, and the application of this approach across the five stages is detailed in Table 6.1. This approach was selected because it defines the scope of the study, procedures and methods used for data collection, theoretical propositions, and measures taken to maintain case study quality (Zaborek, 2009). As such, this approach to case study design is well renowned for reliability (Yazan, 2015).
Dataset The question guiding this case study analysis is, what are the potential drivers of prolonged community displacement following flooding disaster? To answer this question, submissions to the NSW Government’s Independent Flood Inquiry were examined for themes related to drivers of prolonged displacement. The themes of prolonged displacement drivers were identified inductively, by interpreting patterns of meaning that emerged from the dataset. The unit of analysis in this research was personal submissions to the NSW Independent Flood Inquiry made by residents in the Lismore LGA who disclosed their experiences of displacement or housing loss. Following the 2022 floods, the NSW Government created an Inquiry taskforce to review the management of floods that occurred across the state from February to April 2022 (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). As part of the review process, submissions were sought from all flood-affected people, emergency and support personnel, organisations and the general public. This includes people from the Lismore LGA, and other flood-impacted areas (however, submissions made by people from other LGAs are not the focus of this study). These submissions are publicly available and can be accessed through the NSW Government Inquiry webpage (New South Wales Government, 2022a). The complete list of 1250 submissions was reviewed to identify and source submissions made by flood-impacted residents of Lismore. To be included in the dataset, submissions needed to: 70
Drivers, service gaps for prolonged Table 6.1 Case study strategy used in this research (created by the author) 1. Determining a case study’s questions Under Yin’s approach, the first component of designing a case study involves establishing a question(s) suited for a case study research approach and the methods used to collect data for the said study. Yin argues that “how” and “why” questions are most appropriate for case study research because “such questions deal with the tracing of operational processes over time, rather than mere frequencies or incidence” (Yin, 2018, p. 41). However, it is also suggested that “what” questions, if they are exploratory, are also appropriate for this method (Yin, 2018). The question guiding this research meets this criterion. 2. Propositions Yin suggests that researchers must set propositions surrounding their case study to clarify the boundaries of the research and to link questions with relevant literature on the topic and the theory which guides the study (Yin, 2018). For example, it is assumed that by examining submissions by people who experienced displacement firsthand, this research will be able to understand why people are being displaced and the underlying factors (environmental, social, economic and political issues) that influence displacement. Another proposition is that current initiatives provided by public and civil sector organisations do not adequately support the recovery needs of displaced people because there is a lack of understanding of the issue of medium- and long-term disaster displacement in Australian policy and practice (see Mortimer et al., 2022). 3. Case study scope Case study setting Lismore City Council’s local government area The interval explored Date of disaster event until September 2022 (when this research was conducted) Facets of participant actions/emotions Lived experiences with prolonged displacement following the being explored in the case study disaster event Subjects Adults who lived in the Lismore LGA who made submissions to the Inquiry and that referred to their experiences of displacement 4. Methods and the protocols followed to link proposition Yin argues that “during the design stage, you need to be aware of the choices [of selected methods] and how they might suit your case study” (Yin, 2018, p. 67). Thematic analysis as a method links to the above-stated propositions because analysing flood inquiry submission documents for themes related to drivers of prolonged displacement is perceived to reveal people’s lived experiences with displacement and gaps in public and civil sector recovery support services being offered. 5. The criterion for interpreting the finding Yin’s approach necessitates a pre-determined strategy for interpreting the findings. This study used a “ground-up” data analysis approach by assessing the data based on the patterns that emerged from the data (Yin, 2018, p. 223). Codes were assigned to the data, with each code representing a concept of interest.
(i) Be written by a flood-affected resident (e.g., not a business owner or emergency service worker). (ii) List a Lismore LGA postcode or specify a Lismore LGA suburb (the Inquiry required the postcode of those submitting). (iii) Disclose experiences of displacement, homelessness, housing insecurity and housing loss or damage rendering a home uninhabitable. (iv) Disclose displacement experiences that went beyond temporary displacement (e.g., not evacuation where people could return after the flood danger was over). (v) Be written by a person who experienced displacement first-hand (e.g., not by a friend or family member of a displaced person). 71
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After assessing submissions against the selection criteria, 59 submissions were included in the dataset and were reviewed for themes relating to experiences of displacement and recovery and drivers of displacement. A web link to access this dataset is available (see Mortimer, 2022). The dataset includes information for each submission, its corresponding link and the submission number.
Data analysis approach A thematic analysis of submissions made by flood-impacted residents was undertaken using a six-phase approach created by Braun and Clarke (2006). The method offers strategies for thematising the coded data through collation, which is used to identify patterns of semantic and latent meaning in relation to the overarching questions guiding the analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2014; Clarke & Braun, 2013). The phases are summarised as (Braun & Clarke, 2006):
1. Familiarising yourself with your data 2. Generating initial codes 3. Searching for themes 4. Reviewing themes 5. Defining and naming themes 6. Producing the report
Discussion of findings Although displacement was not the central topic of the NSW Independent Flood Inquiry, the 59 submissions from the Lismore LGA provided insights into factors that are driving experiences of prolonged displacement in this case. This included intersecting social, political, environmental and economic factors, that will be discussed in the following sections. It is important to note that the data analysed in this study is based on personal accounts of displaced people within two to three months following their displacement and therefore does not provide a complete account of displacement experiences in this case. Flood recovery for displaced people of Lismore and the Northern Rivers region of NSW more generally is evolving at present. Since the date of these submissions, short- and medium-term housing programmes established by the NSW Government have been implemented (New South Wales Government, 2022d, 2022e), as have building grants for homeowners living in flood-impacted homes (New South Wales Government, 2022b). Additionally, on 28 October 2022, the federal and state government announced an $800 million land buy-back scheme to move flood-impacted residents out of the floodplain (Rose, 2022). Therefore, it may be the case that some of the people who made these submissions to the NSW Independent Inquiry have since been supported out of prolonged displacement. However, while government-run approaches are being implemented, further research is needed to determine whether these services and programmes were successful in addressing housing insecurity, or in addressing the needs of the displaced people who accessed them in the long term. Despite the evolving nature of this case, the housing issues that ensued in Lismore in the months following the floods are a pertinent example of prolonged displacement. The following section summarises factors that contributed to people’s experiences with prolonged displacement in this case. It does so by discussing the emergent themes found in the dataset that relate to drivers of prolonged displacement, and by drawing on scholarly, policy and 72
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media information on the floods to contextualise this case. Each thematic category is discussed in relations to natural, built environmental, economic and governance factors driving prolonged displacement. Examples of significant statements from the submissions are used to provide examples for the theme and its connection to displacement experiences.
Natural and built environmental drivers of displacement in Lismore The findings of the NSW Independent Inquiry confirm that the floods in Lismore were a product of natural and built environmental factors. These contributed to disaster-related housing loss in the community, leading to displacement (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). The February 2022 flood occurred following concurrent weather systems, resulting in unprecedented rainfall that surged into the catchment and overwhelmed Lismore’s floodplain capacity (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). At the time Australia had experienced two La Niña years,1 which caused extreme and continuous rainfall months before the February and March floods (Cook, 2022). While La Niña years are a naturally occurring weather phenomenon that is a part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2022a), climate change is contributing unprecedented deluges of rainfall during La Niña years, which in turn amplifies the risk of flooding (World Meteorological Organization, 2022). For Lismore, the effects of La Niña resulted in abundant rain over the summer, saturating river catchments and soils (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). The floodplain was at capacity and unable to absorb heavy rainfall, which contributed to flooding (Cook, 2022). Furthermore, the high levels of rainfall in March 2022 occurred when the catchment was recovering from the February flood (Cook, 2022). These environmental factors contributed to the community’s exposure to consecutive flood events (Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2022b). Several intersecting man-made factors, such as a legacy of poor urban planning and floodplain zoning decisions, contributed to the community’s exposure to floods, and vulnerability to housing loss and subsequent displacement. Therefore, these floods cannot solely be attributed to natural environmental drivers. Lismore was developed between two major river systems and is relatively low-lying, with deep valleys and hills that cause fast-moving rainfall to run off into the bowl-like catchment (Lismore City Council, 2014a; Cook, 2022). These conditions mean that residents of Lismore live in a geographically risky location prone to floods, and in the last ten years, the region has faced seven moderate to major flood events (Australian Severe Weather, 2022). Furthermore, the residential zoning of the community sees an estimated 30,000 people residing in a flood-prone area (Cook, 2022). These factors contribute to Lismore’s susceptibility to high rainfall and riverine flood events (Cook, 2022). Residential land use planning in Lismore is key to displacement in this case. Under NSW Government policy, local governments are responsible for residential zoning in floodplains (New South Wales Government, 2022c). Planning is required to involve “a meritbased approach to the selection of appropriate flood planning levels” (New South Wales Government, 2022c) when an area in the floodplain is rezoned or considered for residential development, which includes consideration of flood risk up to the “worst case scenario” Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) peak2 (New South Wales Government, 2022c). Zoning policy requires that all habitable floor heights of residential buildings in High Risk and Medium Risk Precincts of Lismore “be at or above the flood planning level” (Lismore City Council, 2014b), for the 1 in 100-year average recurrence interval (ARI)3 flood scenarios, with an additional 0.5 metre height as a measure of safety (Lismore City Council, 2014a). 73
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For example, the suburbs of South and Central Lismore were planned for floor flood heights of 14 m Australian height datum (AHD)4 and East Lismore was planned for 11 m AHD (Lismore City Council, 2014a). However, due to the unprecedented flood peaks of 14.4 m AHD in the recent 2022 February flood (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b), housing in these regions could not contend with these heights, which exceeded recorded flood peak levels by over 2 metres (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). The inadequacies of PMF were addressed in the NSW Government Independent Inquiry into the floods. The use of PMF as a tool for land use planning is criticised because this approach does not adequately account for “key meteorological conditions related to the magnitudes of extreme storms, such as atmospheric moisture, that are changing in a warming climate” (Visser et al., 2022). In the case of Lismore, “worst case” flood estimations informing local land use planning did not account for how environmental variables might increase the probability of a detrimental flood occurring more frequently than the assumed 1 in 100-year scenario, at heights greater than the previous worst case scenario flood (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). Another key built environment factor contributing to instances of prolonged displacement in this case is the lack of housing stock in the region, stemming from the pre-existing housing crisis. It is recognised in disaster scholarship that access to safe, affordable and long-term housing is crucial for householder and community recovery and, therefore, to limiting long-term displacement (Peacock et al., 2007). Throughout the submissions analysed, references were made to how a lack of housing availability in the local community or lack of housing affordability is a contributor to experiences of prolonged displacement. Additionally, in the eight months since the floods, there have been consistent organisational and media reports that people are still unable to access appropriate housing through the private market, limiting their options for recovery (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b; Cormack, 2022). Feels so unfair. This is but a brutal extension of the housing crisis. We put so much blood, sweat and tears into getting that home liveable and setting up home business. Now its gutted to the picture rails and I am exhausted. (Submission 554) I can no longer even afford a rental in my town and I am a multi-generational local, as most rents to house my 5 person family are now the same if not more than my weekly wage … We need accommodation. The entire town needs accommodation … We as an entire town are either still couch surfing or living in unsanitary conditions in mud and mould ridden shells of houses or the lucky few in vans. (Submission 606) Before the 2022 floods, the Northern Rivers region of NSW experienced a widespread housing insecurity crisis that severely impacted housing access in the region, particularly for low-income residents (North Coast Community Housing, 2018). This became evident after the 2017 Lismore floods, when housing and homelessness services that were already stretched thin were inundated with new flood clients in need of emergency housing (North Coast Community Housing, 2018). Again in 2022, the lack of available housing stock presents significant challenges for governments and other agencies working in housing recovery to provide safe and affordable housing for the thousands of people who are experiencing displacement (O’Kane & Fuller, 2022b). This phenomenon reflects key arguments in the literature that link disaster displacement and pre-disaster housing crises to limited housing recovery options for displaced people (Fogel, 2017; Gaillard et al., 2019). 74
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Economic impediments of prolonged displacement in Lismore Scholars have long maintained that there is a link between the social and economic vulnerability of individuals and communities and the likelihood that certain people in specific locations will experience displacement in the aftermath of a hazard (Oliver-Smith, 2013; Nygren & Wayessa, 2018, Oliver-Smith, 2016a; Maguire, 2020; Faas et al., 2019; Esnard & Sapat, 2014). This is largely due to the work of researchers applying the lens of environmental justice (see Bullard & Wright, 2009; Bolin, 2007) and vulnerability (see Oliver-Smith, 2016b; Cutter et al., 2003), which has led to the recognition that harm and loss which follow a disaster are contingent on a variety of pre-existing social and economic factors that fuel the structural conditions in which displacement occurs (Cutter et al., 2003; Wisner et al., 2004; Oliver-Smith, 2016b). These often include demographic factors such as race, gender, disability, age, employment status, income rate and housing tenure type (Mastaler, 2019; Bates & Green, 2009; Lee Young & Van Zandt, 2019). However, Guadagno and Yonetani (2022) caution against the assumption that pre-disaster vulnerability is an automatic precursor for “displacement risk,” as displacement experiences are context specific. Therefore, various variables require examination to determine causal links between underlying vulnerability and displacement on a case-by-case basis (Guadagno & Yonetani, 2022). Submissions analysed in this study referenced experiences of pre-disaster economic insecurity, which is indicative of underlying economic vulnerability that contributed to displacement. For example, submissions by homeowners who experienced housing loss or damage explained that they had experienced financial insecurity before the floods and were financially worse off after their displacement. In addition, a number of submissions noted that their choice of home initially was influenced by location, a lack of financial ability to buy a home “out of the floodplain” or due to a lack of housing availability (n=6). We hadn’t planned to move into the flood zone, but it was the beginning of covid, and there were very few houses on the market. We were on the first homeowner grant, which capped our budget at 450000. (Submission 723) These economic drivers can be further understood by accounting for the economic insecurity rates experienced by Lismore community members before the floods. It is known that Northern NSW experiences higher than average concentrations of poverty in comparison to other regions of the state (New South Wales Council of Social Services, 2019). Underlying causes of economic marginalisation are attributed to factors such as the cost of living from housing, rental prices and high unemployment rates (New South Wales Council of Social Services, 2019). It is estimated that as of 2017, 21.3% (2,700 people) of inner-city Lismore’s population residing in the low-lying suburbs of East, South, Central and North Lismore (which were severely impacted by the 2022 floods) experienced economic disadvantage – defined as “people who fall below one half of the median household disposable income after taking account of housing cost” (New South Wales Council of Social Services, 2017, n.p.). There was also strong reference in the submissions analysed to experiences of postdisplacement economic decline due to housing loss and loss of possessions. Several submissions by displaced residents explained that they had invested all their financial capital in their homes (n=7). They described living with financial insecurity as they still needed to repay their mortgages despite no longer being able to live in their homes (n=10). References 75
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were made to the significant financial burden of paying for a mortgage on top of paying for alternative accommodation (n=5) and self-funded housing repairs (n=8). We worry that we will face a continual downward spiral of poverty and entrapment on the floodplain as we all have mortgages and nowhere else to go … Having put everything we own into our property with limited finances to start again we worry for our future and for our child’s future. (Submission 878) Submissions also highlighted the economic constraints of prolonged displacement, with many respondents indicating an unforeseeable timeline for recovery. A reoccurring theme related to recovery was that homeowners’ financial struggles impacted on their recovery options. For example, recovery required government financial support to assist people in leaving the floodplain through a housing buy-back-scheme or land swap (n=19); town relocation (n=6); or financial assistance to elevate houses or to assist with retrofits for floodproofing (n=4). I simply do not want to live in a house that may well flood again, however, my house halved its value overnight with a mortgage that is higher than what it is now worth. I want to relocate to higher ground, but financially could not do this without the assistance of the government and/or a recovery package. (Submission 295) Displacement literature explains how people with limited financial resources (in the form of income, savings or assets) have a diminished capacity to respond to and recover from a disaster (Esnard & Sapat, 2014; Oliver-Smith, 2018). An outcome of this can be prolonged or protracted displacement that ultimately entrenches their vulnerability (Spokane et al., 2013; Jayawardhan, 2017; Esnard & Sapat, 2014) and constrains people’s ability to withstand the adverse impacts of future natural hazards (Oliver-Smith, 2013; Singh et al., 2014). While there is evidence from the submissions that underlying economic vulnerability factors are contributing to people experiencing prolonged displacement, a number of underlying vulnerability drivers to people’s experiences of displacement cannot be accounted for in this study. This is because the submissions process did not account for the demographic information of participants, which inhibits a complete understanding of the potential social vulnerability factors contributing to people’s experiences of displacement in the case of the floods. The literature argues that groups classified as “vulnerable” to disasters, such as people with disability or pre-existing health conditions, single-parent families, older people, first nations people or low-income renters, are more likely to experience intersecting social inequities such as poverty and social marginalisation, making them more susceptible to experiencing the adverse impacts of disasters (Wisner et al., 2004; Cutter et al., 2003). However, in the context of the Lismore case study, it is impossible to determine if people belonging to the aforementioned groups are represented in the submissions analysed in this study or if these groups were more likely to experience displacement in the 2022 Lismore floods. As such, there is a need for further research that explores the demographic variables of the displaced community in Lismore so that any social and economic vulnerability drivers to displacement, in this case, can be better understood. What can be determined more clearly, however, is that economic vulnerability caused by displacement is driving prolonged displacement in this case. 76
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Disaster management practice and displacement Disaster studies scholarship explains that in instances where government and DRR professionals are little prepared for displacement before a disaster, the institutional handling of disasters can compound the vulnerabilities of displaced people (Oliver-Smith, 2006; Feldman et al., 2003). In the case of the Lismore floods, submissions detailed how issues accessing government-run recovery initiatives or housing were impeding their recovery. For example, several submissions observed that housing recovery solutions offered by the state or federal government were too slow (n=8). Additionally, many submissions referenced how the process of accessing general government-run recovery initiatives was repetitive (n=5), bureaucratic (n=3), confusing (n=6) or inadequate for meeting people’s needs (n=12). Government response at the Federal, State and Local level has been too slow and is bureaucratic and definitely not “trauma informed.” We need houses. (Submission 120) I felt frustrated with having to complete long government questionnaires, only to have to complete the exact same ones a few weeks later over the phone. I also felt the responses I gave in these, were not addressed. i.e. no one contacted me about housing, mental health etc. (Submission 295) Recovery response slow, badly communicated, badly managed. State did better than federal, but neither were great. We will be cold and many will be homeless this winter … We need houses. We need trades to quickly fix our homes. (Submission 733) The 2022 floods in Lismore also exemplify how failing to account for displacement that follows extreme disaster-related housing loss can fuel mental health issues, decrease people’s living standards and diminish their sense of safety and financial security. These findings reflect key arguments on the secondary and tertiary impacts of disasters, identified in scholarship (see Wind et al., 2011; Carroll et al., 2010; Lock et al., 2012). The most prevalent secondary impact reported in submissions was mental health problems stemming from the floods (n=40). In addition, submissions linked mental health to the stress of housing recovery or the home rebuilding process (n=15), the stress of accessing compensation (n=5) or the trauma of living through the flood event itself or from rain (n=20). The anxiety that we all feel not knowing what our futures hold. We all have no other option than to move back to these house [sic], move back and process the trauma, guide our children through this trauma and hope for the best. (Submission 808) Every time it rains, there is fear, but I learned that from the 2017 flood. People in low set houses have always lived in fear every time there is heavy rain. Now, it’s all the folks in high-sets [housing on stilts or that have been lifted to flood height specifications] as well. (Submission 759) 77
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These adverse impacts of this displacement crisis could have been prevented or more readily responded to had the pre-existing housing crisis and worst-case scenario flood risk of the community of Lismore been factored into disaster management planning (see Guadagno & Yonetani, 2022). Currently, Australian disaster management approaches fail to account for displacement, particularly prolonged forms of displacement that extend beyond emergency evacuation (McAdam, 2022). Arguably, the issues experienced by displaced people in Lismore identified in this research and the barriers people face in recovery are examples of why disaster management approaches need to cater for displacement and the likely obstacles displaced people face. Disaster management approaches that do not account for displacement are unlikely to result in effective displacement governance in times of crisis (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2020a) and fuel the conditions for prolonged or protracted displacement (Hamideh et al., 2018; Peacock et al., 2007; Wu & Lindell, 2004; Comerio, 1997).
Conclusion Analysing submissions to the independent flood inquiry provided insight into factors contributing to lived experiences of prolonged disaster displacement in the initial months following the Lismore floods. These include barriers to people’s recovery such as limited housing availability, economic decline and uncertainty of when displacement would end. Additionally, the analysis highlighted how issues surrounding governmental response to displacement are contributing to these issues. However, due to the limited scope of this study, it cannot account for a variety of displacement experiences such as that of renters versus homeowners, the duration of people’s displacement or a multitude of underlying vulnerability factors which may determine the likelihood of people becoming displaced initially, and in the long-term. The findings of this study contribute to a preliminary understanding of the phenomenon of displacement in the context of Australia, and arguably highlights more gaps in understanding and practice surrounding this complex problem than potential answers. Therefore, understanding the drivers of displacement and the impacts that displacement has on people’s lives is key to strengthening disaster management practices and addressing knowledge gaps on this phenomenon in the Australian context (McAdam, 2022; Cantor, 2018; Peters & Lovell, 2020). Further research is needed to determine a multitude of drivers so that this knowledge can be integrated into disaster management approaches that prepare for and respond to displacement crises (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2021b). This requires examination of a variety of Australian disaster displacement case studies, which cover different hazard types and temporal scales, as well as demographic information on the people affected, and a longitudinal understanding of people’s journey from displacement to recovery (Yonetani, 2017; Cutter et al., 2014; Oliver-Smith, 2018; Lukasiewicz, 2020; Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2020a). This data is essential for developing ethical, trauma-informed and appropriate institutional approaches to disaster management for displaced communities, which limits the eventuality of prolonged displacement.
Notes 1 La Niña is a weather phenomenon and is a part of El Niño Southern Oscillation, which is a naturally occurring weather phenomenon impacting the Pacific Ocean (Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2022). The warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean contributes to shifts in weather patterns across the Pacific (Australian Government, 2022), from dry (El Niño) to wet (La Niña) 78
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weather conditions which oscillate over periods of three to seven years (Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2022). 2 “Probable Maximum Flood” is a magnitude-based metric for flood planning estimation that refers to the predicted largest flood height that could occur in a given location (Lismore City Council, 2014). 3 ARI is the likelihood of occurrence between flood events, based on “the average or expected value of the periods between exceedances of a given rainfall total accumulated over a given duration” (Australian Government, 2023, n.p.). 4 The Australian height datum (AHD) is the official national vertical system of measurement for every surveying operation in Australia, which is determined by the mean sea level of tide gauges positioned around coastlines in Australia (Australian Government, 2022). AHD is used for modelling Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) heights based on Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) – or the likelihood of occurrence between flood events based on “the average or expected value of the periods between exceedances of a given rainfall total accumulated over a given duration” (Australian Government, 2023, n.p.).
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7 Capturing the effectiveness of early warning and sustainable community-based early action interventions for disaster risk reduction in Bangladesh An analysis from flood-prone areas Muhammad Abdur Rahaman and Zereen Saba
Highlights: • • • •
Early warnings and climate advisories are effective in community resilience. Early warnings and climate advisories reduce loss and damage. Forecast-based early actions increase community preparedness capacity. Authentic and timely early warnings save human lives.
Introduction The risk of flooding is anticipated to increase due to the unpredictable timing, intensity and changing distribution of precipitation (Boulange et al., 2021). Early warning signals must be effectively distributed because flooding has the potential to do significant damage. By the end of the twenty-first century, 9.1 to 15.3 million people will typically be exposed to flooding yearly (Boulange et al., 2021). Over the past few decades, flooding in Southeast Asia has become more frequent and severe. Most South Asian countries are currently experiencing flooding, which is a significant problem. In New Delhi, Dhaka and Kathmandu, on July 17, 2019, heavy monsoon rainfall for more than a week caused considerable flooding in three countries, affecting 3.2 million children (Reliefweb, 2019). Bangladesh has at least one significant disaster year every ten years. Over the past ten years, it has lost an average of 3.02% of its GDP annually and has the highest disaster fatality rate in the world (Mohammad & Huq, 2016). The char-land (riverine islands) communities in northern Bangladesh are particularly susceptible to monsoon floods, riverbank erosion and other climatic catastrophes, resulting in the loss of their means of support and possessions (Al Mamun et al., 2022). Natural disasters DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-9
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disrupt communication networks in char-land communities and keep char people from taking advantage of the same economic and social opportunities as mainland residents (Alam et al., 2017). They have limited access to public and private sector services like banking, healthcare, education and law enforcement (Siddiqui & Khandaker, 2007). Almost every year, the char lands of Jamuna and Teesta Rivers become flooded. On September 1, 2021, a devastating flood hit the Gaibandha district and caused havoc in four sub-districts of the district, including Sundarganj, Gaibandha Sadar, Fulchari and Saghata (Dhaka Tribune, 2021). In Bangladesh, flood forecasting was launched in 1991. Between 1995 and 1999, the Bangladesh Flood Action Plan’s flood forecasting model underwent significant improvements to increase forecast precision. Since 2004, FFWC has provided medium-range deterministic and probabilistic flood forecasts for up to three days. With the help of flood forecasting and warning, forecast-based early actions to lessen the destruction brought on by floods have been quite successful in recent years (FFWC, 2020). This chapter illustrates effective and sustainable local-led community-based early actions practised by floodaffected communities in Bangladesh to reduce flood-induced loss and damage.
Study area The study selected two sub-districts (Fulchari and Gaibandha Sadar Upazila of the Gaibandha district) to analyse forecast-based early actions and their effectiveness (Figure 7.1) in flood resilience. Both Upazilas were affected by flood in 2021, but the community people of
Figure 7.1 Study area. 86
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Fulchhari Upazila practise forecast-based early actions, whereas the people of Gaibandha Sadar are non-practising.
Study methods The study applied a participatory and multi-disciplinary approach to data collection and analysis to deeply understand the current early warning and advisory services and assess the forecast-based early actions for community resilience. This study collected primary data from field locations using explanatory methods, including focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII) with relevant stakeholders. An attempt was made to review secondary information, including losses and damage in multiple sectors induced by flood, including crop, livestock, poultry and infrastructure from the Department of Agriculture (DAE), Department of Livestock (DLS), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Department of Disaster Management (DDM), District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer (DRRO), Bangladesh Disaster Statistics, 2021, Annual Report of FFWC, 2021, Form-D (Form for Assessment of Damage and Loss) and related scientific information and articles on flood forecasting and early actions. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) were applied to extract the flood-affected area of both Upazilas. The loss and damage were calculated using the Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy 2016 (DICE2016) model (Nordhaus, 2017).
Result and discussion Flood vulnerability of the study area The 2021 catastrophic flood affected the two sub-districts and the social, environmental and economic sectors. Figure 7.2 shows the flood-affected regions in two Upazilas of the Gaibandha district for 2021. The study tried to identify the flood-vulnerable areas based on land cover classification and flood inundation area. In mapping the flooded area of 2021 in two sub-districts, Gaibandha Sadar and Fulchhari in Gaibandha district, two Sentinel-1 images were used as flood data. In 2021, 225.4 km2 of Fulchhari sub-district was nonflooded; the total area of the Upazila was 365 km2. The non-flooded area covers 73.53% of the total area, whereas the entire flooded area is 81.10 km2 and 26.46% of the district’s total area. On the other hand, about 32.72 km2 of the Gaibandha Sadar sub-district in Gaibandha district were non-flooded, with a total area of 320.2 km2. The non-flooded area covers 87.90% of the total area of the Upazila (Figure 7.2, Table 7.1).
Flood early warning Since the 1960s, Bangladesh has been carrying out drainage and flood control projects (Byomkesh & Shamsuddin, 2012). However, if only structural protections are used, neither the populace nor the infrastructure will be entirely safe from flooding. In a nation like Bangladesh, complete flood control is neither practical nor conceivable. After becoming aware of this information, Bangladesh began creating non-structural flood management strategies, such as flood forecasting and warning systems (Hossain, 2018). Without a doubt, a trustworthy early warning system can protect resources and people. Early warning systems enable the early planning of actions like evacuations and emergency relief operations, aiding disaster preparedness plans. Efforts to lessen the destructive effects of flooding have had 87
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Figure 7.2 Flood-affected area in Gaibandha Sadar and Fulchari Upazila, 2021. Table 7.1 Flood-affected area by Upazila in the study area (2021) Year
District
2021
Gaibandha
Upazila
Total area (km2) Flood condition
Area (km2) Percentage
Fulchhari
306.5
Gaibandha Sadar
320.2
81.10 225.4 38.72 281.48
Flooded area Non-flooded area Flooded area Non-flooded area
26.46 73.53 12.09 87.90
great success in recent years, thanks to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) (Kabir & Hossen, 2019). The FFWC uses a variety of media and communication channels to share flood warning information, including the Internet, fax, phone, mobile Short Message Service (SMS) and more. Additionally, FFWC regularly updates its uncomplicated website with the desired information. The FFWC uses Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems to send flood warning 88
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messages (Hossain, 2018). By dialling 1090, anyone in the nation can get a quick message about the most recent flood information regarding Bangladesh’s major rivers. This revolutionary system provides timely information to many users, including individuals, local government entities, news media, non-governmental organisations, governmental departments and agencies and disaster managers. The community was provided with early warning through SMS. However, although an online portal disseminates early warning, marginalised people are deprived of this support, as they lack the knowledge or capacity to access the forecasting. So SMS, voice messages, handheld loudspeakers and warnings from religious institutions were provided. In addition, leaflets, posters and warnings on television and radio were also offered to the community. In the study area, most people receive early warning services through SMS and voice messages from their respective authorities. Radio and television also broadcast special bulletins when an emergency may occur. Still, sometimes these early warnings are based on a small scale as they do not cover Upazila or the union. But in the Fulchhari sub-district, some NGOs provide early warnings through handheld loudspeakers and religious institutions (Figure 7.3). Present early warning and advisory service in the study area The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), along with the FFWC, issues daily flood bulletins and warnings, but the inhabitants of remote and vulnerable areas hardly ever take advantage of them because they lack the necessary technology (ReliefWeb, 2022). The weather forecasting system in Bangladesh is based on US technology, which can predict weather events up to 16 days in advance (Rahman, 2022). Notifying the public of an impending disaster is one of the primary goals of a disaster management system. Radio and television stations have traditionally served that purpose (Ahsan & Khatun, 2020), but the use of such antiquated technologies has decreased with the introduction of smartphones. Various websites now provide long- and short-term weather information, but many smallscale farmers lack smartphones or internet access. Since SMS on mobile phones does not rely on smart devices or the Internet and can reach any citizen in the country using a mobile phone, it can be used to get around this bottleneck (Rahman, 2022). Since obtaining an education is difficult for Bangladesh’s marginalised communities, many of the people we work with find it difficult to access written information. Because of this, warnings are distributed via brief voice messages rather than text. Additionally, several volunteers were trained alongside project staff and government representatives,
Radio/Tv
Leaflet/ Poster
SMS
Voice Message From hand mike/ Religious institution
Figure 7.3 Various forms of flood warning service in the study area. 89
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improving their ability to comprehend and respond to the warnings. Organisations are now working to increase forecasters’ skills in observation, monitoring, data processing and analysis, forecasting, risk assessment, warning formulation and dissemination to the last mile. Early warning providers measure flood risk elements and vulnerability for the locality. They monitor recent rainfall and river levels and then make warning decisions. Forecastbased early warnings are disseminated by the government, the hotline, community leaders, local youth volunteers, neighbours and local religious institutions. In the study area, the local government institute (LGI) prepares evacuation centres, which search and rescue during and after the flood and then distribute relief goods. Other organisations have also come forward to help the community. Figure 7.4 represents a forecast-based early warning mechanism in the study area. Forecast-based early actions People from Fulchari are now practising some early activities before any future calamity due to the early warning and advising services. In the community mentioned above, people now regularly practise listening to weather news, preserving food, conserving money, getting information about shelter centres, stocking drinking water and medicine and creating emergency kits. They also make an emergency contact list and shift livestock to a safer location. The study found that inhabitants of Fulchhari sometimes preserved food before early warning services and always kept food after the early warning services. The study also found that people from Fulchhari now listen to weather news, and before early warning services, they never did this. They also store medicine, prepare kits and prepare evacuation routes and areas, which they never practised before early warning services. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Gaibandha Sadar sub-district do not receive any early warnings based on forecasts and do not conduct any preparation measures.
Risk Knowledge
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Figure 7.4 Forecast-based early warning mechanism.
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Relief Goods by LGI
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Health The study found that people from the Fulchhari sub-district are taking precautionary steps before any upcoming flood. Now they raise tube well and latrine platforms, preserve food, stockpile food and store drinking water. They also store medicine. In both communities, early actions for health resilience increased. In 2015, only 5% of respondents preserved medicines after getting an early warning of the flood, but this grew to 55.70% (Figure 7.5). The FGD participants from both communities noted that before 2015, after the flood, most of the community’s people suffered from water-borne diseases, but now a limited number of people, especially children and the elderly, suffer from those diseases. They also added that they overcame the worsening situation by practising early actions like medicine preservation, drinking water preservation and food preservation. Food security resilience The study found that inhabitants of the Fulchhari sub-district preserve food before any upcoming flood. Now they stockpile food and use it during difficult times. The FGD participants of both communities also reported that they could not rear ducks, hens, goats, sheep and cows because of the flood. But now, before the flood, after getting an early warning, they raise the plinths of cowsheds and poultry sheds and vaccinate livestock and poultry. As a result, the death toll of animals and poultry decreased significantly. They also mentioned that they could harvest before the flood after getting an early warning. Household-level resilience The study found that people from the Fulchhari sub-district raise the level of their houses. Now they also strengthen their houses and plant trees around the houses. In the house, they keep essential documents in a prepared container. Micro-credit organisations take advantage of disasters; they duly acknowledge the need for financial support to start over in the aftermath of floods with high interest (Kreibich, 2015) which is responsible for accelerating
90.00% 80.00%
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55.70%
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Raise Tube well Plaorm
Raise Latrine Plaorm
Preserve Food 2022
Store Drinking Water
Store the Medicine
2015
Figure 7.5 Comparison of health-related early actions between 2015 and 2022. 91
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poverty among disaster-affected communities. Early actions, including risk recovery savings, food preservation, medicine preservation and raising the levels of houses, are effective mechanisms for recovering disaster-induced loss and damage without paying interest. As a result, disaster management expenditure has been reduced at the household level of the studied communities. As a result, the monthly average income for the families increased. Most community members have access to resilient agricultural support and can invest in resilience building independently. Community-level resilience The study found that people from the Fulchhari sub-district get early warning information from government hotline numbers, union digital centres, religious leaders or institutions, union disaster volunteers, union disaster management committees and disaster risk reduction leaders. According to Kuhlicke and Steinführer (2010), social cohesion is an inherent characteristic of communities that needs to be strengthened to promote social bonding in the field of natural hazards. The study reveals that after getting the early warning, the people of the community prepare to take shelter at a school cum flood shelter, and some of the people raise homestead plinths. These activities enhance community cohesion and increase flood-affected communities’ disaster resilience capacity. The FGD participants from both communities mentioned that during the flood, the community members who didn’t have raised homestead plinths took shelter in the nearby raised plinths to protect themselves and their livestock, poultry, utensils, inputs, food, etc. As a result, social kinship and cohesion have increased in the community. Not only this, but also prepared school cum flood shelters are used by people of all ages, genders, economic status, occupations and religions to take protection simultaneously. They don’t discriminate. This social kinship and cohesion are also sustained after the disaster.
Flood-induced damage and loss The study was conducted to explore the quantitative trend of decreasing production losses for crop production, livestock production and poultry production among the respondents. It reveals that, on average, crop production loss decreased by 32.32 kg per decimal per year, whereas vegetable production loss decreased by 37.32 kg per decimal per year. Production loss decreased by an average of 1.62, 2.08, 0.00 and 5.22 per year for cattle, goats, sheep and hens/ducks, respectively, in Fulchhari. Similarly, in Gaibandha Sadar, crop production loss decreased by 50.76 kg per decimal, while vegetable production loss decreased by 42.50 kg per decimal. Cattle, goats, sheep and hens/ducks’ production losses fell by an average of 2.1, 3.2, 0.23 and 5.69% per year. Table 7.2 represents the decreases in production losses
Table 7.2 Quantity of production loss (mean) in 2021 Sub-district
Kg per decimal/year
Percent per year
Crops
Vegetable
Cattle Goat Sheep Hen/duck
37.32 42.50
1.62 2.1
Fulchhari 37.32 Gaibandha Sadar 50.76 Source: Field survey, 2022.
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2.08 0.00 3.2 0.23
5.22 5.69
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in the study area. Before 2015, participants didn’t receive flood warnings and preparedness advisories; they suffered the devastation of flooding and lost their lives and agricultural production. The district relief office reports that in the lower areas and char areas of more than 100 villages in 29 Gaibandha Sadar, Saghata, Phulchhari and Sundarganj Upazilas unions, more than 20,000 people have become waterlogged. The disruption of daily life is caused by rising water in homes and highways. Additionally, they have livestock issues. There is a severe lack of fresh water. People collect drinking water by swimming in the floodwater or travelling by boat to adjacent dams or high spots (Samakal, 2021). The river broke significantly as the flood levels began to recede. Due to flooding and collapse, 2,385 homes were damaged. In the Upazilas of Sundarganj, Saghata, Phulchari and Sadar, 1,156 hectares of land were damaged. Families in the char region still commute by boat (Inqilab, 2021). In Gaibandha Sadar Upazila’s Kamarjani union, the standing crop, particularly the T-Aman paddy seedlings, have been submerged by floodwater, increasing the farmers’ concerns about their main crop and the security of their food supply. According to a Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) representative, 995 hectares of T-Aman paddy fields were submerged in floodwater. For the flood victims in the district’s Sundarganj, Gaibandha Sadar, Fulchari and Saghata Upazilas, 40 metric tons of rice and Tk 2 lakh were approved (Dhaka Tribune, 2021).The Kamarjani unions and a section of the Gidari union close to the Brahmaputra river in Gaibandha Sadar Upazila were submerged. Most of the territories in Fulchari Upazila’s Erendabari, Fazlupur and Fulchhari unions, as well as certain portions in the Gozaria and Urya unions, were inundated (BSSNews, 2021). Fulchari Upazila’s Erendabari, Fazlupur, Fulchhari and Gozaria unions were flooded and their residents marooned (The Daily Observer, 2021).
Discussion In alignment with the early warning and early actions focusing on flood-induced loss and damage reduction and resilience dimensions adopted in this study, this section discusses the study findings along the exact directions of the effectiveness of early warning and early actions to reduce flood-induced loss and damage.
Health Safe drinking water has always been a major issue for the locals in the research locations. Safe latrines were a significant issue during and after flooding. However, the locals are making valuable progress because they now receive early readiness advisories. They are currently raising the level of tube wells to prevent floodwater contamination. They are also boosting the level of latrines. They conserve drinking water for later use based on advice. An FGD revealed that residents of the Fulchhari sub-district are now saving food ahead of impending floods. They claimed that in the past, food shortages caused by floods caused them to experience starvation. Safe drinking water after a flood was formerly a severe problem, according to an FGD participant. But because they now have storage for drinking water, they hardly ever have issues with it. Another participant said they had raised latrines and tube wells because of early warning and advisory material. Now they are dealing with fewer infections than they were in the past. He added that he now keeps medications in storage and uses them in flood situations and afterward when no medicines are available to 93
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ensure a speedy recovery. As a result, they are protecting their lives and maintaining a robust and resilient community.
Food security resilience Respondents from Fulchhari stated that they receive weather and flood forecasts and agricultural advisories, livestock advisories and advisories for before, during and after flood preparedness. Following flood forecasts and warnings per the advisories, most participants took various early actions. Now they know when floods will affect the area. They cultivate a flood-tolerant crop to harvest it before the flood occurs. They also rear livestock as an income-generating source. When they receive an early warning forecast, they keep their livestock in a safe place to protect them during floods. Thus, crop and livestock production increased in the study area and ensured food security. The figure represents how food security is confirmed in the study area (Figure 7.6). Climate Advisory Service • Geng Flood forecasng & early warning Services • Locaon Specific Climate Advisory for agriculture • Advisory for livestock farmers
Climate Resilient Variees
• Culvate flood tolerant crop variees • Livestock rearing in flood vulnerable area
Ensure Food Security • Crop and livestock producon increased • Crop and livestock producon cost decreased • Protect livestock during flood
Figure 7.6 Ensuring food security by location-specific early warning and advisories.
Figure 7.7 Community flood resilient strategies. 94
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Household-level resilience Resilience has quickly become a top development priority. It is now regarded as an important conceptual tool for improving our understanding of how people react to and adapt to the shifting shocks and stresses that affect livelihood outcomes. Inevitably, a push for resiliencebuilding among the humanitarian and development communities has boosted the demand for methods of assessing resilience levels among individuals and groups. Theoretically, more precise tracking and measuring of resilience can ensure that resilience-related policies and programmes promote the appropriate activities and reach the right audiences. Tracking resilience on various scales is required for rapid post-disaster evaluation, targeted social protection initiatives and evaluating the efficacy of resilience programming (Jones & Tanner, 2015). People in the research area receive early warnings and recommendations for household resilience. Their homes had already been affected by flooding. However, since they raised their household level, flood water can no longer penetrate their homes and cause significant property loss. They are currently fortifying their homes with advice. They learn how to grow trees near their homes. In doing so, they are increasing their ability to adapt and reduce their loss due to flooding. From an FGD in Fulchhari, it was found that they did not know about household resilience. Now, they raise their household level as they start getting information about early advisories and preparedness. They also mentioned that they now plant trees around their houses and strengthen them yearly. So, now they are becoming more resilient than before. On the other hand, from an FGD in Gaibandha Sadar, it was found that people living in the community do not know about household resilience. During the flood, their houses go underwater, causing considerable loss.
Community-level resilience A community’s ability (or process) to adapt and survive in the face of disturbance is called community resilience (Patel et al., 2017). The capacity of a community to recover more quickly from shock or stress can be used to understand its strength. Early warning information is provided to Fulchhari sub-district residents through the government hotline number, the union digital centre, religious figures or institutions, union disaster volunteers, the union disaster management committee and experts in disaster risk reduction. The components of community resilience, including social capital, economic capital, communication and information and community competence, are used to assess a community’s strength. The Fulchhari sub-district communities receive early warning information from the government hotline. FFWC publishes essential information regularly on its straightforward website. The FFWC has begun transmitting flood warning messages using IVR technology (Hossain, 2018). Anyone in the country can quickly receive a statement about the most recent flood information affecting Bangladesh’s significant rivers by phoning 1090. Through the mosque’s (the community’s religious institution) microphone, the institution or religious leaders provide the community with an early warning. The community members of Fulchhari feel that the guidance or cautions given by the religious leaders are practical. The Union Disaster Volunteer (UDV) has also helped to ensure that the early warning is adequately disseminated. Different NGOs in the community have also trained disaster risk reduction (DRR) leaders. As a result, the neighbourhood has received efficient early warning services. According to an FGD conducted in the Fulchhari sub-district, the community did not know about any adaptive measures during the previous disaster. Still, with the help of training and early warnings from the DRR leader, they can adapt to flood situations and help others in the neighbourhood, resulting in social capital. The community also achieved economic sustainability thanks to a saving association, which 95
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allows residents to preserve their surplus and use it in times of need. Adopting alternative livelihood patterns, such as sewing, raising cattle, gardening and other activities, as well as the general early warning services, helped the community become more competent. The community had no adaptation measures before receiving early warning services and training from DRR leaders. Still, they allowed the community to improve its status and become more resilient. On the other hand, an FGD in Gaibandha Sadar revealed that they do not receive any training or early warning information, and every year during the flood, they suffer from huge losses.
Disaster-induced damage and loss Before the implementation of early warnings, most people were unaware of the onset of a flood. So, the sudden onset of the flood caused more damage and loss and they lost their lives, livestock and agricultural production. In 2015 some GOs, NGOs and other organisations tried to help the flood-affected area’s vulnerable people by providing early warnings and preparedness advisories. The scenario changed dramatically in the area as they received early flood warnings, so they could take preventive activities to prevent loss and damage to their lives and livelihood. The production of agriculture is increased, and loss of livestock is also decreased due to adequate early warnings and advisories. So, now, this community is resilient as they get early warnings and take necessary precautions before a flood.
Community preparedness and resilience Flood resilience is a product of a community actively becoming flood ready before and after flood disasters. Flood forecasting or the steps a community may take to provide preliminary information about a flood event are not something that just happens. Early warning and advisory services are adequate flood resilient strategies; through this, people are concerned about the devastation of flood and take early action to mitigate flood vulnerability, reduce risk and exposure to flooding, enhance community response capabilities during a flood and develop post-flood recovery plans. Flood resilience during recovery after a flood may frequently involve being able to communicate information to residents quickly, being aware of the resources for healing that are available to the community and its residents and assisting residents in understanding what mitigation measures may be needed for repairs or rebuilding or what types of programmes may be available for home buy-outs or other mitigation projects.
Conclusion Though early actions are effective in the study areas, flood forecasting and early warning are insufficient. Effective flood forecasting and early warning mechanisms should be enhanced to reduce flood-induced loss and damage. The non-structural flood-induced loss and damage reduction interventions, led by community members, are influential in strengthening community resilience, raising awareness, household and community level preparedness, response actions and creating community disaster contingency plans. In both regions, the connection and connectedness among community members during a disaster is an inherent characteristic that establishes social resilience, followed by early actions. These early actions also increase the skills of the women participants in the decision-making process and disaster risk reduction by the sustainable management of resources in resilient farming, livestock, poultry rearing, etc. 96
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8 Emergency animal-safe facilities assessment to enable livestock evacuation during disasters in Australia Sandra Carrasco, Temitope Egbelakin and Olabode Ogunmakinde
Introduction The recurrent disasters in Australia have profoundly impacted farmers and livestock owners. For instance, the Queensland floods in 2019 caused an estimated loss of 600,000 heads of cattle (May, 2022). The 2022 floods in New South Wales and Queensland affected more than 475,000 cattle heads, which is approximately 2% of the national herd (May, 2022). The New South Wales agricultural sector has been severely impacted by the recent disasters, which caused major livestock losses. The 2019–2021 bushfires caused the loss of more than 13,000 cattle and sheep heads (NSW Farmers, 2020), and about 10,000 animals were lost due to the 2022 floods (NSW Farmers, 2022). Primary industries, which include agriculture and livestock among other economic sectors producing raw materials and products, are among the most affected during disasters in Australia. The preliminary economic loss for the primary industries sector due to the February–March 2022 floods is estimated to have exceeded $500 million, with more than 30 industries affected directly or indirectly (NSW Government, 2022a). Farmers and livestock owners are directly impacted by the massive loss of their animals as they invested time and money that was suddenly removed from their available assets. The consequent outright loss, and the production associated with livestock could take considerable time or even might never be replaced by the farmer (Coll, 2013). Smith et al. (2015) and McLennan et al. (2015) analysed livestock owners’ behaviours during bushfires and found that most choose to delay their evacuation or stay and defend their property at their own risk due to the stress of potential asset and property loss (Commonwealth of Australia, 2020). Livestock producers have been identified as a highly vulnerable group as animal evacuation is extremely difficult often resulting in evacuation failure (Thompson, 2015, Irvine, 2009). In addition to the increasing risks associated with delayed or failed evacuation, farmers and livestock producers experience psychological trauma from losing livestock. Farmers develop an emotional connection with animals that are raised for food which is described as immensely respectful and devoted rather than seeing them as mere income sources (Hall et al., 2004). DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-10
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Pre-emptively removing animals from vulnerable areas is the recommended action (Thompson et al., 2018, NSW Government, 2019). However, the logistical challenges associated with a prompt livestock evacuation are magnified by the volumes to be transported, access to trucks and the owners’ uncertainties about the conditions of evacuation sites (Wilson et al., 2009b). The emotional burdens and uncertainties linked to evacuation threaten animal owners’ own safety and their animals’ welfare (Thompson, 2015). Therefore, this study focuses on the implications of ensuring the safe evacuation of animals during disasters, with a particular emphasis on flooding. The objectives of this study are: (1) to assess the conditions of the available animal safe places that could be used as evacuation sites during different types of disasters, and (2) to infer the implications for owners’ decision-making on livestock evacuation. This study is relevant in a context of recurrent floods in NSW and the need to address the challenges in the recent disaster response. The findings and discussions in this study are expected to contribute alternatives to the main issues reported by the NSW government and relevant stakeholders regarding the 2021–2022 floods in New South Wales, especially in the Hunter Region which is one of the most severely affected areas (see Figure 8.1).
Research design The information in this chapter is based on an extensive review of secondary data from two main sources: (1) a preliminary assessment conducted in 25 designated animal evacuation sites as part of a pilot project conducted by the University of Newcastle in partnership with the Hunter Local Land Services (Egbelakin et al., 2022), and (2) a narrative or traditional literature review including comprehensive, critical and objective analysis of relevant national policies, frameworks and guidelines for disaster risk reduction, government reports and public inquiries on the disaster response of the 2019–2020 Black Summer Bushfires and the 2022 NSW Floods, relevant submissions to these public inquiries and academic papers focusing on animal safety in disasters. The assessment guideline prepared for the study conducted by the University of Newcastle in partnership with the Hunter Local Land Services (Egbelakin et al., 2022) considered quantitative and qualitative data collection. The 25 participants had different roles in managing the potential animal evacuation sites (AES) assessed such as animal facility managers, harness club managers, sale managers, caretakers and show committee members. The quantitative component of the assessment included a multiple-choice questionnaire using a five-point scale for each assessment criterion where 1 = Poor, 2 = Fair, 3 = Average, 4 = Good and 5 = Excellent. Additionally, the quantitative component included semi-structured questions to elicit information that the quantitative method did not cover. Six assessment criteria were considered, which are detailed in Table 8.1.
The impact of disasters on livestock and animal safety in Australia Disasters in Australia have caused significant damages accounting for almost 34 billion Australian dollars (approximately 24.5 billion US dollars) in the last decade (EM-DAT, 2022). Of the 44 disaster events reported in Australia between 2012 and 2022, the most frequent are floods (15) followed by bushfires (12). Although Australia also faces tropical cyclones, riverine floods and droughts, these are intermittent. The damages caused by floods accounted for almost half of the economic impact of disasters in this period (EM-DAT,
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Figure 8.1 Areas affected by the 2021 (up) and 2022 (down) floods in Australia. Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology, modified by authors.
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Sandra Carrasco et al. Table 8.1 AES assessment criteria and indicators Evaluation criteria
Indicators
1. Hygiene and waste management
Gender-based toilet Waste separation 2. Utilities and communication Inside lighting Outside lighting PAS* available Mobile reception Social media 3. Condition of infrastructure Office space Storage for AASFA** Stables/pens 4. Traffic management Traffic management All weather access Alternate transport route Safe turning and manoeuvring 5. Condition of site access Unauthorised entry Fencing Suitable access and egress Disability access 6. Animal handling equipment/space Hay/feed shed Wash bay Quarantine space Water/feed trough *PAS = public address system **AASFA = Agriculture and Animal Services Functional Area
2022). The most recent floods that caused massive destruction were the 2021 and 2022 floods that affected the states of New South Wales and Queensland, as seen in Figure 8.1. Figure 8.1 presents the areas that suffered heavy rainfall; specifically Australia’s east coast experienced the highest rainfall record as reported by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The map depicted in Figure 8.1 (up) shows the highest exposed areas to the 2021 floods between 18 and 29 March 2021 and the lower map illustrated in Figure 8.1 (down) shows the exposed areas to the 2022 floods between 23 February and 7 April 2022. Furthermore, many of these areas were heavily impacted by the 2019–2021 bushfires causing major destruction, destroying thousands of homes and blanketing towns and cities in toxic smoke. These fires followed years of drought, magnifying fire risks, as the previous year was one of the warmest on record (Nicholas & Evershed, 2020). Bushfires, tropical storms and the consequent floods are recurrent events that create chronic conditions of vulnerability magnified by the increasing intensity of regular events due to climate change trends. The impacts of reoccurring hazards cause prolonged stress with long-term implications for future development, economic growth, sustainability, wellbeing and resilience (Perwaiz et al., 2020). Disasters have had devastating impacts on industries in Australia, specifically in the agricultural sector which is one of the main contributors to the Australian economy, in terms of exports, employment and domestic food supply (ABS, 2022, Coll, 2013). 102
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Among the most challenging issues in disaster risk reduction in the agricultural sector is animal management in disasters. The inclusion of companion animals in disaster management protocols such as prevention and response has been widely acknowledged and studied (Thompson, 2015, Travers et al., 2017, Trigg et al., 2017). However, issues associated with managing non-companion animals and livestock in disasters have been less studied and approached from the economic impacts. For instance, there is a widespread understanding that livestock plays a crucial role in the livelihoods of farmers and landowners and their loss damages and undermines their livelihoods (Twigg, 2015). The issues around livestock management in disasters also impact human lives and safety (Smith et al., 2015) and require a holistic approach to address the multiple emerging concerns and ensure appropriate planning and the implementation of preventive and response measures. Researchers and government reports highlight the gap between knowledge and action for livestock-oriented disaster preparation and response (Coll, 2013), which has been a source of criticism in disaster response in recent years (NSW Government, 2020, NSW Government, 2022a, NSW Farmers, 2022). While both NSW and QLD among all Australian states were the hardest hit, this study will focus on NSW, especially the Hunter Region (see Figure 8.1). Additionally, the focus is on floods and their impacts. However, it is important to contextualise previous experiences and studies in Australia and analyse the implications of animal disaster management considering diverse types of disasters and hazards. Most studies and reports in Australia focused on bushfire recovery which will provide valuable insights and lessons learnt which might be applicable for flood management.
Disaster planning for animal safety and evacuation The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2015) under “Priority 3: Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience” acknowledges the importance of focusing on protecting livestock and working animals as crucial elements to support livelihoods and productive assets decisive for building resilience. Australia’s National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (Commonwealth of Australia, 2018) remains silent about animals in disasters, both pets and livestock. Trigg et al. (2021) claim that the omission of animals in the national Risk Reduction Framework evidences the need for further research and policy action for the effective integration of animals into Australia’s disaster response planning. The National Planning Principles for Animals in Disasters (National Advisory Committee for Animals in Emergencies, 2014) claims that integrating animals into planning is crucial to minimise risks to community resilience. Including animals in emergency management plans improves animal welfare and safety during disasters. Although the document is a nonprescriptive tool, it aims to promote the best practice for the integration of animals and their welfare into national disaster planning (Trigg et al., 2021). In New South Wales, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is responsible for leading the Agriculture and Animal Services Functional Area (AASFA). The AASFA is responsible for the emergency control and coordination arrangements in support of agriculture and animal resources during a disaster (NSW Government, 2018). AASFA is also responsible for coordinating the rescue, evacuation and emergency care of animals, the humane destruction and disposal of affected animals and the supply of emergency feed and water (Regional NSW, 2021). Local Land Services (LLS) in principle is a supporting agency as part of the AASFA. LLS works together with the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to support local farmers 103
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and cattle owners in the event of disasters such as bushfires and floods. LLS are responsible for building the capacity of landholders for planning to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies like disasters. To provide animal welfare in these circumstances, LLS is required to provide emergency accommodation for a variety of animals, including commercial and domestic horses, production livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas, pigs, etc., and companion animals primarily but not limited to pet cats and dogs. Native wildlife usually becomes the responsibility of wildlife care groups such as Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Services. NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) provided information to communities before and during the 2022 flood events (NSW Government, 2022b). Farmers and animal owners could take disaster response and pre-emptive measures such as evacuation decisions based on information such as livestock and equipment warnings issued by NSW SES. Although multiple agencies engage in supporting animal owners in disaster preparation and response, the responsibility for animals in emergencies lies with the owners and the decisions to keep them safe are ultimately taken by them (Green, 2019, Taylor et al., 2017). The NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW Government, 2019) has produced information for livestock owners to evaluate the risk, prepare and act in case of emergencies such as disasters. Livestock owners have the primary responsibility to protect their animals during emergencies including moving them away from fires and floods, which are the two main hazards recurrently threatening owners. Ensuring animal sheltering during disasters is crucial to guarantee their welfare; this shelter needs to provide conditions to support animal survivability such as food, medication and other basic requirements. Evacuation sites can be temporary or permanent structures that would provide safe environments in the event of disasters. Animal owners can temporarily evacuate their livestock within their properties on high grounds or purpose-built mounds known as “flood mounds”1 which often provide temporary refuge to livestock and are important in flood preparedness for primary producers (NSW Government, 2022a) as shown in Figure 8.2. However, livestock owners also need to consider evacuating their animals to available facilities outside of their properties. The decision to evacuate the animals to other facilities will depend on the risks identified within the property that would endanger the safety of people and animals such as animal accessibility, people’s need to evacuate leaving their animals behind or if the flood mounds become unsafe depending on the severity of the disasters.
Figure 8.2 Sketch of cattle using flood mounds during floods in Hunter Region (left) and animal safe places available during disasters (right). Source: Authors based on Lou MacDonald NSW Department of Primary Industries (Frecklington, 2016) (left) and authors (right).
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Therefore, existing facilities including livestock saleyards, regional showgrounds and animal facilities (see Figure 8.2) could provide longer-term emergency animal shelter. To a lesser degree, district pony clubs, dog kennels and catteries can provide some assistance. Commercial veterinary hospitals and clinics may have temporary cages but are rarely accessible after hours. Horse, dog and harness racetrack facilities may be appropriate refuges in larger urban areas. Livestock owners have regular and easy access to the available higher areas and flood mounds during their daily activities and might be able to guarantee their suitability in case of disasters. However, livestock owners’ knowledge about the suitability, availability and location of longer-term animal shelter facilities, defined in this paper as potential AES, might be a determining factor in deciding whether to evacuate their animals or not (Wilson et al., 2009a). Furthermore, knowing the status of AES influences people’s decisions and reasoning that could put them and their animals at risk. Knowing the situation of AES would also promote knowledge-based decision-making and planning before and during disasters. Therefore, the following section focuses on the assessment of potential AES in the Hunter Region of New South Wales.
Animal evacuation sites: Preparing for animal evacuation in the Hunter Region Twenty-five potential AES were assessed between 2020 and 2021 as part of the project “Enhancing Emergency Animal Safe Places in the Hunter Region” which was conducted in partnership between the University of Newcastle and the Hunter Local Land Services (Egbelakin et al., 2022). The AES were identified based on a desktop scan and review, and their locations are presented in Figure 8.3. Identifying the AES included careful consideration and consultation with Hunter Local Land Services to meet the basic needs of animal shelters. The facilities included 14 showgrounds, 7 saleyards, 2 racecourses and 2 animal shelters/facilities across the Hunter Region in New South Wales (see Figure 8.3). Following the identification of potential AES, researchers developed an “Assessment Guideline” considering seven evaluation criteria (Figure 8.4). Six evaluation criteria focused on the quality of the AES to shelter animals, with the primary focus on compliance with the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines (Animal Health Australia, 2021). One of the evaluation criteria focuses on analysing the types of natural hazards and the vulnerability risks in the potential AES assessed. Figure 8.4 presents the assessment results of the six evaluation criteria described in the research design section (Table 8.1) and based on the preliminary assessment conducted by Egbelakin et al. (2022). These findings are evaluated and presented below considering the five-point scale for each assessment criteria described in the research design section: 1 = Poor, 2 = Fair, 3 = Average, 4 = Good and 5 = Excellent. a. Hygiene and waste management: all of the AES assessed have a gender-based toilet. However, 84% are in good condition, while the remaining 16% are in average condition. The findings evidence that the sorting of waste generated on-site and the availability of collection receptacles were inefficient in approximately 20% of the sites as they do not sort their waste. Only 8% have sufficient collection receptacles, 20% have an average number of collection receptacles and the remaining 52% are quite good in waste sorting and have an adequate number of receptacles. 105
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Figure 8.3 Map showing the location and type of assessed facilities. Source: Authors based on Egbelakin et al. (2022).
Figure 8.4 Suitability assessment of potential animal evacuation sites (AES) in the Hunter Region. Source: Authors based on Egbelakin et al. (2022).
b. Utilities and communication are key for the efficient operation of the facilities. The assessment found that 24 AES have good mobile phone reception for all network providers. Interior lighting was good in 84% of the facilities, with two facilities having fair and poor interior lighting. Additionally, 68% of the facilities had good lighting around the sites, two had average lighting, three had fair lighting and the other two had poor lighting. Interior and exterior lighting both provide some level of safety and, as such, should be adequate. The public address system (PAS) facilitates communication within and outside of the facility. Only 4% of the facilities had an excellent PAS, 76% had a good communication system and the remaining three had an average PAS. 106
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c. Condition of infrastructure is critical in effectively performing Local Land Services’ duties. All of the AES has an office space in good condition and can be used to profile and register animal owners and their stocks. This would improve the Local Land Services’ smooth operation and effective management of the evacuation processes. Furthermore, the condition of the stables and pens varies from poor to good, indicating the need for renovation to keep animals safe on the site. Four of the AES lack storage space for AASFA equipment, whereas the others have fair to good storage. The availability of a storage facility for AASFA equipment would help the evacuation process by alleviating the stress of material coordination. d. Traffic management, in the event of a disaster, the flow of traffic to and from an emergency animal-safe place would increase. This implies the need for efficient traffic management around the facility, the availability of alternative transport routes or back streets and safe turning or manoeuvring areas for trucks to ease traffic flow. The findings indicate that, except for two sites, traffic can be effectively managed across all facilities. Similarly, except for one site, all-weather access (access to the facility during all weather types) ranges from average to excellent. Six of the 25 facilities lack alternate transportation routes or back streets, which may impede the free flow of traffic during emergency evacuations. However, all of the facilities have a safe turning or manoeuvring area for trucks, though their condition ranges from fair to good. e. Conditions of site access: identifying evacuation routes is a critical consideration in evacuation planning. The assessment revealed that most of the saleyards are private property, indicating that there would be access restrictions. They are, however, available for use in the event of disaster by contacting the owners or managers. Access to the showgrounds, as public facilities, is unrestricted but may be limited by locked gates and building/facilities where necessary and applicable. These are the indicators that influence the low score in accessibility. Conversely, the condition of the access routes ranges from fair to good, which is acceptable on average. This criterion also included the availability of disability access; the study found that few AES (16%) considered them. f. Animal handling: assessment of the sites’ conditions and availability of spaces and equipment for animal handling evidences the need to improve the AES ability to hold and manage animals. Most of AES assessed (64%) have hay sheds in varying states of repair. Similarly, 56% of AES have wash bays that are crucial to prevent the spread of any disease outbreak. Conversely, dedicated space for animal quarantine is currently unavailable in seven (28%) of the facilities. Five (20%) AES lack water and feed troughs. The condition of the water and feed troughs in those facilities where they are available is either average or good, and they may require renovation or replacement where necessary.
Prioritisation of potential AES and suitability in case of disasters The assessment conducted by Egbelakin et al. (2022) also assessed the potential risks of using the AES for emergency animal shelter in the event of disasters and whether previous disasters impacted the AES, what the extent of damage was and what the mitigation measures were. The site assessment conducted through the assessment criteria presented in the previous section was combined with direct observation of the sites. Observing the conditions of AES provided general information of available facilities and their situation that later will be used to determine the suitability of the AES in case of emergencies. The 107
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report by Egbelakin et al. (2022) presents the conditions of the AES to withstand a disaster (Table 8.2) and their suitability as emergency animal shelter in the event of bushfires and floods (Table 8.3). The results show that 76% of the AES are classified as “C,” indicating that they are suitable for emergency animal-safe places but would require additional equipment, such as mobile pens and yards. Similarly, 8% of the facilities are classified as “D,” implying that they are fit for use but would require major work. It is worth noting that 16% of the facilities evaluated meet the minimum requirements of Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines ((Animal Health Australia, 2021) and can be used with or without minor cosmetic work. This suggests that facilities classified as “C” or “D” need to undergo urgent renovation or remedial work to bring them up to standard for the bushfire and flood seasons. On the other hand, 44% of the facilities are vulnerable to bushfires, implying that they cannot be used during a fire disaster, and 24% are vulnerable to flooding. Similarly, 8% of the facilities are vulnerable to bushfires and flooding, implying that they are unfit for animal evacuation during disasters. This discovery can potentially assist HLLS in determining which facilities can be used with or without renovation. It could be used as a guide to determine which facilities could be used in the event of flooding or wildfires. It will also help animal owners make informed decisions about where to take their animals in a disaster. Considering that the risks associated with hazard exposure depend on the conditions of vulnerability to several types of hazards, the evaluation focused on two of the most frequent events that hit the studied areas: bushfires and floods. Table 8.3 shows that 44% of the AES are vulnerable to bushfires while 24% are vulnerable to flooding. Similarly, 8% of the facilities are vulnerable to both bushfires and flooding, implying that they are unfit for animal evacuation during disasters. Table 8.2 Prioritisation of facilities for emergency animal shelter in disasters Description
Condition* No. of facilities %
The facility is well maintained and in high standard The facility would require cosmetic work The facility would require minor refurbishment work The facility would require major refurbishment works The facility is in bad condition and not habitable
A B C D E
4 19 2 -
16 76 8 -
Key: A = Exceeds requirements; B = Meets requirements; C = Suitable with additional equipment; D = Major works required; E = Below requirements, consider other locations. Source: Authors based on Egbelakin et al. (2022).
Table 8.3 Facilities suitability for use during bushfires and floods Description
Risk priority No. of facilities %
Facilities not suitable for use during bushfire Facilities not suitable for use during flooding Facilities not suitable for use during bushfire and flooding None/NA
1 2 1&2 -
Source: Authors based on Egbelakin et al. (2022).
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44 24 8 24
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These findings are useful in assisting the Hunter Local Land Services and other agencies involved in determining the availability of facilities during certain types of disaster such as bushfires or floods. Therefore, the assessment will support the dissemination of accurate information to animal owners in terms of the availability and suitability of emergency animal shelter sites, supporting them in making informed decisions on evacuating their animals, and the location of the nearest and most suitable site in the event of disasters.
Discussion: Implications for decision-making on livestock evacuation Livestock owners are encouraged to develop an emergency plan that will support them in reducing their stress levels and making more precise decisions that will improve their animals’ and their own safety in the event of a disaster (NSW Government, 2019). The NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW Government, 2019) provide key questions that livestock owners are encouraged to consider in their disaster plan for prevention and response. Some of these questions are directly related to preparing to relocate or evacuate their animals, for instance: do you have a safe place on your property for livestock if they cannot be relocated?; are animal houses/sheds protected?; can you relocate or move your animals quickly?; what safe transport options and routes do you have (including backup options)?; if not, what are the alternatives to moving them?; are your water supplies protected from fire or flood?; can property biosecurity be maintained?; do you have access to up-to-date communications?; and can a neighbour or friend enact your plan if you are not home? These questions evidence the complexity of the logistics of evacuations and the implications for the owners’ decision-making process to move their animals or not. Although moving livestock might also be part of the normal routines for animal owners, evacuating livestock due to disasters implies different conditions to livestock transportation in normal times. Wilson et al. (2009b) analysed the logistics of livestock evacuation in disaster scenarios and observed three main concerns that challenge the normal logistical systems that have compound effects that reduce the efficiency of livestock transportation processes in times of emergencies: (1) large volumes to be transported; (2) short time frames of response to prevent lives and property losses; and (3) major uncertainties about what is actually necessary and what is available at the evacuation site. The large volumes to be transported and the challenges for timely evacuation have been highlighted by Thompson et al. (2018) who claim that even if owners have a plan, it might not be a guarantee that evacuation would be possible. The preparations and evacuations require significant time that contrasts with the rapid changes in catastrophic weather conditions and the warnings issued (Thompson et al., 2018). A study on modelling livestock evacuation in New Zealand suggests that a three-month warning would be necessary to conduct an effective livestock evacuation (Wilson et al., 2009b). However, providing accurate information about the availability and suitability of evacuation facilities or AES would provide a sense of security and promote an informed evacuation planning and action. The analysis of the conditions of available facilities, presented in the previous section, that can be used as animal shelters provided a clear database that can be useful in disseminating information among livestock owners and other relevant stakeholders. It is also necessary to highlight that less than one-quarter of the facilities identified as potential animal evacuation sites provide safe shelter for both bushfires and floods. Therefore, it is important to minimise the confusion among livestock owners and other stakeholders caused by the differences in AES’s suitability for one type of disaster and not others. Furthermore, understanding which 109
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facilities can provide adequate protection in case of floods or bushfires would also facilitate the decisions to upgrade or improve these existing AES. Additionally, in the absence of adequate facilities in AES, animal owners might also decide to improve the conditions of evacuation areas and facilities within their properties. Information sharing among the involved agencies, volunteers, community groups and livestock owners is crucial to promote their disaster planning and active involvement in disaster response by taking informed decisions and actions. Accurate and coherent information sharing has been the key concern in responding to the latest 2022 floods in NSW. The 2022 NSW Floods Inquiry (NSW Government, 2022a) reported confusion and a lack of coordination among agencies in communicating with local communities and stakeholders, as messages had to be repeated inconsistently. Key local actors such as volunteers, especially veterinarians, expressed their confusion due to the lack of clear guidelines and ineffective, if not non-existent, coordination with relevant agencies (NSW Parliament, 2022). Uncertainty about animal safety could unintentionally promote desperate actions and encourage risk-taking behaviours (Thompson et al., 2018) that can pose a risk for people and animals. Therefore, it is necessary to provide channels for accurate information sharing, especially about the conditions and availability of animal evacuation sites, and to raise awareness about the responsibilities of the agencies and livestock owners. A proper and timely information flow may also reinforce the existing networks, restore links and build the trust necessary to minimise the owners’ stress about the safety of their animals during a disaster.
Conclusions This chapter explored the importance of owner-driven pre-emptive measures to minimise the risks of massive livestock losses due to the recent disasters that hit Australia. Recurrent disasters such as floods and bushfires pose a permanent threat to the agricultural sector, which is expected to be magnified by the effects of climate change. The challenges of relocating livestock put tremendous pressure on livestock owners, that often hesitate to evacuate due to the short timeframes, transportation constraints in moving large volumes and the uncertainty about the conditions of animal evacuation sites. However, building awareness about planning for evacuation and timely action during disasters is crucial to minimise the animals’ risks, which also translates into improving human safety as owners might reduce their exposure. This study provided valuable information about the state of the facilities available for use as animal shelters. Remarkably, the assessment shows that two-thirds of the facilities are not suitable for floods, fires or both even though most facilities are in good condition and upgrading of facilities should be considered suitable for multiple types of disasters. This study also evidenced the need for updated and reliable information about the conditions of the animal evacuation sites to support livestock owners’ decision-making to evacuate their animals, and support the engagement of other stakeholders, such as local volunteers and veterinaries, in ensuring animal welfare. Sharing information would also help to rebuild trust between agencies and local communities that had been harmed by the failures evident in the 2022 floods’ lack of coordination and management to ensure human and animal safety and minimise the long-term impacts of disasters.
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Note 1 The NSW Government through the Industry and Investment department provides guidelines and standards for using flood mounds as livestock refuge during disasters. See https://www.dpi.nsw.gov .au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/304491/livestock-flood-refuge-mounds.pdf
References ABS. 2022. Australian Industry. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Animal Health Australia. 2021. Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines [Online]. Canberra: Animal Health Australia. Available: https://www.animalwelfarestandards.net.au/ [Accessed 12 November 2022]. Coll, E. 2013. The Case for Preparedness: Quantification of Production Losses Due to Livestock Deaths from Disaster in Australia. London: World Society for the Protection of Animals. Commonwealth of Australia. 2018. National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. Canberra: Department of Home Affairs. Commonwealth of Australia. 2020. Royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements report. Arrangements, R. C. I. N. N. D. (ed.). In: Canberra: Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements. Egbelakin, T., Ogunmakinde, O. & Henderson, R. 2022. Enhancing emergency animal safe places in the hunter region: Facilities condition assessment. Final Report Newcastle: The University of Newcastle and NSW Hunter Local Land Services. EM-DAT. 2022. Record Disasters in Australia 2012–2022. Brussels: EM-DAT, CRED/UCLouvain. Frecklington, J. 2016. Flooding is not like a drought, you don't have time to make decisions. The Land, June 19, 2016. Green, D. 2019. Animals in Disasters. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Hall, M. J., Ng, A., Ursano, R. J., Holloway, H., Fullerton, C. & Casper, J. 2004. Psychological impact of the animal-human bond in disaster preparedness and response. Journal of Psychiatric Practice, 10(6), 368–374. Irvine, L. 2009. Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, ISBN 978-1-59213-834-0. May, N. 2022. Floods and Livestock Losses Leave NSW and Queensland Farmers Reeling from Third Disaster in Three Years. Sydney: The Guardian Australia,https://www.theguardian.com/australia -news/2022/mar/02/floods-and-livestock-losses-leave-nsw-and-queensland-farmers-reeling-from -third-disaster-in-three-years . Mclennan, J., Paton, D. & Beatson, R. 2015. Psychological differences between south-eastern Australian householders’ who intend to leave if threatened by a wildfire and those who intend to stay and defend. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 11, 35–46. National Advisory Committee for Animals in Emergencies 2014. National Planning Principles for Animals in Disasters. Sydney: World Animal Protection; Australian Animal Welfare Strategy. Nicholas, J. & Evershed, N. 2020. Interactive Map: Which Areas of Australia Were Hit by Multiple Disasters in 2020?, Sydney: The Guardian Australia,https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog /2020/dec/22/interactive-map-which-areas-of-australia-were-hit-by-multiple-disasters-in-2020 . NSW Farmers. 2020. NSW Farmers Submission to the NSW Government Bushfire Inquiry. Sydney: NSW Farmers’ Association. NSW Farmers. 2022. NSW Farmers Submission to the NSW Independent Flood Inquiry. Sydney: NSW Farmers’ Association. NSW Government. 2018. New South Wales State Emergency Management Plan (EMPLAN). Sydney: Office of Emergency Management, NSW Department of Justice. NSW Government. 2019. Livestock in emergencies. In: Industries, D. O. P. (ed.). Sydney: NSW Government.
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NSW Government. 2020. Final Report of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry. Sydney: Department of Premier and Cabinet. NSW Government. 2022a. 2022 Full Report of the NSW Floods Inquiry. Sydney: Department of Premier and Cabinet (NSW). NSW Government. 2022b. NSW Government Submission. Select Committee’s Inquiry into the Response to Major Flooding across New South Wales in 2022. Sydney: Department of Premier and Cabinet (NSW). NSW Parliament. 2022. Response to Major Flooding Across New South Wales in 2022. Sydney: Parliament Legislative Council. Select Committee on the Response to Major Flooding across New South Wales in 2022. Perwaiz, A., Parviainen, J., Somboon, P. & Mcdonald, A. 2020. Disaster Risk Reduction in Australia. Status Report 2020. Bangkok: Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Regional NSW. 2021. Emergency response and recovery manual. Protocol for Responding to and Recovering from Biosecurity, Food Safety and Other Emergencies Impacting Agriculture and Animals. Sydney: Department of Pripary Industries, NSW Government. Smith, B., Taylor, M. & Thompson, K. 2015. Risk perception, preparedness and response of livestock producers to bushfires: A South Australian case study. The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 30, 38–42. Taylor, M., Mccarthy, M. & Bigelow, J. 2017. Building an ARC in the mountains: A communityled initiative to build an animal-ready community (ARC). Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC conference, 2017 Sydney. Thompson, K. R. 2015. For pets’ sake, save yourself! Motivating emergency and disaster preparedness through relations of animal guardianship. The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 30, 43–46. Thompson, K. R., Haigh, L. & Smith, B. P. 2018. Planned and ultimate actions of horse owners facing a bushfire threat: Implications for natural disaster preparedness and survivability. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 27, 490–498. Travers, C., Degeling, C. & Rock, M. 2017. Companion animals in natural disasters: A scoping review of scholarly sources. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 20(4), 324–343. Trigg, J., Smith, B., Bennett, P. & Thompson, K. 2017. Developing a scale to understand willingness to sacrifice personal safety for companion animals: The Pet-owner risk propensity scale (PORPS). International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 21, 205–212. Trigg, J., Taylor, M., Mills, J. & Pearson, B. 2021. Examining national planning principles for animals in Australian disaster response. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 36(3), 49–56. Twigg, J. 2015. Disaster Risk Reduction. London: Humanitarian Policy Group, Overseas Development Institute. UNISDR. 2015. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Sendai: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Wilson, T., Dantas, A. & Cole, J. 2009a. Livestock evacuation or not: An emergency response assessment of natural disasters. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, 2009, 8–8. Wilson, T., Dantas, A. & Cole, J. 2009b. Modelling livestock evacuation following a volcanic eruption: An example from Taranaki volcano, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 52(1), 99–110.
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Section III
Community-based flood resilience
9 Home owner/occupant property flood protection An appraisal of the options and opportunities used to mitigate and minimise impacts Fiona Gleed, Colin A. Booth, Quésia D. Silva, Ricardo G. Santana and Silas N. Melo
Introduction Climate change and the concomitant challenges of living with increases in extreme weather events are a major global issue (Lamond et al., 2011; Booth et al., 2012; IPCC, 2022). Escalations in the frequency and severity of flooding are having detrimental impacts on all societies, no matter whether they are low-, middle- or high-income nations (Winsemius et al., 2018; Ferdous et al., 2019; Tovar-Reanos, 2021). In the Global South for instance, the 2023 floods in Malawi are estimated to have affected 5 million people and killed many hundreds, while the 2022 floods in Pakistan covered approximately one-third of the entire country and affected an estimated 33 million people; whereas, in the Global North for instance, the 2021 floods in Western Europe, which affected Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland, destroyed roads and bridges, swept away homes and businesses and devastated many thousands of communities. Acknowledging that flooding is an issue that does not respect state borders or wealth, it is important to combine societal insights into flooding experiences to initiate ideas and facilitate solutions for adapting buildings and infrastructure so that communities can learn to accept and live with change and so that policies can be created to provide guidance on best practices (Beddoes and Booth, 2014; Beddoes, Booth and Lamond, 2018). Collaborative learning, in an educational setting, is based upon consensus building through cooperation by group members to solve a problem (Laal and Ghodsi, 2012). Applying this approach to flooding, where the group members are in different case study countries, enables a unique opportunity to exchange information and knowledge that builds consensus towards minimising and mitigating the impacts of flooding. Property level flood protection is a resilience strategy that relies on interventions close to individual homes rather than retaining or diverting water closer to the source. The approach can be used as a primary strategy or as a supplementary system to manage residual risks. Thus, flood resilience technologies and designs are employed, which adopt a pragmatic DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-12
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perspective, aiming at the possibility of living with flooding by adjusting behaviour and adapting buildings (Proverbs and Lamond, 2017). Options available include minor adaptations to prepare for flooding, such as the provision of hooks or shelving to stow possessions and obtaining temporary barriers to keep water out during flood events. More significant interventions can be made as part of a “Build Back Better” approach (UNDRR, 2015), with refurbishment using construction elements and fixtures with water resistance or installing walkways and raised floors above anticipated flood levels. The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview and analysis of the context and choices for home owners and occupants to mitigate and minimise the impacts of property flooding. This is supported and demonstrated through two international case study examples, one in a developing nation (Global South) context and the other a developed nation (Global North) context, where, despite vast differences in available home owner budgets, there are possibilities to compare the approaches employed for adapting homes to flooding and, moreover, to offer an opportunity for collaborative learning. Local knowledge allows the tailoring of solutions, increases acceptance of proposals and can reduce costs (UNDRR, 2022). However, it is evident that the technologies rely on similar underlying principles to achieve a water exclusion strategy or implement a water entry strategy.
International case studies Case studies are a valuable means of study or research, used to explore, reveal and/or learn from, and which usually involve one or more entities or situations about which information is collected through multiple sources to develop descriptions and proffer insights. Beneath are two international case study cities, namely: São Luís, in Brazil, and Bristol, in the UK, which, despite being located in countries that are labelled as developing (Global South) and developed (Global North) nations and whose populaces have contrasting resources and wealth, have some remarkable similarities. In the later section these case studies will be used to explore how home owners/tenants across the cities have opted to protect from and minimise the impacts of property flooding.
Case study A – São Luís, Brazil São Luís is located on the coast of NE Brazil (Figure 9.1) and is susceptible to fluvial, pluvial and estuarine/coastal storm flooding. The São Luís municipality has a tidal amplitude of up to 7.2 m (Ferreira, Estefen and Romeiser, 2016). The municipality of Luís is home to 1.12 million inhabitants, containing the largest number of inhabitants in Maranhão State, representing 15.44% of the state population and 77.51% of the population considering the Island of Maranhão. The demographic density is 1,902 hab/km2. The average number of people per household is 3.4 residents. It is estimated that about 88.28% of the population resides in houses and 9.92% of people live in apartments (IBGE, 2023). The population lives predominantly in the urban setting and, like many Latin American cities, São Luís has a high degree of urban segregation. The resident populations in the central urban areas of São Luís have high purchasing power, and their infrastructure is effective, and which includes basic sanitation and drainage systems, reliable energy supplies, public lighting, communications and superior road networks. However, in the peripheral regions of the city, especially in favelas, the situation is critical (Figure 9.1) because they lack the necessary investments and infrastructure to prevent the occurrence of environmental disaster (e.g. flooding and mudslides), which often occur in the rainy season. 116
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Figure 9.1 Map showing the location of case study A, São Luís, Brazil. Diagram by the author.
In São Luís and the surrounding municipalities, there are many areas affected by floods annually, which commonly occur in the first half of each year because it is the period with the highest incidence of rainfall, especially in years when the La Niña phenomenon occurs. Flooding affects different types of private properties, including high-standard, masonry and stilt houses. However, the affected populations are predominantly low-income, with masonry dwellings and stilt houses in different locations in the city. It is noteworthy that the areas where these residences are located are mostly in places that were spontaneously occupied (favelas), without prior planning, so most of them do not have property titles. According to IBGE (2010), the city has 39 subnormal settlements or favelas (these are forms of irregular occupation of public or private land for housing in urban areas, with an irregular urban pattern, lack of essential public services and location in areas with occupation restrictions – permanent preservation areas; areas subject to flooding, erosion and landslides). In the municipality, 20% (232,912) of the population lives in favelas, where there are often reported losses of material goods and possessions, such as houses, furniture and various household utensils; the loss of intangible goods of high sentimental value such as documents and photographs of families; and changes in the emotional conditions of families living in risk areas during the rainy season.
Case study B – Bristol, UK Bristol is located on the coast of SW England (Figure 9.2) and is susceptible to fluvial, pluvial and estuarine/coastal storm flooding. The city of Bristol is situated on the River Avon close to its outflow into the Severn Estuary, with a maximum tidal range of 14 m 117
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Figure 9.2 Map showing the location of case study B, Bristol, UK. Diagram by the author.
(Binnie, 2016). The city and surrounding areas have a population of about 1.17 million (ONS, 2021) with a median age of 37 years and a population density of over 4,000 people per square kilometre in the city. The oldest buildings in the area date back 900 years or more, constructed from local stone. Fired bricks were produced at several sites locally and have been used widely as load bearing walls and, more recently, as cladding for concrete, steel or timber-framed buildings. As of 2020, there were just over 500,000 dwellings in the Bristol region with about 4,000 being completed each year. The Avon catchment roughly aligns to the Bristol region, with watersheds on the limestone hills of the Cotswolds to the north and the Mendips to the south and chalk downland to the east. The highest points are at an elevation of over 200 m a.o.d. but as the hills surround a broad floodplain, there are areas below 10 m elevation as far as 20 km in land, at Swineford Lock. Infrastructure in the region has developed over 250 years starting with canals, to improve navigation and connect the River Avon to watercourses inland, and continuing with railways from about 1840. In the last 50 years, the road network has dominated with a major motorway interchange where the M4, running east–west, meets the M5, running north–south. The networks provide pathways for flooding as well as being receptors, particularly bridges and tunnels. Written records of flooding in the Bristol region extend back to at least January 1607, when a spring tide and storm surge combined caused damage and loss of life along the length of the Severn Estuary (Ma, Moreira and Adcock, 2019). Tides were also a factor in flooding in July 1968, coinciding with raised river levels following heavy rain (Bennet, 1970). Further upstream, flooding has historically been dominated by fluvial flows following heavy rainfall, with numerous events recorded in Bath over the preceding century (Stamataki and Kjeldsen, 118
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2021). Flooding has been less frequent in the last 50 years following investment in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure (Environment Agency, 2012) but will have an increasing likelihood as sea levels and rainfall intensities rise with climate change. Flooding is identified as one of the top risks for the Bristol region in the current Community Risk Register (Avon and Somerset LRF, 2016) and a relevant shock in the Bristol Resilience Strategy (Bristol City Council, 2016). There is an increasing reliance on resilience measures, such as property level protection, as an interim approach pending additional permanent defences (Arup, 2020).
Mitigating and minimising flooding impacts This section exposes how home owners/tenants across the case study cities have opted to protect from and minimise the impacts of property flooding. First, the section describes the physical (re)design measures used to keep floodwater outside of homes and, second, the measures used to minimise loss and destruction inside homes. Most housing stock is already built and being utilised. Unless buildings are knocked down and rebuilt, the majority of the opportunities to protect homes from floodwaters are limited to adaptation measures. However, where foresight has been applied, planners have discouraged building on floodplains and architects have designed homes to be raised above particular flood return period heights (e.g. 100- or 1000-year flood height). For the many who become victims of flooding, these considerations were not paramount when their homes were built and they need to either limit external floodwater entry routes or redesign their internal fixtures and fittings to accommodate occasional floodwater entry. There are a wealth of flood protection options available to home owners/tenants who choose to make alterations (Webber et al, 2021; Adedeji et al., 2022). For instance, floodwater can be kept outside of homes when covers are positioned over airbrick entrances or where flood doors are installed, amongst others; or in preparation for when floodwater does enter inside homes, the utilities/services can be raised (e.g. gas/electric supplies, boilers, cookers, etc.) or waterproof furnishings/fittings used (e.g. porcelain tile floors, metal kitchen units, etc.), amongst others.
Examples from case study A Persons living on coastal floodplains, in the timber-made favela buildings of São Luís, have recognised their potential flood risk by opting to raise the threshold of their homes at the design and construction stage. Figure 9.3b shows the design of a house built purposely to be raised on stilts above the floodplain. These communities have minimal wealth and are amongst the poorest in the society but they have had the prudence and practicality to build their main living areas off the ground (i.e. raised ~30–50cm). This has mitigated the flood risk for the families living here, with timber walkways maintaining access to buildings during flood events. Readily accepting that floodwater may enter your home and destroy your possessions is a reality that many flood victims eventually come to terms with (not always willingly). In the timber favelas of São Luís, the elevation of homes and walkways reduces the frequency of flooding but families living there are prepared for floodwater inundations (on the highest of tides) with various water entry strategies in place, for example to lift the possessions higher than the highest floodwaters. The families do not have much material wealth so a line of hooks/nails (about 1 m above the floor) allows them to hang their possessions (inside waterproof bags) during times of flooding. Furniture is lightweight and easy to clean, allowing for efficient recovery once the water level drops (Figure 9.3a). 119
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Figure 9.3 Cross-section of a timber-made favela building, illustrating flood prevention and resilience features of the exterior (a) and interior (b). Diagram by the author.
People living on the fluvial/pluvial floodplains, in brick-made favela buildings of São Luís, have opted for water exclusion strategies, restricting floodwater entry by raising the threshold at the entrance to their homes. Figure 9.4 shows external features designed to direct floodwater away from homes and provide a barrier to keep water outside the home.
Figure 9.4 Cross-section of an external wall and landscaping, illustrating adaptations to provide passive flood resilience for a favela building in Brazil. Diagram by the author. 120
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Resilient materials such as concrete are used to provide steps up to bridges over drainage ditches, which channel water between homes, and to raised thresholds. Whilst stepping up to then step down may be a minor inconvenience to the aesthetic flow to the entrance, it has minimised the flood risk for the families living there.
Examples from case study B Planning controls in the UK limit the construction of homes in areas at risk of flooding, requiring alternative locations to be considered and residual risks minimised (LUHC, 2022). The highest levels of annual flood risk are of the order of 3%, such that residents are likely to experience a flood once in 30 years, on average (Sayers et al., 2020). Property flood protection therefore tends to rely on measures that have minimal impact on everyday activities, including construction details and resilient fittings (Lamond, Rose and Proverbs, 2016). Developers may be required to provide some protections (Bristol City Council, 2018) whilst others have been installed by occupants, either privately or as part of a planned project (Arup, 2020). Raised thresholds, flood doors and temporary barriers can be used for a water exclusion strategy, reducing the likelihood of water reaching habitable areas (Figure 9.5a) whilst fixtures and fittings can be selected for kitchens (Figure 9.5b) and other areas to limit damage and allow rapid repair (BRE, 2023) as a water entry strategy. A number of the features, both for the exclusion of water and the reduction of damage, require action at the time of a flood event. Flood warning systems therefore have an important role in allowing time to install barriers and reposition possessions. This poses particular challenges for pluvial flooding, which is a significant risk for over 20,000 homes in Bristol (Bristol City Council, 2018) but is not included in the standard flood warnings provided nationally (Speight et al., 2021). A range of passive protection features on a recently constructed home are illustrated in Figure 9.4a: a rendered wall, canopy and sloping path direct rainfall away from the building, with pervious paving allowing water to drain away to a
Figure 9.5 Cross-section of a cavity wall building, illustrating flood prevention and resilience features of the exterior (a) and interior (b). Diagram by the author. 121
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retention basin, reducing fluvial flood risk downstream. A step up to a raised threshold and a flood door protect the home from localised flooding, without requiring additional barriers to be deployed.
Governance, strategy and actions Brazil In Brazil, risk management, prevention and disaster response actions are governed by Law 12.608/2012, which provides for the National System for Protection and Civil Defense (SINPDEC) and establishes the National Policy for Protection and Civil Defense (PNPDEC). The SINPDEC is coordinated by institutional structures and aims to bring together all the competencies for the management of risks and disasters always with an emphasis on prevention. SINPDEC is made up of agencies and entities of the federal, state, federal district and municipal public administration, of public and private entities that operate significantly in the area of civil protection and defence and of civil society organisations. The state agencies and the federal district are responsible for the articulation and coordination of the State and District System of Protection and Civil Defense. In the municipalities, the municipal protection and civil defence agencies are responsible for the articulation and coordination of the Municipal System of Protection and Civil Defense. The Civil Defense of São Luís is currently linked to the Municipal Secretariat of Security with Citizenship (Semusc). This secretariat publishes through its digital media that it has concluded the Contingency Plan of São Luís 2021, presenting the mapping of risk areas in the state capital and the guidelines that will be followed by the Municipal Civil Defense System to respond to cases of disasters, enabling the rapid deployment of the means of the response of the public power, organised society and communities in the capital. It states that the plan was elaborated after the intensification of the monitoring carried out by the Civil Defense of São Luís. It argues that there is much to be done and that there is no serious municipal risk prevention policy.
Figure 9.6 Cross-section of an external wall and landscaping, illustrating current UK practice to provide passive flood resilience. Diagram by the author. 122
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The preventive strategies adopted by the Civil Defense of the city of São Luís refer to the identification of risk areas in the capital; the promotion of basic Civil Defense instruction actions for the communities with teams from the Superintendence of Protection and Civil Defense (Sudec); constant monitoring through data from the meteorological services of the National Secretariat of Civil Defense; and keeping resources (human and equipment) available and ready for employment with operators, logistical support and replacement materials, especially during rainy periods. It is understood that the strategies adopted are focused on the post-crisis period. There are still no published studies of return periods and warning systems have not been installed at the state and municipal levels. The alert system that does exist is for the national scale, from the National Institute of Meteorology, linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply. It is registered that the Situation Room of Maranhão was installed, with the objective of monitoring and informing about the occurrence of critical hydrological events, and supporting the actions to prevent critical events. However, there is a lot to do because the populations affected by hydro-meteorological and hydrogeomorphological events are not alerted in advance and do not receive the necessary guidance. We still do not have data on the frequency and magnitude of floods, but we have carried out studies in several watersheds on the Island of Maranhão (covering the entire metropolitan region of São Luís) mapping the affected areas, identifying the triggering factors of the problems, making photographic records and talking to the local population. As a result of the environmental and use and occupation characteristics studied so far, it was identified that the problems related to risk areas occur predominantly due to the inadequate use and occupation of spaces and the lack or inefficiency of urban infrastructure.
The UK In the UK, the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 established the structure for emergency response, placing duties on a variety of organisations for assessing risks and contingency planning. These responders are classified as Category 1, with a direct role in emergency response, and Category 2 responders with a duty to co-operate as relevant to the particular risks (Stainsby, 2012). For flooding in England, the most relevant organisations are the emergency services, local authorities and the Environment Agency as Category 1 responders and water and sewerage utilities as Category 2. These organisations work within Local Resilience Forums (LRF), covering 1 of 38 police force areas (Cabinet Office, 2023). The Avon and Somerset LRF is aligned with Avon and Somerset Constabulary. Bristol City Council is included as a unitary Local Authority, offering opportunities to co-ordinate flood governance within the Avon catchment, including Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council upstream and North Somerset Council to the south. The Avon and Somerset Community Risk Register, which covers the Bristol region, lists flooding as one of the top risks (Avon and Somerset LRF, 2016). Current approaches are reported in the risk register, based on the Flood Risk Management Strategies developed by the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for each council area. The current strategies are based on the national flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy for England (Environment Agency, 2011), which focused on the understanding of flood risk to inform decisions on providing permanent defences and preventing inappropriate development. Community engagement and the flood preparedness of individual households were also identified as objectives, to address residual risks. The latest national strategy (Environment Agency, 2020) places greater emphasis on resilience, with an expectation that individuals 123
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take responsibility for risks in their local area. At the next iteration, LLFAs will therefore need to rebalance their strategies to encourage preparation as well as respond to the increased risks resulting from climate change. The national strategy (Environment Agency, 2020) identifies the normalisation of property level protection as a strategic objective, through resilient construction and retrofit measures. Incentives for property flood protection are proposed as a proactive intervention in high-risk areas and for inclusion in repair. Whilst local strategies are not yet available, an evaluation of property flood resilience (PFR) options for Bristol is reported by Webber et al. (2021) with recommendations for targeting PFR on individual properties at high risk of surface water flooding and across high-risk areas for river flooding. As with the national strategy, the property owner is identified as the stakeholder, without consideration of the impacts and opportunities for tenants.
Potential for social and technical knowledge exchange In both the UK and Brazil, approaches to property flood protection have developed to apply social and technical resources to mitigate flood risk. For occupants of the informal settlements in São Luís, Brazil, the likelihood of flooding is clearly evident and adaptations have been made to reduce the impacts. Meanwhile in Bristol, UK, occupants rely on a formal infrastructure of urban water management and emergency response, with adaptations often prompted by reported risk rather than direct experience. Future flood events in both areas are expected to increase in frequency and severity, as sea levels rise and more intense rain falls on less permeable catchments. For the regions in our case studies, interactions between tides, rivers and rainfall mean that the current solutions become not just unaffordable but impractical. In Bristol, a tidal barrier could reduce the risk of coastal flooding but would increase the risk of river flooding (Arup, 2020). In São Luís, the time available to respond is reducing because there is a higher incidence of extreme events associated with high tides, related to the coastal area and the river dynamics, and there is a rise in the levels of water bodies present in the city. Thus, the installation of warning systems for large rainfall rates and with the residents approximation of high-risk areas, aiming at the implementation of resilient measures in the properties, would strengthen the management of risk areas. São Luís is notorious for the minimal action of the government with the community in comparison with Bristol because the residents only plan to carry out informal structural measures to prevent the water from entering their properties with the purpose of reducing the damage. However, the joint action of the residents/universities/government, based on the perception of the affected population, would be positive for the management of risk areas and would subsidise the implementation of efficient public policies. There are therefore opportunities for knowledge exchange to allow a more effective response in each area. Whilst the governance structure in UK provides a framework to develop community resilience and regulate products, the less structured approaches in Brazil can be more agile, encouraging self-reliance and ingenious designs using available materials. For formal settlements such as Bristol, occupants need to develop mutual support networks and low-cost resilience measures that allow rapid recovery from flooding; for informal settlements such as São Luís, occupants of the favelas would benefit from mapping and monitoring that could provide sufficient warning to deploy protection measures. 124
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Conclusions and recommendations This chapter set out to present an overview and analysis of the options and opportunities available to home owners and tenants to mitigate and minimise the impacts of property flooding, using two international case studies as a collaborative learning exercise. With a focus on Brazil and the UK, it is clear that property flood protection is a valuable approach in flood risk management, with techniques that can be adapted and applied in a wide variety of settings. In the UK, cost effectiveness has been a significant driver with insurance companies and property owners as the main stakeholders to be convinced and cajoled into recognising the need for resilience. In Brazil, communities have developed approaches that provide resilience at a minimal cost. Knowledge exchange has the potential to improve flood resilience in both countries. Much of the research, particularly in the UK context, focuses on owner occupiers with the empowerment to install and deploy various technologies. As property flood protection becomes a main strategy consideration needs to be given to a broader range of occupants, not just long-term tenants but also temporary residents such as students, and to the protection of unoccupied property. Working with community groups may enable this broadening but the community is not yet well defined or structured. For example, Community Risk Registers imply that a community may include the population of entire counties whilst Community Flood Groups may be little more than neighbours who know their flood risk and have agreed to be nice to each other. In Bristol the strategy suggests Neighbourhood Forums as communities to engage with property level protection, but these have since been disbanded. Consideration is also required of the consequences of failure of property flood protection, whether from incomplete installation or an overwhelming event. The risk of failure has implications for the benefit-cost ratio of proposed adaptations and the willingness of insurers to provide cover or settle a claim, and may extend beyond the particular property, for example allowing water to enter an adjacent home via a party wall. The technologies for property flood protection are relatively simple and widely available, with precedents for a range of settlements and building structures. They are likely to play an increasing role in future flood strategy and attention must now turn to the social infrastructure that will make them effective for community resilience, not just providing arks for affluent owner occupiers. In São Luís, governmental action is restricted only to post-flood assistance, with the identification of risk areas and, when necessary, the displacement of the affected population to shelters, such as schools or sports arenas, or the provision of social rent. There are local reports of inefficiency in this action. The population implements actions on its own, which increases the recurrence of floods and makes them affected every year by this phenomenon. This situation does not occur only in São Luís, but throughout the state of Maranhão, Brazil, where several cities are affected annually by major floods because they are located in a region of voluminous rivers that drain the state. The development of resiliency measures is crucial in the cities since the residences are located in the floodplains and there is an emotional bond of the residents with the place where they live; thus there is a need to recognise the possibility of living with floods and the adoption of the correct measures, as indicated in the scientific literature. Based on the evidence presented in this chapter, the following recommendations are proposed: 1. Encourage low-cost approaches to property level flood resilience, with home owners/occupants prepared to minimise and mitigate water entry. Small actions such as 125
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delaying or directing flood water and repositioning belongings can reduce the impact of inundation. 2. Develop response structures and warning systems that support home owners/occupants to respond to increasing frequencies and depths of flooding, beyond expectations of local knowledge. Adaptations and behaviours that have been developed from experience may be insufficient for emerging patterns of inundation. 3. As the study has highlighted the potential of adopting a collaborative learning approach, it is recommended that this is extended to include a much deeper learning route, such as utilising a phenomenological methodology to explore the “lived-experiences” of home owners/occupants to identify similar themes and develop bespoke solutions.
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UNDRR (2015) Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva (UNDRR). Available at: https://www.undrr.org/publication/ sendai-framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030 (Accessed: 30 March 2023) UNDRR (2022) Words into Action: 11. Using Traditional and Indigenous Knowledges for Disaster Risk Reduction. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva (UNDRR). Available at: https://www.undrr.org/words-action-using-traditional-and-indigenous-knowledges-disaster -risk-reduction (Accessed: 30 March 2023) Webber, J.L., Chen, A.S., Stevens, J., Henderson, R., Djordjević, S. and Evans, B. (2021) Targeting property flood resilience in flood risk management. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 14(3), p. e12723. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12723 Winsemius, H.C., Jongman, B., Veldkamp, T.I.E., Hallegatte, S., Bangalore, M. and Ward, P.J. (2018) Disaster risk, climate change, and poverty: Assessing the global exposure of poor people to floods and droughts. Environment and Development Economics, 23(3), pp. 328–348. https://doi.org /10.1017/S1355770X17000444
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10 The prevention policy and experiences of flood resilience in Brazil Francisco Henrique de Oliveira, Guilherme Linheira, Regina Panceri, Renan Furlan de Oliveira and Victor Luis Padilha
Introduction Brazil is a country of continental dimensions with 5,570 municipalities distributed across 26 states and 1 federal district (IBGE, 2021). Due to its territorial magnitude, natural disasters of various types occur, such as floods, landslides, droughts and fires, among others. According to the Atlas of Natural Disasters, between 2011 and 2021 alone, 29,985 disaster situations were registered in Brazil, causing R$64 billion worth of damages (approximately U$50 billion in current exchange rate) (Figure 10.1). To guide actions in order to face natural disasters, Brazil instituted the National Defense and Civil Protection Policy in 2012 (Federal Law No. 12.608/2012). In general, this law requires Brazilian municipalities to officially map risk areas presenting studies to identify threats, susceptibilities, vulnerabilities and disaster risks. The same law assigns shared responsibility between federal government and municipalities regarding prevention, mitigation, preparation, response and recovery actions. Additionally, it is important to highlight Federal Law No. 10.257/2001, which established general guidelines for urban policy in the country. This law is nationally known as the City Statute and constitutes a set of public order and social interest regulations governing the use of urban land for the collective good, safety and well-being of citizens, as well as ecological balance. It foresees the municipal manager may use urban management tools to promote quality of life in cities, with emphasis on the Municipal Master Plan. This plan includes, among other points, the definition of urban zoning, incorporating the National Policy for Civil Protection and Defense forecasts and avoiding urbanisation in risk areas (Brazil, 2001). Despite both laws, in practical terms, Brazilian municipalities are poorly prepared to face problems related to disaster events, since only 10% show some type of civil defence infrastructure (Silva et al., 2016). Specifically for floods, it is cumbersome to acquire, process, analyse and plot geospatial and descriptive data for incident history, affected areas and maximum levels reached, among others. In addition, there is little government investment in managing the problem and encouraging innovation, research and development of new technologies that can mitigate the harmful effects of floods (Rodrigues, 2020). DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-13
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Figure 10.1 Main 2011–2021 instances of natural disasters in Brazil by municipality. Source: Atlas Digital de Desastres no Brasil – https://atlas.ceped.ufsc.br/paginas/mapa-interativo.xhtml
Due to cultural differences and different social and economic aspects, the solutions adopted in Brazilian municipalities for mitigating flood events are divergent. In some cases, there is public investment in actions that are not supported by technical studies that would ensure intervention effectiveness and consequently success. On the other hand, many communities come up with local solutions irrespective of public support, proposing protocols or devices that in some way minimise the harmful effects of natural events, such as floods (Brazil, 2022). In this context, this research presents the history of Brazilian public policies at the federal level on risk and disaster management and examples of successful civil defence actions and practices in Brazilian state and municipal administrations. It is our goal to discuss the Brazilian framework on natural disaster and consider actions that can improve it.
Hierarchy of national legislation and its relationship with risk policy The first initiative to face natural disasters at the federal level took place in Brazil in the late 1960s. Between 1966 and 1967, a high volume of rain caused flooding and mass movements in the southeast region of Brazil while the northeast region was affected by a prolonged drought (Rodrigues, 2020; Freitas and Oliveira, 2017). Given the situations that occurred, the federal government created in 1967 the Ministry of the Interior, which, among other objectives, would assume the responsibility of assisting populations affected by public calamity in the national territory. To finance this action, the Special Fund for Public Disasters (FUNCAP) was created, in addition to the Special Group for Public Disaster Matters (GEACAP), which coordinated actions related to assistance and defence against public disasters. As a continuation of the actions initiated in 1967, in 1988 Decree nº 97.274 was published, which established the National Civil Defense System (SINDEC). The decree aimed to plan the defence against public calamities, listing the role of public and private bodies and entities in the system. It is worth noting that in this period civil defence actions were oriented towards responding to and rebuilding after the damage caused by natural disasters, that is, relegating prevention and preparedness actions to the background. 130
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In the historical context, it is important to highlight the 1989 UN General Assembly, which, among other deliberations, established 1990 as the beginning of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. The objective of this campaign was to reduce human and socioeconomic losses due to disasters, which were systematically increasing, mainly in developing countries. The increased frequency of damage caused by various natural events in developing countries is directly related to a series of socioeconomic factors. In this context, we highlight population growth and urbanisation surpassing the capacity of the public power to implement territorial planning and management actions. As a result, several areas unsuitable for urbanisation were occupied, substantially increasing some type of risk for this population. To face this issue, developing countries needed to establish a set of actions aimed at controlling, planning and managing territorial occupation, including the benefits of reducing exposure to environmental risks (Brasil, 2021).
Federal legislation In Brazil, the main regulatory framework at the federal level on urban development was established by Law 10,257/2000, known as the City Statute. The law established the norms of public order and social interest that regulate the use of urban property in favour of the collective good, security and well-being of citizens, as well as environmental balance (Brasil, 2001). Initially, the City Statute did not directly mention the problem of risks and disasters, an issue that was later incorporated. This incorporation is directly related to the establishment of the National Policy for Civil Defense and Protection (PNPDEC) in 2012 (Federal Law No. 12,608/2012). The creation of PNPDEC, in turn, is the result of a greater concern of the Brazilian state due to an increasing frequency of natural disasters in the country in the first decade of the 21st century. Among these occurrences, three stand out due to the magnitude of the damage caused. • • •
The first of these events took place in 2008, in Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina, affecting 74 municipalities with sudden floods and mass movements. The second event took place in 2010 in the Una, Paraíba and Mundaú river basins in the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas, affecting 94 municipalities. The third occurred in 2011 in the mountainous region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, where floods and mass movements affected 7 municipalities causing 905 deaths (Freire, 2014).
These events caused a series of changes in terms of legislation, aiming to facilitate the mobilisation of the state to face the impacts caused. The 2008 event ended up generating, on the part of the Ministry of the Interior, the publication of Ordinance No. 887/2009, which started to consider civil protection and defence actions as social action. The 2010 event prompted the publication of Federal Law nº 12.340/2010, which provides the National Civil Defense System (SINDEC) with resources for relief actions, assistance to victims, restoration of essential services and reconstruction in the affected areas (Freire, 2014). The third event mentioned, which took place in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, put natural disasters on the Brazilian public agenda once and for all. At the beginning of 2011, the Ministry of Natural Integration created the Special Working Group (GTE) with the objective of structuring a process of modernisation of the National Civil Defense System. The main point for the GTE was a paradigm shift: a need to overcome the mentality 131
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associated with civil defence actions aimed at response and recovery and to start driving the creation of a social protection scenario. Considering 2011 GTE suggestions, the federal government instituted the 2012 National Policy for Civil Defense and Protection (PNPDEC) through Brazilian Federal Law No. 12.608. Its regulations highlight the provision of coordinated action between the union, states and municipalities, which should prioritise “preventive actions related to the minimization of disasters.” The PNPDEC also presented 15 objectives, encompassing traditional issues linked to actions for the recovery of affected areas, in addition to providing for a series of actions linked to prevention, including issues related to policies for the occupation and use of the territory. Along these lines, the following objectives deserve to be highlighted: IV – incorporate disaster risk reduction and civil defense and protection actions among the elements of territorial management and sectoral policy planning; VII – promote the identification and assessment of threats, susceptibilities and vulnerabilities to disasters, in order to avoid or reduce their occurrence; … X – encourage the planning of urban and rural land occupation, with a view to its conservation and the protection of native vegetation, water resources and human life; XI – fight the occupation of environmentally vulnerable and risky areas and promote the relocation of population residing in these areas; XII – encourage initiatives that result in the allocation of housing in a safe place. (Brasil, 2012) Section II of the PNPDEC lists the competencies of each of the federated entities. In this context, it is essential to highlight that the provisions of the norm make the municipalities the main protagonists in the execution of actions aimed at reducing disasters, with the union and the states providing the necessary support. This role is related to the new posture of the PNPDEC, which prioritises preventive actions in the context of disaster reduction. In this context, the PNPDEC guides municipalities, as they are the executors of the country’s urban development policy, to incorporate “protection and civil defense actions in municipal planning” (Brasil, 2012). In this way, the forecast was incorporated into the City Statute, which included the issue of risks of disasters as a guideline in ordering and controlling land use. It appears, therefore, that Brazil has made significant efforts in recent decades to create the legal and institutional conditions that are minimally necessary for the execution of actions aimed at reducing disasters. Thus, it is up to federated entities, especially municipalities, to truly incorporate the disaster reduction agenda into their political agendas, executing the necessary actions to identify, map and act in risk management.
Municipal legislation In Brazil, the right to the city is expressed through the concept of the social function of property in art. 5 of the 1988 Constitution, which includes environmental aspects and participatory management, guaranteeing popular participation in the decision-making bodies 132
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for public policies. The 1980s and 1990s, characterised by low federal investment due to a recessive economic environment and the absence of public policies, resulted in strong social and spatial exclusion. This created the demand and political conditions for the emergence of the City Statute, which presents general rules to be followed by all Brazilian municipalities focused on territorial planning. In this scenario, the planning of territories becomes a constitutional principle, critical to municipal management, ensuring the coordination of all existing interests in cities regarding the definition of the use and occupation of land and territory. Territory planning requires municipalities to use a master plan, through which consensuses and agreements that guarantee the city’s social function are instrumented, with emphasis on multisectoriality in the planning process. The municipal master plans, through urban instruments, guarantee a response to global pacts around the reduction of socio-spatial inequalities and poverty. According to the 2015 Basic Municipal Information Survey (IBGE, 2015), among the 3,914 Brazilian municipalities with a population of up to 20,000 inhabitants, 29.46% should have a Master Plan approved after the City Statute. However, even among the “beneficiaries” municipalities, the practice of elaborating and implementing master plans in small-populated municipalities revealed an inadequacy of the instruments and mechanisms available in the City Statute to deal with their demands and problems. It is noteworthy that the municipal master plans are complemented by sectoral plans (housing, environmental sanitation, solid waste, risk, and mobility, among others), which articulate the task of constituting urban policy at the municipal level, translated into policies and programmes with budgets and some investment. In fact, all 5,570 Brazilian municipalities should have a Municipal Risk Reduction Plan (PMRR), but it seems very far from the capacity and condition of the municipalities to carry it out. The PMRR maps different risk areas within the municipality, with the help of technicians specialised in architecture and urbanism, geotechnics and geology, social services, engineering, geographers, surveyors and environmental professionals. Territorial mapping is carried out with a direct relationship between urban occupation and natural characteristics of the soil, as well as orography to identify areas at risk of floods (in the case of valley bottoms) and landslides (in the case of slopes). Mapping must also be carried out to identify risk sectors, classified as low, medium or high. Its final strategy must include the actions and required resources to execute them, in addition to pointing out possible partnerships between municipal, state and federal administrations, as well as private sector partnerships. Finally, it is worth mentioning that for the municipal level, Federal Law No. 12.608/2012 (National Civil Defense and Protection Policy and System) clearly mentions the responsibility of this entity to manage and mitigate the harmful effects of natural events, in the following articles: Art. 23. It is forbidden to grant construction licenses or permits in risk areas indicated as non-buildable in the master plan or legislation derived therefrom. Art. 12. § 3 Approval of allotment and dismemberment projects in risk areas defined as non-buildable, in the master plan or in legislation derived therefrom, is prohibited.
Civil defence policy Brazilian risk and disaster management (DRM) has advanced in the last 30 years, although this advance has taken place intermittently, almost always associated with temporary commotion due to the occurrence of disasters of greater magnitude. Such is the case of 133
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the National Civil Defense and Protection Policy (PNPDEC), since it was drafted from a sequence of 2008–2010 major disasters with wide repercussion in the national media. We emphasise that, in order for the national policy to be implemented, the 2011 disaster in the Serrana region of Rio de Janeiro had to occur. The PNPDEC brought great progress by integrating federal public policies with a view to sustainable development and prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery aimed at civil defence and protection. In Brazil, Law No. 12,608 of 2012 institutes the National Civil Defense and Protection Policy (PNPDEC) and provides for the National Civil Defense and Protection System (SINPDEC) and the National Civil Defense and Protection Council (CONPDEC). It also authorises the creation of an information and disaster monitoring system and establishes the integration of PNPDEC with territorial planning, urban development, health, environment, climate change, water resources management, geology, infrastructure, education, science and technology policies, with a focus on promoting sustainable development. Next, we highlight the structure at the national level, then the structure at the state level, focusing on the state of Santa Catarina, and how the state acts regionally and in support of its municipalities.
Structure at the national level In order to act on a continuous and permanent basis, demanding institutional competencies from all public and private bodies as well as broad community participation, civil defence is organised in the form of local systems, in each entity of the federation. The Brazilian National Civil Defense and Protection System (SINPDEC) is coordinated by (national, state and municipal) organised structures and aims to bring together all the skills for risk and disaster management, always with an emphasis on prevention. SINPDEC is made up of bodies and entities from the federal, state, federal district and municipal administrations and public and private entities with a significant background in civil defence and protection, under the National Secretariat for Civil Defense and Protection, an organ of the Ministry of National Integration. The composition of SINPDEC is as follows: • • • • •
Advisory council, National Council for Civil Defense and Protection (CONPDEC); Central council, union represented by the National Secretariat for Civil Defense and Protection, responsible for coordinating the planning, articulation and execution of programmes, projects and civil defence and protection actions; State and federal district civil defence and protection council and their respective regional bodies responsible for the articulation, coordination and execution of SINPDEC at the state level; Municipal civil defence and protection council and their respective regional bodies responsible for the articulation, coordination and execution of SINPDEC at the municipal level; Sectoral council, from the three spheres of government, encompassing the bodies involved in civil protection and defence actions.
SINPDEC will be able to mobilise civil society to act in an emergency situation or state of public calamity, coordinating logistical support for the development of civil defence and protection actions. SINPDEC is responsible for implementing the doctrine established in the National Civil Defense and Protection Policy. 134
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As an advisory body, it established the National Council for Civil Defense and Protection (CONPDEC), which is part of the Regimental Structure of the Ministry of Regional Development. The National Secretariat for Civil Defense and Protection is the central body, and is also responsible for coordinating the national system, as well as for articulating with federal agencies and entities for the execution of risk and disaster management actions within the scope of the Federal System of Protection and Civil Defense. State and federal district agencies are responsible for articulating and coordinating the State and District Civil Defense and Protection System. In the municipalities, the municipal civil defence and protection bodies are responsible for articulating and coordinating the Municipal Civil Defense and Protection System.
State-level structure – Santa Catarina state example The State Civil Defense and Protection Agency is part of the Civil House’s organisational structure and is defined as a regional body in the national civil defence and protection system (SINPDEC), which aggregates the powers assigned by Law 12.608/2012, which establishes the national civil defence and protection policy (PNPDEC). The Civil Defense of Santa Catarina is an Executive Secretariat, linked to the Governor’s Office, and its main goal is to establish state guidelines for risk and disaster management, aiming at the protection and self-protection of the population, investment in prevention, mitigation, preparation, response and reconstruction, aiming at risk reduction in order to make Santa Catarina increasingly resilient. • • • • •
Acts to reduce the impacts, damages and losses caused by the countless disasters that devastate the state, with the objective of protecting the population, and preserving and saving lives; Promotes and supports the articulation of different institutions and governmental bodies, which jointly act in the reduction and management of risks and in the management of disasters; Supports disaster-affected municipalities with the provision of humanitarian assistance items and the restoration and recovery of affected areas; Provides the structure and services of the Integrated Center for Risk and Disaster Management, being 1 central unit, headquartered in the capital, and another 20 (20) regional units, headquartered with the Regional Civil Defense Coordinations (COREDEC); Promotes education, training, events and campaigns, in partnership with higher and technical education institutions, in order to enable a culture of preventive and selfprotection behaviours, resilience in the face of adverse events and management tools for the preparation and management of disasters.
The State System of Civil Defense and Protection is composed of the Civil Defense of Santa Catarina, located in the Integrated Center for Risk and Disaster Management (CIGERD), 20 regional coordinators that serve the state from north to south, from east to west, the bodies that make up the Coordinated Actions Group (GRAC) and the 295 Municipal Civil Defense and Protection Coordinators (COMPDEC). The structuring of the regional coordinators of civil defence of Santa Catarina is detailed below.
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Regional Civil Defense Coordinators The Civil Defense of Santa Catarina, in order to improve the application of the National Plan for Civil Defense and Protection’s policies, divided the state into Regional Coordinators for Civil Defense and Protection (COREDEC), which were established in 20 regions of the state, as shown in Figure 10.2. Their main objectives are the implementation of the National Civil Defense and Protection Policy at the regional level; the articulation and coordination of civil defence and protection actions at the regional level; the execution of SDC’s decentralised activities; and guidance, in accordance with the rules and legislation in force, on the correct use of material and financial resources made available by the SDC to municipalities affected by disasters. The regional coordinators provide support and direct advice to municipalities regarding risk and disaster management, in all its breadth, from prevention to recovery, aiming above all at protection and resilience. The regional coordinators are the local branches of DCSC and their performance is widely recognised in Santa Catarina. COREDECs are able and prepared to: • •
Execute the National and State Civil Defense and Protection Policy at the regional level; Carry out the articulation and coordination of civil defence and protection actions at the regional level;
Figure 10.2 Regional Coordinators for Civil Defense and Protection (COREDEC) spread across the State of Santa Catarina. Source: https://www.defesacivil.sc.gov.br/institucional/coordenadorias-regionais/
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• •
Carry out the decentralised activities of the DCSC; Provide guidance on the correct use of material and financial resources made available to municipalities affected by disasters.
Municipal Civil Defense and Protection Coordinators (COMPDEC) Although it is not solely responsible for the matter, the municipality is considered the protagonist and must therefore be prepared to immediately assist the population affected by any type of disaster, avoiding and/or reducing material and human losses. Thus, municipalities are listed as having responsibilities in article 8 of Law no. 12.608/2012. In addition, it is essential that the municipality, when organising its territory (art. 30, VIII of CF/88), identifies the areas of greatest environmental vulnerability in order to curb or restrict the use, occupation and subdivision of land, in the medium and long term, through the Master Plan and other urban norms. It is in the municipality that disasters happen and when they occur, external help takes a long time to arrive. Therefore, it is important for the municipal government to be aware of the need to structure the civil defence and protection body so that, together with the sectoral bodies and the community, it can coordinate prevention, preparation, response and reconstruction actions, when facing adverse events that may eventually reach their territory. Thus, for a community to be prepared, it is of fundamental importance that there is a properly equipped Municipal Protection and Civil Defense Coordinator, with trained, committed professionals with relationship skills for teamwork. It is essential that this body responsible for the global security of the population is linked to the Mayor’s Office; maintains a close relationship with the other bodies of the municipal administration, as well as with the different communities; and that its performance is permanent and integral, regardless of the existence or not of an adverse event. Although there is no rule or formula for its constitution, in order to define the size and organisation of the municipal civil defence and protection coordinator, it is necessary to understand its main functional characteristics: • • • • • • •
Permanent knowledge of threats and risks; Preventive action in all phases of civil defence; Preparation for dealing with disasters; Close management with public institutions and neighbouring cities; Permanent interaction with the community; Education for living with risk; and Institutional visibility.
Medium and large municipalities, in general, have proper infrastructure, personnel, financial and material resources. In small municipalities, however, which are the majority in Brazil and Santa Catarina, the organisational structure and teamwork leave much to be desired, which increases the vulnerability of the response and prevention, mitigation and preparedness actions. With the publication of data in 2022, the National Secretariat for Civil Defense and Protection (Sedec), of the Ministry of Regional Development (MDR), in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Center National Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters (Cemaden), of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and 137
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Innovations, promoted a diagnosis of the needs and capacities of Organs of municipal bodies of Civil Defense and Protection. Municipal capacities and needs in civil defence and protection were analysed based on three axes: structuring (material, organisational, financial and technological resources); training; and governance (formal and informal mechanisms for the participation and coordination of state and non-state actors). There are six publications, one with a national vision and one per region of Brazil. The research points out that, in relation to infrastructure, the needs are associated with work equipment, given the unavailability of vehicles and other suitable equipment. Most civil defences reported sharing physical space with another sectors (65%) and in most cases it was necessary to reduce members of the teams to one or two people (59%). The lack of financial resources was reported as a challenge, but the most cited challenge among research participants (26%) was related to infrastructure. Regarding training needs, the following topics were highlighted: (i) monitoring, mapping and risk alert; (ii) emergency and contingency action plans; and (iii) basic training in civil defence and protection, budgeting and management of civil defence resources. On the other hand, the municipal civil defences feel empowered to (i) declare a situation of emergency or state of public calamity; (ii) promote interaction with other secretariats; (iii) assess and report material damage; and (iv) promote interaction with the population. Regarding the governance axis, the needs identified were related to support for inspecting and curbing occupations and constructions in risk areas, as well as preventive work with the population and recognition of the role of civil defence by municipal management. The country’s civil defences dream of a better structure, in terms of material and financial resources, with recognition of the profession, adequate training and continuity of work, in addition to more financial and political autonomy. The dreams also include strengthening public policies on the subject, investing in preventive activities and valuing the role of civil defence.
Co-creation of resilience actions Building Resilient Cities 2030 (MCR 2030) is an action led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), which is an articulation between various actors to promote local resilience through political advocacy, as well as the exchange of knowledge, experiences and the establishment of learning networks between cities with the objective of simultaneously promoting and strengthening technical capacities, as well as connecting various levels of government and strategic alliances. In Brazil, the National Secretariat for Civil Defense and Protection (Sedec) is a partner of UNDRR and seeks greater inter-federal coordination and alignment of the initiative with federal public policies, promoted by the Ministry of Regional Development. Data in Tables 10.1 and 10.2 was updated in October 2022. It represents Brazil’s participation in the global context in relation to the mayor’s intention to make his municipality resilient through the MCR 2030 and MCR 2010–2020 protocols, respectively. Resilience actions present in urban planning and municipal government actions in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities are still incipient and have little associated technology. In fact, the institution best prepared for this purpose is the Civil Defense – but in some states, it demands financial support and incentives for training human resources. 138
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Total participating cities in Brazil % of Brazilian participation in the initiative
1,365
277
20.29
Table 10.2 Participation of Brazilian cities in the MCR 2010–2020 Total participating cities in the world
Total participating cities in Brazil % of Brazilian participation in the initiative
4,360
1,078
24.72
Here are some examples of resilience and preparedness actions by state and/or municipal governments in the face of flood events.
Case 01 – Mapping of risk areas carried out by the Technological Research Institute (IPT) (between 2012 and 2019) Since the 1990s, activities have been started to carry out the mapping of risk areas, at the request of the Civil Defense for the state of São Paulo, following a methodology developed in partnership between the IPT and the Ministry of Cities, which establishes four levels of risk potential. The forms of risk spatialisation, as well as the indication in thematic maps of the different types of processes in the physical environment and recommendations for structural and non-structural measures, began to follow a national methodology from 2007 onwards. However, since 2012, with greater emphasis, the Civil Defense of the state of São Paulo has applied the suggested methodology in a more intensive way and gradually improved the process in the recognition of susceptible and risk areas. In this way, between 2012 and 2019, around 150 municipalities were visited by the IPT and a hundred mappings of municipalities in the state of São Paulo were cartographically represented under the theme of risk. It is noteworthy that for the development of the method, the hydrological and hydraulic models, HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS, respectively, were used in an integrated way with topographic data from surveys carried out by the Geographical and Cartographic Institute of the state of São Paulo (IGC) in the 1:10,000 scale with Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) images. The main goal was to obtain maps of areas susceptible to flooding without the use of field data, which can be used as municipal management tools when implementing measures to reduce the consequences of these events, as can be seen in Figure 10.3. The technical report and maps contain information such as a description of the assessed area, delimitation of the risk sectors identified in remote sensor imaging, number of properties at risk, number of people at risk, typology (landslides, flooding, erosion) and suggestions for interventions to minimise or eliminate the identified risks. In this case, administrative actions at the municipal level demanded an integration with the government agency at the state level, since IPT has more than 120 years of experience in the areas of research, education and technology and is one of the largest institutions of scientific research and technological development in the country. It is also worth mentioning 139
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Figure 10.3 Map of the municipality of Cubatão (São Paulo state) indicating the flooded area. Source: http://www.ipt.br/solucoes/406-carta_geotecnica.htm
that IPT is linked to the Economic Development Secretariat of the state of São Paulo and offers technical support to industry and public policies. From the production of the technical report and the risk maps made by the IPT, the municipalities of São Paulo were able to consider in the Master Plan and in the urban planning actions the mitigation and control of the harmful effects of the floods. This has, in general, taken the form of the actions aimed at resilience designed by the municipal public administration; other resilience activities directly related to residences are developed by technical guidelines from Civil Defense – which still needs to improve and implement the processes.
Case 02 – Digital Atlas of Disasters in Brazil – CEPED/UFSC The Atlas’s main objective is to provide systematised information related to the occurrence of disasters and related damages and losses. It was created through technical cooperation between the World Bank and the University of Santa Catarina, through the Center for Studies and Research in Engineering and Civil Defense (CEPED/UFSC). It was developed within the scope and technical assistance projects of the World Bank in Brazil, based on data registered with the National Secretariat for Civil Defense and Protection (SEDEC) 140
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and the managerial participation of FAPEU (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Extensão Universitária). The Digital Atlas of Disasters in Brazil has a simple and interactive user interface, where one can find relevant data on flood, drought, erosion, forest fire and tornadoes, among others, from 1991 to 2021. The data panel also checks the frequency of occurrences, number of deaths, homeless/ displaced persons, the total number of people affected and financial values related to the damages monetarily corrected. After parameterising the desired query, the system also allows the desired map to be exported to a PDF file, as shown in Figure 10.4.
Final considerations and future scenarios Despite the great effort committed to research by institutions such as IPT, Civil Defense and CEPED, the scenario of risk and disaster management is still a regular occurrence due to a series of difficulties on the part of Brazilian municipalities (SILVA et al., 2016). In this case, a series of efforts at the federal, state and municipal levels will be necessary for the country to incorporate the assumptions of the National Civil Defense and Protection Policy into decisions related to the use of land planning. This advance depends, among other factors, on improving the process of collecting and organising data that provide consistent and reliable information about the territory, with special emphasis on mapping risks, resilience and other factors that enable decision-making in an efficient manner. With the worsening of climate change, there is the expectation that there will be changes in the frequency, severity and duration of events of a hydrological nature (Burns and Des Johansson, 2017). This fact causes significant concern in Brazil, due to its extensive coastline and dense hydrographic network, with rivers flowing through the urban areas of cities. In addition, the consequences of these are intensified due to non-climatic factors of a socioeconomic nature, such as population growth, economic growth, urbanisation and political neglect, as well as the real lack of knowledge about territorial occupation and its planned control (Carmo and Anazawa, 2014). This chapter provides valuable lessons that can guide future research on flood risk governance in Brazil. However, there are still gaps that need to be addressed in understanding the
Figure 10.4 Map of Santa Catarina showing flooding events between 1991 and 2021. Source: https://atlas.ceped.ufsc.br/paginas/mapa-interativo.xhtml
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governance relationships between the federal, state and municipal levels, particularly in terms of implementing mitigation and resilience protocols in both urban and rural areas. While legislative support informs the needs and actions of government entities, there is a lack of geospatial data, especially in the production of cartography that takes into account the dynamics of flooding, such as the affected areas and water levels in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities. In order for Law n. 12,608/2012 to be widely and effectively applied throughout the Brazilian national territory, it is necessary that the numerous provisions provided for in law and regulations are regulated. Among the most urgent actions is the creation of a national register of municipalities with areas susceptible to the occurrence of high-impact landslides, sudden floods or related geological or hydrological processes (Brasil, 2012), by the federal government; several other measures depend on this act. It should be noted that most Brazilian municipalities do not have specific laws or regulations aimed at preventing floods or landslides (Rodrigues, 2020). However, in some cases, this provision has already been incorporated into land use and occupation laws, or into municipal zoning, or directly into the master plan, as in the municipalities of Angra do Reis (Rio de Janeiro state), Blumenau (Santa Catarina state) and São Paulo (São Paulo state). Such instruments are fundamental to subsidise the inspection and also to avoid the existence of new areas of risk. Based on international expertise, it is understood that Brazilian municipalities need to develop an integrated vision of governance challenges to do with disasters. In practical terms, improving actions to combat disasters requires municipal managers to mobilise to identify the challenges and potential of their municipality, joining forces with communities to maximise local resilience (Norris et al., 2008; Amobi et al., 2019; Haase et al., 2021). In addition, it is considered fundamental that initiatives to increase resilience empirically adopted by communities are studied. Thus, after being evaluated and improved, they must be incorporated into the action protocols created by the government. This practice highlights the need for collaborative and participatory governance to address challenges faced by society. Greater preparedness by public managers is required to integrate efforts and build resilience against floods in Brazil. In-depth case studies can provide help with articulating resilience actions within prevention policies. So far, it is important to highlight the need to observe the existing regional characteristics and peculiarities in Brazil. In this case, it is essential to adapt solutions and action protocols to local profiles. Thus, it is possible to verify that there is still a significant challenge for the Brazilian state in meeting the demands for research related to flood subjects that identifies the specificities of the places, in order to understand which technological resources, devices and methodological procedures are most appropriate for each situation.
Acknowledgment The authors would like to acknowledge the scientific and financial support provided by FAPESC and UDESC.
Bibliography Amobi A, Lewis M, Novais A, Alexander-Scott N. ASTHO president’s challenge: Core principles for building community resilience. American Journal of Public Health, 2019; 109(S4): S277–S278. Brasil. Assembléia Nacional Constituinte. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Aprovada em 5 de outubro de 1988. 142
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Brasil. Ministério da Integração e Desenvolvimento Regional. Construindo Cidades Resilientes 2030 [Internet]. Brasília; 25 de fevereiro de 2019. Disponível em: https://www.gov.br/mdr/pt-br/ assuntos/protecao-e-defesa-civil/cidades-resilientes. Brasil. Ministério do Desenvolvimento Regional. A PEDC e os 30 anos de desastres no Brasil (1991– 2020). 65a ed. Brasília; 2022. Brasil. Ministério do Desenvolvimento Regional. Atlas Digital de Desastres no Brasil. Brasília; 2022. Brasil. Ministério do Desenvolvimento Regional. GIRD+10: caderno de gestão integrada de riscos e desastres. Brasília; 2021. Brasil. Ministério do Desenvolvimento Regional. Diagnóstico de capacidades e necessidades municipais em proteção e defesa civil: Brasil. Brasília; 2021. Brasil. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Brasil em números. Brasília; 2021. Brasil. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Pesquisa de Informações Básicas Municipais - 2015. Brasília; 2016. Brasil. Política Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Civil. Lei Federal nº 12.608. Aprovado em 10 de abril de 2012. Brasil. Senado Federal. Estatuto da Cidade. Lei Federal nº 10.257. Aprovado em 10 de julho de 2001. Burns TR, Des Johansson NM. Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation—A sustainable development systems perspective. Sustainability 2017; 9(2): 293. Carmo RL, Anazawa TM. Mortalidade por desastres no Brasil: o que mostram os dados. Cienc Saude Colet. 2014; 19: 3669–81. CNM. Danos e prejuízos causados por desastres no Brasil entre 2013 e 2022. Brasília: Confederação Nacional dos Municípios, abril de 2022. https://www.cnm.org.br/cms/biblioteca/Danos%20e %20Prejuízos%20causados%20por%20desastres_2013%20a%202022_atualizado%20em%20abr il.pdf. Coutinho MP, Londe LR, Santos LBL, Leal PJV. Instrumentos de planejamento e preparo dos municípios brasileiros à Política de Proteção e Defesa Civil. Urbe Rev Bras Gest Urbana. 2015; 7(3): 383–96. doi: 10.1590/2175-3369.007.003.ao06. Ferentz LM, Garcias CM. A resiliência na gestão municipal de desastres: estudo de caso em União da Vitória sob a ótica do scorecard para inundações | Resilience in municipal disaster management: a case study in União da Vitória from the perspective of the flood scorecard. Oculum Ensaios. 2020 Sep 25; 17: 1. doi: 10.24220/2318-0919v17e2020a4698. Freire AFR. A Política Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Civil e as ações do Governo Federal na gestão de riscos de desatres [Dissertation]. Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública; 2014. Freitas MJCC, Oliveira FH. Estiagem no Oeste Catarinense - Diagnóstico e resiliência [Internet]. Florianópolis: UDESC; 2017 [acessado 9 de março de 2023]. Disponível em: https://www .defesacivil.sc.gov.br/images/ESTIAGEM_NO_OESTE_miolo_180417.pdf. Haase TW, Wang WJ, Ross AD. The six capacities of community resilience: Evidence from three small Texas communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Nat Hazards. 2021; 109(1): 1097–118. Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas. “IPT assina novo contrato com a Defesa Civil de São Paulo para identificação de áreas de risco em 11 cidades do estado”. Notícias, 5 de janeiro de 2018. https://www.ipt.br/centros_tecnologicos/CTGeo/noticias/1351-areas_de_risco.htm. Lopes B, Rosa J, Araújo R, Bernardes M. Percepção de moradores de área de risco na cidade de Rio do Sul, Santa Catarina. Espinhaço. 2021 Jan 21. Norris FH, Stevens SP, Pfefferbaum B, Wyche KF, Pfefferbaum RL. Community resilience as a metaphor, theory, set of capacities, and strategy for disaster readiness. Am J Community Psychol. 2008; 41: 127–50. Rodrigues MR. Da Resposta À Prevenção: Interfaces Entre A Gestão De Risco De Desastres E O Planejamento Urbano. Geo UERJ. 2020; 36: 48404. Silva ACPD, Pinto RWP, Freitas MMD. Avaliação de políticas públicas relacionadas aos desastres naturais no Brasil, entre 1990-2014. Ambiência Guarapuava. 2016; 12(4): 885–900. Tavares TGA, Silva DF, Monte BEO, Goldenfum JA. Análise global da resiliência do sistema de drenagem de Tubarão/SC. In Simpósio Brasileiro de Recursos Hídricos, 10. Porto Alegre: ABRH; 2019, pp. 1–10. 143
11 Building resilience through community-based flood risk management Pathway and reflections Irene-Nora Dinye, Henry Mensah, Eric Kwame Simpeh and Rudith Sylvana King
Introduction There is an emerging interest in community responses to urban flooding in the global south (Amoako and Dinye, 2023; Ahadzie et al., 2021; Mensah and Ahadzie, 2020; Amoako, 2016; Schaer, 2015). However, the search for the most acceptable framework or pathway for understanding community flood responses is far from over. Several frameworks have been used around the globe to identify and understand the factors and circumstances of community adaptive capacities, responses and resilience to urban flood (Jha et al., 2012). Nonetheless, the current literature connects communities’ socio-cultural and political-economic contexts to their capacity, decision and ability to build flood resilience in the face of increasing flood risks. Without efficient and effective state flood interventions (Ahadzie et al., 2021; PokuBoansi et al., 2020), flood-affected communities and households plan and respond to flood hazards and have built incremental adaptive capacities (Poku Boansi et al., 2020; Amoako, 2017). These household and community responses have been documented as ad hoc, insignificant and unsustainable (Amoako, 2017; Adelekan, 2010). Community affected households have built knowledge through experiential engagements with perennial floods. Nonetheless, affected flood communities have depended on these strategies for several years and have seemingly thrived. Flood-affected communities and households have resisted eviction, survived flood hazards and expanded housing and population densities in cities of the developing world (Amoako, 2017). Thus, community flood responses continue to dominate where state and local government interventions have failed (Poku-Boansi et al., 2020). For instance, where city authorities have threatened to relocate or forcefully evict communities in flood-prone areas, community members have drawn on local and trans-local resources to resist (Grant, 2000; Amoako, 2016; Poku-Boansi et al., 2020). Through incremental learning, members of flood-affected communities have also designed localised interventions for the periods 144
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before, during and after major floods. Though these community interventions are usually not recognised by flood management agencies, they have been useful in building adaptive capacity at the community level. Given the background above, this chapter answers the following questions: (a) What is the existing structure for building community flood resilience? (b) Which actors are involved in building community flood resilience? And (c) How can the existing structure for community flood response be improved and operationalised in the long term? In providing answers to these questions, this chapter proposes a pathway for understanding the structure, processes and actors in building community flood resilience.
Study setting and methods Study setting This study is situated within the context of Kumasi, one of Ghana’s fastest-growing cities and among the fastest-growing in Africa. At a growth of 5.47% per annum, the population of Kumasi as a town has increased over the years from about 3,000 in 1901 (Ablorh, 1967) to 2 million in 2010 as a metropolitan area. The city’s population is currently estimated at 2.6 million. Kumasi is made of about 90 suburbs, many of which were absorbed into it as a result of the process of growth and physical expansion. It is located in the transitional forest zone, about 270 km north-west of Accra, on an area of about 254 square kilometres. As both the capital of the historical Asante state and current Ashanti Region of Ghana, the city has undergone several political, cultural, physical and demographic changes. These changes have been characterised by rapid population growth and urbanisation; heightened commercial activity due to its location as an economic hub; and a multi-cultural city in spite of being the seat of the Ashanti Kingdom (Cobbinah & Amoako, 2012; Amoako et al., 2014). The implications of these trends are visible in terms of urban sprawl and the unprecedented development of peri-urban and informal communities (Adarkwa, 2012), the encroachment of wetlands and areas earmarked for other land use purposes (Mintah et al., 2021; Abass et al., 2020; Amoateng et al., 2018; Campion and Venzke, 2011), as well as congestion and poor waste management. These dimensions set the precedence for flood vulnerability in low-income communities including Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan, two suburbs in the Kumasi Metropolis.
Methods Study design and approach The case study research method was adopted to explore the key indicators, actors and activities for building community flood resilience. This is an approach in which real-life cases are used as empirical data for research in order to provide in-depth insight into a complex social phenomenon (Gummesson, 2007; Yin, 2009). This chapter is based on the premise that the state in many sub-Saharan Africa countries, including Ghana, is frequently overburdened by competing demands for limited public funds. As a result, high-risk communities in such countries are expected to rely on traditionally recognised social networks to collectively plan and take appropriate action toward building resilient communities. The pathway emanates from a three-step process; firstly, the study draws on the review of several secondary documents on urban flood vulnerability and resilience in the global south. The second stage involved empirical data collection from flood risk studies in Kumasi, Ghana, spanning nearly seven years. The empirical study 145
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comprised the use of multiple qualitative methods to collect and analyse evidence from multiple sources including households’ and key informants’ interviews and field observations in low-income communities in Kumasi. The last stage approach entailed consultations of relevant city and state institutions in flood management, social welfare and community management. Officials of these institutions were convened via stakeholder consultative workshops in two flood-prone communities in Kumasi, Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan. Data source and methods of collection The study relied on secondary and primary data sources, and data was gathered in three stages. To begin, the study draws on a review of relevant secondary documents on urban flood vulnerability and resilience. The second stage involved gathering empirical data from flood-prone areas in Kumasi. The empirical study used semi-structured interviews to collect and analyse evidence from multiple sources, including interviews with households and key informants, and field observations in low-income communities in Kumasi. The final stage involved consultations with city and state institutions involved in flood management, social welfare and community management. Purposive sampling was used to select communities such as Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan, two suburbs in the Kumasi Metropolis. The cases were chosen pragmatically because they are considered flood vulnerability areas in low-income communities that have been affected by flooding for nearly seven years. The interviewees for the key informants’ interviews included two assemblymen, four opinion leaders/traditional authorities from Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan and one planning officer from the Metropolitan Assembly. As a result, the total number of respondents was seven. The interviews were conducted in a face-to-face format. A briefing session was held prior to the interview to inform key informants about the purpose of the study and to clarify any ambiguity regarding the semistructured interview. This aided the interviewees in adequately preparing for the interview. Each assemblyman’s interview lasted approximately 30 minutes, while the opinion leader/ traditional authority’s interview lasted approximately 40 minutes. The consultative interview with the planning officer lasted about 25 minutes. All of the interviews were tape recorded. Data analysis The information gathered during the interview was transcribed and then analysed using content analysis. The data were manually interrogated by reading and selecting key words, phrases, and then coding them into meaning units. Data was generated and organised into predefined themes, and reports were created for each theme. Other responses were presented as direct quotations.
Results and discussion Flood vulnerability within the study communities Flood vulnerability within the study communities emanates from a complex mix of historical, social and economic factors and climate and topographic factors. Foremost is the historical premise of the two study communities. Historically both communities evolved as indigenous, predominantly inhabited by natives of Ashanti origin. As a result of informal and rapid population growth, these communities have developed into urban slums with lowincome migrants that now serve as a social network basket for many “first-time immigrants” and a political hotspot (Campion and Owusu Boateng, 2013). For instance, this is how the Metropolitan Town and Country Planning director described the area in an interview: 146
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There are all kinds of migrants in the area, doing all kinds of jobs. It is difficult to know where they come from. But I know residents there are from both Ghana and other African countries. The influx of migrants, as well as the inability of city authorities to efficiently manage the effects of the rapid population growth, has resulted in urban sprawl depicted by the expansion of unapproved and haphazard structures in wetlands and natural reserves, environmental degradation and water and sanitation challenges (Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012; Darkwah et al., 2018). Regrettably, Amoateng (2018) and Mensah et al. (2021) observed that many of the buildings constructed in such areas are of low quality and incapable of withstanding flood disasters. In addition, the occupants frequently lack the necessary resources in terms of finances, materials and know-how to combat flood threats. Many of the native residents continue to stay in these neighbourhoods due to their historical ties as well as their strong social and economic capital developed over the years (See Amoako et al., 2023; Campion and Owusu Boateng, 2013). In the case of migrants, the only areas available in many suburbs for migrant settlers are wetland areas. Often the initial intent of the migrants is to erect temporary housing made of wood. But in spite of improvement in economic wellbeing the migrants continue to live in the same or improved structures at the same locations (See Campion and Owusu Boateng, 2013). In response to the questions relating to locations and individuals who are more vulnerable to flood in their community, a Focus Group participant in Sepe Buokrom remarked that: The Moshie-Zongo area is the most affected by flood hazards … The residents are mainly migrants of northern descent. That area is low lying so even when it does not rain there; the place gets flooded … when the first migrant settlers moved here all the high lying areas were occupied so they had to resort to living in low lying areas. The premise of Kumasi’s rapid population urban growth presents the second vulnerability context also related to rapid changes in land use whereby some land uses give way to other uses (Cobbinah et al., 2019; Amoako and Adom Asamoah, 2019). Typically, these land use changes take the form of land conversion and/or the redevelopment of old residential buildings into multi-purpose shopping malls, arcades or improved residential properties (Bertaud, 2010). Other facilities, such as retail shops or kiosks, are increasingly being converted into complex buildings and/or structures with multiple commercial functions (Adarkwa & Oppong, 2005 ). Cobbinnah et al. (2019) reflect that these land use changes are inevitable and are in response to a number of institutional, economic, social and biophysical factors influencing land transactions and the physical process of construction of buildings. While inevitable, these have implications for flood vulnerability whereby some structures have been developed in waterways and inhabitants have encroached on open and green spaces; structural changes sometimes do not conform to formal planning regulations, do not provide the necessary auxiliary services such as storm drains, etc. A remark was made in Ahinsan when a participant at one of the mini-workshops indicated that: Almost everybody here has experienced floods at least once … I have lived in this community for about 15 years and it floods every year. The floods have always been in the compound of the house without getting into our rooms; but lately after every heavy downpour, our rooms are also flooded. 147
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Among the other land management challenges that Ghanaian cities face, Amoako and Adom-Asamoah (2019) highlighted open spaces in Kumasi’ , strong historical foundations and socio-political conflicts between indigenous/customary land ownership and the state urban planning regime. For instance, at Sepe-Buokrom one of the key informants lamented: There is a Fuel Station on the airport-Sepe Buokrom route; everyone knows that that place is waterlogged and it was left vacant. In spite of this background and the twin fire-flood that occurred in Accra in 2015, the Fuel Station has been erected. Obviously, the owner is one with strong political or from a royal background. Despite the existence of state agencies or city authorities (e.g., Physical Planning Department), traditional institutions control approximately 80% of land in Ghana (customary land) and in some cases have their own established land management institutions (e.g., Asantehene’s Land Secretariat). This leads to conflicting roles and a chaotic urban environment (Amanor and Ubink, 2018). While city authorities engage in eviction and decongestion activities (i.e., compulsory acquisition and displacement) in the “name of urban order and redevelopment,” traditional institutions also lease open spaces or urban green spaces to investors to develop (Cobbinah and Darkwah, 2017; Amoako and Adom-Asamoah, 2019). The urban poor continue to be the most impacted, as state or city authorities frequently regard them as a “nuisance” in redevelopment interventions (Gray and Porter, 2015; Hall and Pfeiffer, 2000), and private investors are focused on profits in gentrification projects (Adarkwa and Assasie Oppong, 2005), while traditional institutions are concerned with the indiscriminate sale of land (Cobbinah et al., 2019). The fourth vulnerability context is related to the proximity of the study locations to water bodies and officially declared wetlands within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area (See Kuusaana et al., 2021; Amoateng et al., 2018). Awumbila et al. (2014) maintain that many occupants of such lands are aware of impending danger following heavy rains to waterlogged lands surrounded by rivers but still acquire them because comparatively they are cheaper. Sepe Buokrom is located north-east of Kumasi along the Aboabo river basin near the Kumasi Airport roundabout. Meanwhile, the Sisai and Subin rivers run through the Ahinsan community. Flood hazards in the study communities result from the overflow of the river banks during moderate and extreme rainfall events. As a result, Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan communities have been susceptible to annual riverine and local floods over the past decade due the overflow runoff from Aboabo, Sisai and Subin Rivers and poor waste management (see Mensah Darkwah et al., 2018; Ahadzie et al., 2016; Kpelle et al., 2014). The contextual picture of flooding in Kumasi highlights the complexity of factors that contribute to the city’s ongoing flood events, showing that indiscriminate development and dumping, the poor management of natural watercourses and localised intense and variable rainfall are all significant contributors to perennial flooding. Therein the importance of fostering bottom-up readiness and streamlining local knowledge and reactions to simplify “doit-yourself” urbanism for a more resilient future is highlighted by such an awareness of local dynamics (Mususa and Marr, 2022). However, many cities’ approach to flood management in the global south has often been reactive and top-down rather than forward-looking and context-driven (Cobbinah et al., 2019).
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Understanding flood resilience in low-income communities In many low-income communities in the global south, including Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan, most urban dwellers vulnerable to flood are characterised by insecure residential status, overcrowding and non-compliance with planning and building regulations (Gencer, 2013). The recovery from floods in these communities can be slow and difficult. The damage to property and infrastructure can be extensive, and it can take years for people to rebuild their lives (Ahadzie, Mensah, and Simpeh, 2020). Low-income communities manifest poor physical and environmental features such as poor housing conditions, road conditions and networks, drainage facilities and environmental pollution. Many low-income residents have limited access to basic social services such as water and electricity. Not only are low-income residents at greater risk of death and severe damage, but they often are unsuccessful in mobilising support after flood disasters (Gaisie and Cobbinah, 2023). The interactions between poverty and insecure tenure in urban slums contribute to further deterioration of the economic situation of informal city dwellers, leading to a vicious cycle of poverty. Despite the unsustainable nature of these low-income communities, some studies contend that these communities have very complex social relationships, as there is a friendly, intimate and close-knit community reminiscent of that which exists in small towns and rural areas (Durand-Lasserve, 1996; UNCHS, 2003). Flood victims in informal settlements have survived flood events by drawing on various socio-material resources to respond when they occur. The continuous evolution and expansion of informal settlements at flood-prone zones appear to show that residents are learning to cope with and building resilience to floods and other vulnerabilities they face (Wisner et al., 2004; Perlman, 2004; Dovey and Raharjo, 2010). As a result, contrary to the “official view” that informal settlements are “chaotic and ungovernable” – a view that their residents are harshly treated – there appear to be robust and well-connected social and community network systems within urban informal communities and beyond on which they have built their adaptive capacities and response mechanisms (De Soto, 1989, 2000; Perlman, 2004; Grant, 2000, Dovey, 2012).
Building community resilience to flood: Key areas to consider Social capital, social learning and community structures Local knowledge, incremental learning and the modernisation of informal communities are linked to knowledge derived from living in flood-prone communities and from the transfer of knowledge acquired from other residents in the form of social interactions with various stakeholders in planning and responding to flood hazards. Several studies reveal that several low-income communities in the global south do not have weather stations to record, measure and analyse the frequency and intensity of rainfall (Jha et al., 2011; Adelekan, 2015a, 2015b; Adelekan and Asiyanbi, 2016). In the absence of official rainfall data, there is virtually no information on flooding in the study communities from city authorities. Many flood communities rely on the accumulated experience of past flood events, community-acquired knowledge and stories of flood experiences and social capital to anticipate, prepare and cope with the aftermath of floods (Amoako et al., 2019; Amoako and Dinye, 2023). Through these past experiences, residents of informal communities build adaptive capacity and learn new ways of dealing with flood events. 149
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Social learning and community flood responses Community learning and innovation involve the active social participation and integration of residents with their environmental conditions to develop meaning and identity from their problems and fashion appropriate solutions (Djalante et al., 2011). According to Folke et al. (2003) social learning and innovation are influenced by the community’s accumulation of socio-ecological learning and understanding of the community’s hazard situation. In both communities the rainfall is analogous to floods so the slightest physical observation of clouds gathering stirs anxiety in high-risk areas (Ahadzie et al., 2016). Furthermore, the onset of the rainy season in many parts of Ghana in June has led individuals, households and communities to initiate preparatory measures. Participants in Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan indicated that they engage in some self-help activities as part of community flood preparation based on their observations of rainfall patterns and flooding in their communities. Notably, the interviewees mentioned the desilting of uncovered sections of the main storm drain; enforcing proper solid waste management practices through their various community leaders and community education by community-based civil society organisations. Through the annual occurrence of floods, communities have gathered various experiences with which they plan their individual households and community responses. Some affected residents have also made structural changes to their houses as a form of innovation resulting from their “accumulation of socio-ecological” learning and dynamic integration with their environment (Djalente et al., 2011, p. 5). Parker (2000, p. 39) had earlier suggested that “indigenous methods” of flood response or mitigation have evolved also through the accumulation of flood knowledge, but Zoleta-Nantes (2000, p. 69) contends that the urban poor need the support of “government, non-government and private institutions” to deal with flood hazards and vulnerability effectively. Residents of Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan have also developed innovations in their flood responses. Key among these innovations are the incremental changing of temporary wooden structures used as housing to more permanent houses and the construction of backyard drains to collect surface water from their roof and paved areas out of their homes. Another area where residents of the study communities have learnt and made innovations is their preparations on the suspicion that heavy rainfall is likely to be followed by floods. Preparatory activities mentioned in the two study communities include evacuating families on suspicion of heavy rainfall; placing valuable items in the room in wardrobes and on raised platforms such as tables; weeding and clearing the immediate housing environment; clearing and re-channelling household drains; and repairing leaking roofs. Residents in the study communities saw flooding risk, occurrence and adaptation as an individual issue but also as a collective and communal concern or challenge. At one of the main focus group discussions in Sepe Buokrom, a participant made the following statement to indicate the community’s feeling of exposure and vulnerability: many of our people live in hazardous areas and are vulnerable to flood hazards anytime they occur. All the people in Sepe Buokrom and the airport roundabout are vulnerable to flood hazards and they use a wide range of things to protect themselves from or cope with flooding.
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A community leader in Ahinsan provided the following example of acquired experience and innovation: We find a way to make the water flow out of the community … Some [people] will call the “Assemblyman” who doesn’t live in this community [on his cell phone] and mobilise the youth to go to and open the channel … Another thing the youth group does is to help those whose houses have been affected to move out their families and some of their valuable items out to safety. Although the aforementioned community-level activities were stated to be unstructured approaches in terms of responding to flood events, they have become habitual to the extent that residents have coopted young people within the community with specific roles on flood days. Self-organisation and community network structures Community vulnerability to floods generates spontaneous self-organisation and the birth of various development networks. These spontaneous community self-organisations take advantage of the existing “social cohesion” and “social capital.” In Australia, King (2007, p. 657) referred to a “plethora of organisations” by which communities organise themselves after disasters using existing organisations and networks for new purposes. Cannon (2000, p. 49) indicates that even though “such [community-based] organisations are not designed to deal with floods, they may permit greater social cohesion and higher moral.” Situated within the foregoing body of literature, residents of Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan mobilise themselves around their local opinion leaders including the assemblyman,1 traditional leaders,2 market queens3 and leaders of the various ethnic groups4 within their communities. For instance, at Sepe Buokrom the assemblyman stated that: As opinion leaders we organise communal activities such as cleaning portions of the storm drains, preventing people from or reporting them to authorities for building too close to water ways … the Landlords/Landladies [property owners] Association which has been engaging various stakeholders in flood management and also helping with the community level interventions.
Similarly, at Ahinsan participants at a mini-workshop with the leadership of the development association stated that: We use stones to fill the muddy places when organised by the opinion leaders in the community. Due to the absence of drains in the community, some areas get flooded and the youth groups are mobilised to clear these areas mostly before the rains set in. The aforementioned community self-organisations are based on the status and power of some individuals or groups of residents derived from the communities’ existing local authority and governance structure. As a result, the communities employ a variety of communication channels and tools, such as “house-to-house” invitations, community-wide information systems and the use of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) representatives. Apart from opinion leaders, residents have organised themselves based on ethnic groups, common interests and problems. 151
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Spontaneous community self-help responses based on the intensity, duration and impacts of flood events; households coping with floods if their impacts are not destructive and drying their assets that get wet by the floods; gradual and incremental changes to their buildings to adapt to future flood events. The above flood responses have been influenced by long historical relationships of distrust and accusations between the informal communities and city authorities and local government institutions (see Fatti and Patel, 2013, p. 13). In a mini-workshop with a group of past flood victims at Sepe Buokrom, the following statement from a participant revealed the community’s distrust for the KMA. all we get from KMA are unfulfilled promises. Our community needs well-laid-out storm drains, period! While these community structures for self-organisation and networking have influenced community and household flood responses, these agencies have been criticised in the literature as sometimes too radical and indeterminate (Purcell, 2002, p. 99) due to frequent violent clashes between residents and city authorities for the communities’ recognition. Other limitations to community-level self-organisation capacity include difficulties bringing all residents on board due to internal segregations based on varied socio-political interests and power structures. For example, Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan are noted as the “informal power houses”5 of the two leading political parties in Ghana. Regardless of these limitations, the discussion in this section demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Kumasi’s informal communities have the capacity to organise internally in response to environmental hazards such as flooding (Grant, 2000, p. 111).
Pathway for community resilience Figure 11.1 shows the process for enhancing community resilience. This is based on the theory of social responsibility, which considers the interactions between the social, economic and environmental aspects of an organisation’s or group’s efforts to advance society (Mullins et al., 2011). The proposed pathway for building community resilience depicts a network of iterative flow charts with the assemblyman and local elders serving as the focal point and directing the mission of creating resilient communities. In addition, the pathway identifies the various actions that must be taken in order for a community to become resilient. These are highlighted and arrowed to represent an iterative process in which appropriate knowledge levels must be developed for use in community discussion and empowerment. Due to the empathy the communities in the study areas have for the office, the pathway suggests that the assemblyman and/or the office should be given the authority to take the lead in any effort to build community resilience. To play that role in other communities, it may be essential to identify opinion leaders with whom the community identifies. It is instructive to note that the role of a local assemblyman in Ghana is similar to that of a member of parliament at the national level. The assemblyman is expected to interact with a few stakeholders by keeping in close contact with the electoral area, consult with people in the community on issues to be discussed in the District Assembly and present views, opinions and proposals at the District Assembly level. Furthermore, the assemblyman must 152
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Community Resilience
Strong local database
Figure 11.1 A proposed pathway for building community resilience. Source: Adapted from Ahadzie, D.K. Dinye, R.D., Dinye, I., King, R.S., 2017. Towards developing a community based resilience conceptual framework for flood risk management in Ghana. 6th International Conference on Infrastructure Development in Africa, 12-14th April, KUNST, Kumasi, pp 527-535.
report to his electorate the general decisions of the Assembly and its Executive Committees, as well as the actions taken to solve problems raised by residents in his electoral area; maintain frequent liaison with organized productive economic groups, and participate in communal and development activities in the District. According to Act 396, District Assemblies supplement central government by performing deliberative, legislative and executive functions. They are responsible for the overall development of local communities and must ensure that productive socioeconomic programmes are promoted and supported. For instance, the district assemblies are expected to “be responsible for the development, improvement, and management of human settlements and the environment in the district” under Function 3(f) of the local government Act 462. These include the ability to manage flood risks and other disasters in order to protect property and people. These responsibilities are carried out locally by the assemblyman, whom the people elect. However, unlike an MP, the assemblyman is not adequately compensated for his services. He rarely has sufficient resources to carry out his mandate of ensuring that services are delivered efficiently and effectively at the local level (Kassim, 2011). For example, the assemblyman cannot mobilise the community for meetings to discuss flood risk management issues or engage in communal flood risk management work. Although zeal to work exists, his inability to mobilise resources to do so may disempower his work as an assemblyman because the electorate’s expectations are high and he is unable to deliver. 153
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Thus, empowering Assemblymen could be viewed as adequately resourcing them to carry out their mandate.
Conclusion The chapter proposes a community-based flood risk management pathway to explain the complex dynamics of flood responses, coping mechanisms and adaptive capacities in cities in the global south. Drawing on empirical evidence from selected flood-affected informal communities in Kumasi, Ghana, the chapter provided key indicators, actors and activities for building community flood resilience. The chapter further concludes that flood vulnerability within the study communities emanates from a complex mix of historical, social and economic factors and climate and topographic factors. Thus, low-income communities are most vulnerable to flood owing to poor physical and environmental features such as poor housing conditions, road conditions and networks, poor drainage facilities, environmental pollution and limited information on floods. The study found that community learning and innovation which allow the active social participation and integration of residents can enable community members to develop and fashion appropriate solutions to their problems. The proposed pathway in this study suggests an iterative flow-chart network with the assemblyman and community elders as the focal point to lead the mandate for building resilient communities. Even though the proposed pathway is context specific, communities with similar vulnerability conditions such as inadequate resources, lack of preparedness and low adaptive capacities could benefit from the findings in their flood policy planning and management.
Notes 1 2003. 2 2003. 3 2003. 4 2003. 5 2003.
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Section IV
Flood insurance options and support systems
12 Flood insurance uptake in Nigeria; building resilience by promoting a culture of risk protection Adaku Echendu
Introduction and background Flooding is a disaster, the frequency, magnitude and impact of which are set to rise globally due to the effects of climate change (Oubennaceur et al., 2021, Echendu, 2021). In Nigeria, it is the most prevalent disaster. Many states experience annual flooding during the rainy season due to increased rainfall connected to climate change (Echendu, 2020, Ikechukwu, 2015, Echendu, 2021). Nigeria’s coastal regions are more exposed to increased flooding as a result of the rising sea level (Merem et al., 2019). Many Nigerian communities also suffer localised perennial flooding (Echendu, 2022). This localised character of such flooding means they receive little or no attention even though the direct and aggregated impacts of such small-scale, locally occurring events are no less relevant than major flood events that receive more media coverage (Echendu, 2019). This necessitates that more attention is accorded to these localised and scattered frequently occurring events. The rising flood risk on a global level has led to calls for adopting ways of mitigating, building resilience and recovering from disasters (Khan et al., 2021, Aitsi-Selmi et al., 2015). This becomes even more critical for poorer countries which are more exposed to disasters and have much less adaptive capacity (Khan et al., 2021). Mitigating and building resilience to floods requires a differing scale of actions at the household/individual, municipal, national and international levels. At the household/individual level, flood insurance is one of the ways to enhance resilience. Insurance has been recognised as an important and proactive measure of building resilience and recovery in the aftermath of disaster especially if policy and practice adequately support it (Penning-Rowsell and Priest, 2015, Hudson, 2018). Flood insurance has taken off to a considerable extent with various forms of state regulatory involvement in many countries of the global north (Crichton, 2008). In low- and middle-income countries, however, the uptake is still far below their western counterparts (Hudson, 2018, Surminski and Oramas-Dorta, 2014). Given that many parts of Nigeria are highly susceptible to floods, researchers, experts and the media have over the years harped on the need for flood insurance to help offset the losses from flooding (Adelekan, 2016, Cirella and Iyalomhe, 2018, Nnabugwu, 2017, DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-16
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Oluwagbemi, 2020). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), of which Nigeria is a signatory, outlines flood insurance as an instrument of building resilience to and protection from disaster. The SFDRR outlines, under priority 3, the need for promoting mediums for disaster risk transfer and insurance, retention and risk-sharing to ameliorate the financial impact of disasters on societies and governments. The IPCC report on managing the risk from extreme events also reiterates the key role insurance can play as a risk reduction and recovery tool in the aftermath of disasters (IPCC, 2012). The need for insurance cannot be overemphasised and could be the difference between quick recovery and perpetual impoverishment as a result of perennial disasters (PenningRowsell and Priest, 2015). Such an annual cyclical plunge into deeper poverty due to flooding disaster is also directly inimical to achieving SDG 2 of zero poverty. As highlighted by Ibarra and Skees (2007) over a decade ago, while there is a growing body of studies on flood insurance, there is still little knowledge on the general flood insurance status in the developing world. This paucity of knowledge is still the case today as Africa remains the continent with the least insurance penetration (Surminski et al., 2022). This chapter reports on research conducted in the city of Port Harcourt with residents of communities that experience flooding. Over the years, there has been increasing advocacy in Nigerian newspapers, media and academics on the need for insurance to protect against losses due to flooding (Ogarekpe et al., 2021, Osayomi and Oladosu, 2016, Adelekan, 2016, Oluwagbemi, 2020, Nnabugwu, 2017). There have also been reports of increased uptake in the national dailies (Ojoye, 2017, Oluwagbemi, 2020). This chapter thus aimed to determine the actual level of flood insurance uptake in Port Harcourt among residents that experience flooding and who live in flood-prone locations in the city. This is the first known study on the subject in Port Harcourt city and, therefore, makes an important contribution to knowledge. This knowledge will help identify gaps and enable a better channelling of resources and education in the quest for better flood risk management amid growing climate threats.
Flood risk and vulnerability in Port Harcourt Port Harcourt is a major Nigerian city of 2 million people (Nlerum and Wechie, 2018) located in the Niger Delta Basin in the southernmost part of Nigeria (Chiadikobi et al., 2011). It is Rivers State capital and the most populous city in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. Various flood hazards, inclusive of urban flood caused by increasingly heavy rainfalls, riverine and coastal, have become a yearly occurrence and a persistent concern for residents of Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State (Echendu, 2021). Indeed, the frequency of flooding in the city is so high that many residents are displaced for periods of up to six months due to flooding and many among them report experiencing serious flooding many times in a year (Echendu, 2019). Aside from the increased rainfall the city is experiencing, the flooding in the city has been linked principally to human factors like poor urban planning, poor waste management practices and poor infrastructure (Echendu and Georgeou, 2021, Echendu, 2021). Spatially, Port Harcourt city has grown significantly over the years. In the 1975/1976 vegetation and land use map of Nigeria, the developed area of Port Harcourt occupied an area of 17.4 km2. Two decades later, a comparable map depicted the city’s built-up area as 89.4 km2 (Wizor and Mpigi, 2020), a five-fold increase (see Figure 12.1). This mostly unplanned growth has also been associated with the city’s flooding experience (Echendu, 2021, Kio-Lawson and Dekor, 2014). Port Harcourt offers numerous economic opportunities for inhabitants. Therefore, the annual flooding that disrupts living and economic activity 162
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Figure 12.1 Map showing Port Harcourt land use (Wizor, 2014).
is a challenge that requires concerted attention, response and mitigation to improve the status quo and enhance sustainable living. Indeed, the impact of flooding on all facets of life in the city cannot be overemphasised with these transcending all three facets (environmental, social and economic) of sustainable development (Echendu, 2020).
Flood insurance globally and locally Globally, flooding constitutes the most loss due to disaster and is responsible for the most damage (Kron, 2005, Armal et al., 2020). The substantial increase in the frequency of occurrence of costly flood disasters has led to an increase in demand and calls for flood insurance globally and in Nigeria. Flooding-associated costs are expected to rise due to the worsening global climate scenario (Vousdoukas et al., 2018, Bouwer, 2019). More forceful convection in denser urban areas may lead to localised severe weather events causing more intense rainfall (Kron, 2009). Impacts will also rise for those most at risk, the marginalised and vulnerable (Hino and Nance, 2021). Overall economic privation due to floods is greater in industrialised nations but the comparative economic impact (in terms of GDP) and deaths are much higher in developing countries (Surminski and Oramas-Dorta, 2014). The negative impacts of flooding cannot be overemphasised leading to an increasing effort to seek ways of mitigating these impacts. Flood insurance has a crucial role to play in this regard. Flood insurance is a disaster recovery tool that provides the insured a contractual right to compensation if they suffer losses after a flooding event. Lack of flood insurance is known to magnify flood impacts and induce psychological effects like stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (Rufat et al., 2015). The indemnity payments enable quicker recovery by 163
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taking care of costs that may exceed the disposable resources of an impacted household making it a crucial recovery tool especially for the most vulnerable. However, a stark imbalance is evident across the globe on flood insurance penetration with it being non-existent in some least developed countries (Surminski and Oramas-Dorta, 2014). In developed countries, disaster insurance uptake is up to 40% (ibid). These are still low figures and have been linked to low risk awareness. There are also regional imbalances in the developed world in the capacity to leverage flood insurance as a tool for adapting to growing flood risk (Tesselaar et al., 2020). In poor countries by contrast, many cannot simply afford premiums even if flood insurance is obtainable in the first place (Kron, 2009). However, many developing countries are beginning to show interest in flood insurance options that can be tailored to local needs (Dukiya, 2022). In the wake of floods, it is mostly the poor that must recover without the financial buffer of insurance. States also have varying degrees of involvement in flood insurance ranging from wholly state implemented schemes (e.g. US), to little intervention (UK), to recovery executed by compensation like in Austria (Penning-Rowsell and Priest, 2015). In the United Kingdom, most homeowners’ policies encompass flood insurance (Kron, 2009). While flood insurance in the UK is wholly underwritten by the private market, an agreement known as the “gentleman’s agreement” exists between private insurers and the government wherein flood insurance exists as a component of conventional policy for households while the government agrees to continuously invest in flood mitigation (Surminski and Eldridge, 2017). The rate of adoption of flood insurance among the developed countries where uptake is higher also differs. For example, among the G7 countries, Canada homeowners only became able to purchase flood insurance in 2015 (Calamai and Minano, 2017). Prior to 2015 in Canada, the federal, provincial and local governments were mainly in charge of restoring communities to pre-disaster conditions and compensating homeowners (ibid). Across the globe, reasons for flood insurance gaps range from supply-side challenges (poor distribution channels, high transaction costs, etc.) to scanty flood modelling tools and data (Surminski and Oramas-Dorta, 2014). Many European states have some form of government involvement in flood risk management financing but the extent to which this is spread among people faced with flood risk differs (Aerts and Botzen, 2011). In Nigeria, the overall level of flood insurance uptake and awareness is very low with figures putting insurance penetration at less than 1% (Onyike et al., 2022). There have been calls for more proactiveness on the part of the government to encourage insurance uptake and also for a national policy on flood insurance (Nnabugwu, 2017). Demand-side issues like poor awareness and access, affordability, high costs, etc., also impede insurance uptake in Nigeria (Ibarra and Skees, 2007, Onuoha, 2012). Limited responses by the authorities to flood risk, as well as during flooding events, means people mostly fend for themselves. The flooding and attendant damage are dependent on the level of exposure and vulnerability to the floods (Echendu, 2019).
Research method To understand the level of flood insurance uptake among residents who experience flooding, quantitative research was the most suited as it allowed the researcher to involve a high number of respondents who yielded a representative sample. Questionnaire surveys formed the basis of data collection. Neighbourhoods exposed to perennial flood hazard were selected in both the formal and informal settlements of Port Harcourt. The survey was administered over a period of three months from March to May 2022. A conscious choice was made to 164
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include informal settlements in this research to foster inclusivity because they are known to have high flood risk, but no research has specifically sought to investigate the flood dynamics in these poorer, disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The questionnaires collected data on the demographic composition of respondents, their socio-economic characteristics and flood insurance uptake. Experience with flooding formed the basis of participation in this research. Thus, the first question was “Have you ever experienced flooding in Port Harcourt?” which determined if the respondent would continue to respond to questions or exit the survey. The questionnaires were administered in person by four research assistants with a local guide resident in each of the surveyed neighbourhoods accompanying them to facilitate trust building and encourage respondents to partake in the study. The in-person administration yielded a fully completed and valid response of 401. In populations of unknown sample size, the number of samples needed to ensure representativeness is 385 (Small, 2009). In this research study, the number of people who experience flooding in the city is unknown, hence the sample size of 401 is sufficient to make generalisable conclusions for the case study.
Findings and discussion Descriptive statistics of the survey results are presented and analysed in this section. While the overall sample size was 401, for some of the questions, 2 to 3 responses were missing. The available responses were analysed, and their percentages rounded to the nearest decimal reported according to available data. Most of the respondents in this survey (85%) were renters. Only 15% owned their homes (see Figure 12.2). This aligns with available home ownership data in Nigeria which ranges from 10% to 25% (Chiwuzie and Dabara, 2021, Muhammad and Johar, 2019). Male and female respondents were evenly distributed at 50% as shown in Figure 12.3. Twenty-one per cent of the respondents were aged between 18 and 30, 41% aged between 31 and 40, 32% aged between 41 and 50, 5% aged between 51 and 60 and only 1% aged 61 and above. Figure 12.3 is a depiction of the age distribution of the research participants. It is not an anomaly to have very few respondents in the upper age brackets as this research took place in an urban area. The norm in the country is that older people retire and relocate to their villages in the rural areas (Adewale, 2005, Peil, 1995). Three per cent of the respondents had only a primary or elementary level of education, 15% had completed junior secondary school, 51% had completed senior secondary school,
Housing Tenure
Own
Rent
Figure 12.2 Housing tenure of survey respondents. 165
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Sex
250 200 150 100 50 0
number Male
Percentage
Female
Figure 12.3 Sex of respondents.
Age of Respondents
200 150 100 50 0
18-30
31-40
41-50 Number
51-60
61 and above
Percentage
Figure 12.4 Age distribution of respondents.
29% had completed post-secondary education and 2% of the respondents had completed post-graduate studies. Ten per cent of the respondents were employed by the government, 71% were engaged in business or trade, 14% worked in the private sector in a legally incorporated firm and 4% worked in the private sector in a non-incorporated firm. Twenty-four per cent of the respondents had experienced flooding in their current neighbourhood for one to two years, 34% had experienced flooding for three to four years and 42% had experienced flooding for five years or more. These are highlighted in Figures 12.5, 12.6 and 12.7. Among all of the respondents, none of them had any sort of insurance protection against flood (see Figure 12.8). This is despite the fact that flooding is a perennial problem for all of the respondents. In a study by Osayomi and Oladosu (2016) in Ibadan Nigeria, 11.6% of the research respondents had purchased flood insurance. While this is a low level considering how Ibadan is known for damaging floods, it is still a better outcome than in the current study where there was zero flood insurance uptake by residents who experience flooding. This result also contrasts sharply to findings by Oulahen et al. (2015) in Canada where 93% of respondents had property insurance which covered flooding. In the Canadian study, however, 86% of the respondents were homeowners whereas in this study, only 15% were homeowners. Yet, the percentage of renters having home insurance was greater than those who reported being homeowners in Oulahen et al.’s (2015) work. This indicates home 166
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Completed Primary School
Completed Junior Secondary
Completed Senior Secondary
Completed Post Secondary
Post Graduate Education
Figure 12.5 Education level of respondents.
Type of Employment Private sector (Non-incorporated) Private Sector (incorporated) Trade/Business Government Employment 0
50
100
150
Percentage
200
250
300
Number
Figure 12.6 Employment sector of respondents. Length of time of flood experience 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
Number 1-2 years
3-4 years
Percentage 5 years or more
Figure 12.7 Length of time of flood experience of respondents.
ownership is not the single most important driving factor for seeking protection against flooding and also demonstrates a stark difference in the insurance culture between the two climes. Homeowners and renters are known to have varying orientations towards flood hazards and capacities to act to reduce risk (Oulahen et al., 2015, Gotham et al., 2018). Owners mostly believe they stand to lose more from flooding, while renters are often restricted from carrying out flood mitigation action on the property but still purchased insurance that protected them from flood losses (Oulahen et al., 2015). The insurance uptake in this research mirrors the overall poor insurance culture in Nigeria (Osayomi and Oladosu, 2016). 167
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Do you have flood insurance
Yes
No
Figure 12.8 Flood insurance subscription of respondents.
There is a general poor awareness of flood insurance by the public in Nigeria (Adelekan, 2016, Osayomi and Oladosu, 2016). Thus, its adoption is limited when compared to developed nations like Britain and the United States of America where there is wider subscription. Nigeria has the most people living in poverty globally (Ayinde et al., 2020). Low income is a factor that negatively affects insurance uptake because, amid competing basic needs, insurance becomes a very secondary need (Aliagha et al., 2015). It is mandatory in Nigeria, as per Section 65(1) of the Insurance Act (2003), for all public buildings, for example, hospitals, schools, etc., to be insured against hazards including flooding, and there is a penalty for defaulters. Notwithstanding this law for public buildings, the reality is different as this requirement is neither respected nor enforced (Adelekan, 2016). In a study by Dukiya (2022) on flood insurance and sustainable aquaculture, 87% of fish farmers were not aware of any availability of insurance coverage even though most of the respondents believed there was a need for an aquaculture insurance programme. In another work by Onyike et al. (2022) on potential flood insurance uptake among homeowners, 54% of the respondents indicated a willingness to purchase flood insurance. Those who indicated unwillingness were found to be lacking knowledge on flood insurance and to harbour mistrust of insurance companies. Insurance uptake is not a widespread flood preparedness practice or strategy in Nigeria, despite the country’s flood susceptibility and history (Osayomi and Oladosu, 2016). Past experience with flood disaster is believed to encourage insurance adoption (Aliagha et al., 2015). Within the research context however, this was not the case as all of the respondents had past flood experience, yet none had flood insurance. The availability of insurance coverage and awareness are factors impeding insurance uptake despite their annual experience with floods.
Recommendations Given the research findings, the subsequent recommendations are proposed. Improving flood protection infrastructure: Flood risk must be mitigated because, otherwise, insurance may become unavailable given that the providing bodies would have no incentive to offer insurance (Surminski and Eldridge, 2017). As flood insurance is a risk transfer mechanism that seeks to reduce the financial burden of flood disaster and not to reduce direct impact, efforts must be made to improve the infrastructural backbone of the city which can reduce direct impacts. Effective flood risk management must deploy a mix of both structural and non-structural measures. Institutional management and structural flood 168
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protection can help reduce flood exposure and risk. Government has the biggest role to play in this regard by providing infrastructure and creating enabling policies that would foster non-structural measures of flood protection like insurance. The consideration of flood insurance and support for the industry as an important strategy for flood risk management in official policy is highly recommended. Better government oversight: The government also must ensure adequate oversight in the enforcement of current disaster insurance policies. For example, according to the Nigeria Insurance Act of 2003, every public building must be insured. However, many public buildings do not have insurance. It is part of the government’s job to make decisions regarding a nation’s insurance system and market regulations, set and put into operation standards that protect properties, take charge of land-use planning and also provide emergency and warning services (Seifert-Dähnn, 2018). This is an area in which all levels of government in Nigeria need to step up especially given that poor planning and policy failures have consistently been flagged over the years as drivers of flooding in the country (Echendu, 2021, Echendu, 2022, Echendu and Georgeou, 2021). The government should also work to provide adequate affordable housing for citizens to prevent them from building in flood-prone locations as is the case in Port Harcourt where there is a proliferation of informal settlements in flood-prone marginal locations. Raising insurance awareness: Poor awareness of insurance is a major issue impeding flood insurance uptake. There is a need for residents to understand that insurance is a means of helping them recoup losses from flooding. Educating residents on flood insurance and increasing the awareness of residents on available insurance options can help promote flood insurance uptake. Aside from newspapers where there have been calls for flood insurance, it is necessary to intensify efforts to educate the masses on flood insurance using more widespread mass media like radio. The government can help promote this using radio jingles in local languages as is being done to promote causes like environmental sanitation. This will go a long way to improving awareness on flood insurance. Insurers also have a vital role to play in raising the general public’s consciousness of flood risks. Awareness and publicity campaigns can help educate people on their individual flood risk and make them aware of the advantages of risk reduction and insurance. The government can also collaborate with insurance firms regarding the supply end of insurance and assume some of the risk exposure. Engagement with the insurance sector to identify ways citizens can be encouraged to take up insurance as a means of protecting their properties and build resilience to the everrising flood risks faced in flood-prone areas of Nigeria is critical. Micro-insurance schemes: As many Nigerians are poor, micro-insurance schemes can help make flood insurance more affordable for the populace. This is particularly pertinent as the poor are most at risk of flooding due to their occupation of high-risk flood areas. Microinsurance schemes target the population segment most likely to become poor or further impoverished in the event of loss. As micro-insurance is specifically geared towards lowincome earners, it can be a game-changer for people not catered to by mainstream social and commercial insurance schemes (Kron, 2009). There is currently low penetration of microinsurance in Nigeria as evidenced by only a trio of companies having operational licenses as of 2020 (Inyang and Okonkwo, 2022). Some of the basic features of micro-insurance, like its ability to cover thousands of clients under one contract and low premiums, can ensure wider coverage. This is crucial as financial constraints can discourage people who indicate interest in flood insurance from actual purchase (Onyike et al., 2022). The intermediary required in micro-insurance schemes can be a local NGO or a local bank to handle administration and distribution (Kron, 2009). The effective roll-out of flood micro-insurance still requires extensive awareness raising and the education of residents. 169
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Conclusion This research serves as an entry point into the flood insurance culture in Nigeria by providing a snapshot of the insurance culture in a flood-prone city. With this information, further work is needed on how to communicate and provide financial products/insurance that can help build back and recover better from disaster. In Nigeria, insurance uptake is not yet a widespread flood preparedness practice despite its flood susceptibility. With insurance, the cycle of perpetual poverty that flood victims in Nigeria face can be broken. Insurance can help people get back on their feet quicker, floodproof their homes or even relocate to locations that are not prone to flooding. Financial and policy instruments that can promote resilience align with the resilience-building tools/framework of the SFDRR. Local, national and international bodies have a role to play in promoting flood insurance awareness and uptake. Funding and tools can be created to improve awareness and encourage people to take up insurance that can be helpful in the face of rising flood threats. Even though most of the respondents were renters, policy instruments can help make flood insurance affordable and a requirement for landlords who can benefit from insurance to floodproof their homes in the event of disaster. Tenants can also be encouraged to protect their belongings in the event of floods by taking up flood insurance. Indeed, when a community is faced with multiple hazards and problems and lacks basic needs, there exists a tendency for a shift of focus to present issues like putting food on the table. In such situations like in the research context where poverty persists, it is important to highlight how disasters like flooding place them in a more precarious position. Underscoring how insurance can help ameliorate persistent problems can help achieve a shift in thinking. However, among the more affluent middle class that were respondents in this research, insurance uptake was also zero. This highlights how flood insurance uptake or insurance generally is still at very low levels. While flood insurance is necessary to enhance resilience, it should only serve as the last defence against flooding and not a band-aid. This means that flood risk management must be made a priority. Insurance can only help alleviate the economic side of flooding but not the social or psychological impact making it just one tool in the toolbox of flood risk management and control. In Nigeria, the core drivers of flooding must receive government attention if meaningful resilience is to be built. Insurance can then come in and serve as a recovery tool that can halt or ameliorate long-lasting and perpetual impoverishment due to flooding. Flood risk resilience needs to be a joint effort between governments and the people with the government taking up the bulk of the job. Individual effort is also necessary to ensure sufficient preparation and protection and buying flood insurance is one of the actions that can be taken. Further research and engagement with the insurance industry will shed light on what flood insurance options are readily available and how they can be readily accessed by residents. The result of this engagement needs to be communicated to the public to enable them to know what options they have. The key role that flood insurance can play in enhancing resilience needs to be front and centre in policy solutions to climate-related risks.
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13 Community flood insurance in Ghana; individual and institutional diffusion of uptake Sandra Serwaa Boateng, Solomon Asamoah and Divine Kwaku Ahadzie
Introduction Flood insurance has been adopted in many developed countries around the world as a non-structural tool for flood management, flood risk mitigation and community resilience (Champonnois & Erdlenbruch, 2021; Netusil et al., 2021; Roder et al., 2019; Zinda et al., 2021). This is because the insurance industry links the public and private sectors to address risk awareness, physical resilience and financial preparedness for insurance against floods and other natural catastrophes (Surminski & Oramas-Dorta, 2013). For instance, flood insurance may provide for a legal and effective way to pay for flood damage recovery for households and also influences human behaviour that may help in flood hazard mapping. Flood insurance could lead to a physical reduction in flood risk and also provides incentives to discourage construction in flood zones. In flood information gathering, cost-benefit analysis is useful in flood management plans (Crichton, 2008). There appears to be regional differences in flood insurance distribution across the world (Intermap, 2018). In particular, the literature points to the low uptake in developing countries including in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Abbas et al. (2015), while flood insurance has the potential to spread the risk of disaster for community response and resilience, the uptake in developing countries is largely unknown. Moreover, the uptake of scientific studies seeking to explore the potential and acceptability of flood insurance in developing countries is virtually non-existent (Abbas et al., 2015). Traditionally, the risk management of flooding in many parts of developing countries has solely focused on structural measures to reduce the risks and it is very rare to see alternative measures like risk transfer being considered. Africa is a hub for climate risks such as flooding and drought (Relief Web, 2018). Most often, there are no clear-cut policies on insurance administration, rather, just a few insurance associations that offer insurance against natural disasters. For example, in South Africa, the South African Insurance Association (SAIA), which is the representative body of the nonlife insurance industry, provides insurance packages in the form of homeowner/building cover, household contents cover and all-risk cover. 174
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In Ghana, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) supported by the Insurance Act of 2006 (Act 724) regulates the development of the insurance industry. However, the uptake both in practice and research reflects the low-uptake position alluded to by Abbas et al. (2015). For instance, a recent study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2021 touts the enabling environment of the Ghanian insurance industry and reports that the average growth of the industry is 25%, having expanded ten-fold in the last decade. Nonetheless, the study also noted that, whilst an enabling environment exists in Ghana, over 70% of Ghanaians still lack access to any form of insurance including flood insurance. In effect, the study concluded that “the products do not meet the needs of those really in need.” This has necessitated an ongoing donor support project aimed at developing an affordable flood risk transfer scheme for urban Ghana. Dubbed the InsuResilience Global Partnership 2025, this project is seeking to strengthen the resilience of developing countries such as Ghana to the impacts of disasters and calls for increasing access to affordable insurance and risk financing to help deliver the SDGs (GhanaWeb, 2021). The parties in the project include Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, the UNDP, the German government and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) who recently met in Zurich, Switzerland. Within this context, the literature recognises the role that community insurance policies can play in mitigating flood hazards, subject to administrative and political acceptability (Kousky & Shabman, 2015). This chapter is therefore seeking to understand the enabling perspectives of community flood insurance from the perspective of a developing country, Ghana, in helping to understand the industry requirements, acceptance and feasibility to achieve an affordable and inclusive insurance risk facility.
Objectives of flood insurance Flood insurance can be grouped into four, categorised as either owned by private or government and/or as either bundled or separated (Intermap, 2018). However, a country’s experience, history and conditions may determine which type of policy prevails or dominates the market. To this effect, flood insurance has been approached differently in many countries around the world (Van Schoubroeck, 1997). Under the option system, insurance providers only insure properties on the premise that an additional premium is paid to cater for floods. This system is common in countries such as Belgium, Germany and Italy (Crichton, 2008). Again, a system is often available that the insurer considers to be safe, and customers also tend to be interested only if the area is at high risk. The result is that insurance cover, when it is available at all, is expensive and has very low market penetration (Crichton, 2008). Alternatively, in the bundle system, cover for flood is only available if it is “bundled” with collective insurance grouping phenomena like fire, storm, theft, earthquake, etc. This system is commonly used in Britain, Japan, Israel, Portugal and Spain. With this system, residents in non-flood prone areas still have to purchase flood insurance. A notable characteristic of the bundle system is its higher market penetration, where everyone pays for flood insurance whether they need it or not. According to Crichton (2008), this reduces the options for adverse selection by customers and affords insurers the chance to charge different rates.
Overview of community flood insurance in flood risk management According to Monday et al. (2006), the history of flood insurance dates back to The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-448) in the US. This Act set up the National 175
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Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which made federal insurance available to residents in communities and in return, placed certain obligations on the communities to adopt and enforce minimum floodplain management requirements within the Special Flood Hazard Area. According to Kousky and Shabman (2015), the NFIP defines a community as any local jurisdiction, be it corporate, private, individual or cooperative, with authority to regulate floodplain land use. Within this context, Kousky and Shabman (2015) defined community flood insurance as the state where an organisation or quasi-organisation may often take a single policy on to provide coverage for a large group. The emphasis here is the single group taking insurance on behalf of the community. In other words, it could be seen as a community or cooperative society seeking group insurance. In this case, they suggest that community insurance may be designed using generic databases with a level of ceiling called parametric insurance. However, they also admit that while community level insurance has benefits, there is the need for extensive engagement from conception to implementation. In fact, Kousky and Shabman (2015) caution that although the concept of community-based insurance has been discussed widely in the literature, there is to date a lack of in-depth evaluation on the appropriate design options that would accommodate the interests of all stakeholders. It is noted that communities are keen to accept community initiatives if there is transparency and trust in the support system. In a related study in Pakistan, Abbas et al. (2015) found that the “income, tenancy status, level of education and increasing awareness” are engendering drivers of insurance uptake. It also emerged that the willingness to pay (WTP) for flood insurance is primarily influenced by the ability to pay and not by the kind and volume of damages incurred during a prior flood occurrence. The study also concluded that giving rural households greater opportunities to generate revenue in other areas of the economy would encourage people to think of flood insurance as a workable solution. Netusil et al. (2021) also found that, in one study in the US, the WTP amounted to about 59% of the median flood insurance premium, suggesting that families are at risk and may need support for flood insurance schemes. According to a study in Ghana by Akomea-Frimpong et al., (2021), 98% of households did not trust the insurance system and were unwilling to participate. It is evident from the findings of this study that government support in various forms may include opportunities for improving social responsibility in diverse ways whether structural on non-structural for those who cannot sustain a flood insurance mechanism. According to Green and Penning-Rowsell (2004), there is the need for a public private partnership approach in flood insurance, but that will depend on how both see the collaboration. Whilst insurance companies will often seek profit and their interest first, government regulations may also seek to put pressure on the insurance companies. Green and Penning-Rowsell (2004) further argue that, in order to reduce their liability, insurers are simultaneously increasing their demands on the government for flood defence investment. Government, on the other hand, is also growing more and more concerned about the fact that not everyone has insurance, and that those who are socially excluded would suffer.
Research approach and methods The study draws on data from two flood-prone communities in Greater Kumasi. They are Sepe Buokrom within the Kumasi Metropolis and Deduako in the Oforikrom Municipality (Figure 13.1). Greater Kumasi has experienced a significant risk of flooding over the past ten years, with the study area and more than half of the city currently at risk. The city has a wet, semi-arid climate with two distinct rainy seasons (June and September), producing an 176
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Figure 13.1 Flood vulnerability map of Greater Kumasi showing Deduako and Buokrom. Source: Korah and Cobbinah (2017) Juggling through Ghanaian Urbanisation: Flood Hazard Mapping of Kumasi.
average annual rainfall of 1,400 mm. It is situated in West Africa’s forest zone. The annual average temperature is 25.7°C, while humidity levels range from 53% to 93%. Greater Kumasi’s population was 2,035,064, according to the 2010 National Census, with a 5.7% annual population growth rate (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012). Interpreting the trend in population increase, Owusu-Ansah (2016) observed that, in Ghana’s inner cities, landrelated human activities have increased and are now encroaching on public parks and other natural open spaces, such as riparian zones and wetlands. Due to this trend, there are now more communities in flood-prone locations, a lot of land is covered in impermeable surfaces without enough drainage, and there is a commensurate rise in the amount of runoff from precipitation (Afriyie et al., 2018). Figure 13.1 shows the major flood-prone areas in Greater Kumasi Metropolis, as well as the research areas of Sepe-Buokrom and Deduako. The data from Sepe Buokrom was collected in 2017 as part of an already completed study while that of Deduako was collected in September 2022. Deduako is an electoral area with its own assembly member who represents the community at the assembly. Aside from the assembly members, there is also the unit committee which is the lowest component in the local government hierarchy. The unit committee members help in the mobilisation of resources and ensure accountability. In Deduako, the study was conducted in a section of the community popularly known as “Mamponghemaa” which happens to be a new site. Recently, many housing developments 177
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have sprung up in the area. Houses in Deduako have been constructed with cement. The major economic activities of the people are small-scale enterprises which include petty trading, driving, food vending, carpentry, etc. Deduako is home to a number of basic and junior high schools. In December 2021, a youth association, named Deduako Kodiekrom Youth Association (DEKOYA), was formed to mobilise the youth for community development. According to the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) of the Oforikrom Assembly (2018–2021), Deduako ranked 17th on the scalogram analysis and was one of the communities with the least amount of infrastructure. Deduako also forms part of the Kentinkrono/ Ayeduase division of the four zonal councils in the assembly. The community has a population of 13,152 according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census.
Community appreciation of insurance – data sources and collection methods The paper sought to understand the perspectives on community flood insurance and knowledge of flood insurance of flood victims and insurance companies in Ghana. Respondents were strategically chosen amongst flood victims in the study areas. Particularly in Deduako, interviews were conducted on a rainy Wednesday morning with the evidence of the floods very clear. This afforded the chance to interview those greatly affected, most of whom were found at home, engaged in post-flood maintenance activities. The interview team in Deduako comprised two research assistants with the following gear: phones, notepads and boots. Interviews at Deduako centred on the effects of the floods, coping strategies, community resilience, early warning systems and knowledge on flood insurance. Six people were interviewed at Deduako including the assemblyman, whose house had also been flooded on that day. Apart from the key informant interviews at Deduako, data was gathered from four major insurance companies in Kumasi. Key informant interviews were also undertaken with the managing directors and/or senior persons of these insurance companies in October 2022. The interviews lasted on average 30 minutes each. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. The interview guide sought to find, from insurance companies, the veracity of flood insurance information displayed on their website, how community/household response has been and strategies they have in place for encouraging community-based flood insurance, what modalities they have in place in engendering public trust and transparency in their scheme. The guide also sought to find out whether they do have in place an independent risk mapping assessment criterion. Thereafter, questions were also asked to ascertain what they think the challenges will be for rolling out community flood insurance, administratively, politically and culturally. The last two questions centred on the kind of support they would need from government to roll out community flood insurance and, last but not least, what they require of the government in terms of responsibility for flood management to enhance their business of rolling out community flood insurance. Codes were used to represent the interviewees at both Deduako and the insurance companies. The first two letters “ID” and “IC” signify “interviewee at Deduako” and “interviewee at insurance company” respectively while the preceding numbers show the order in which the interview was conducted.
Data analysis The first stage of the analysis involved a translation of the data collected at Deduako from the local dialect (Asante Twi) to English. The data from the insurance companies which 178
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were in English were also transcribed. The transcription was done by two research assistants who translated the interviews at Deduako from Asante Twi to English. Critical Discourse Analaysis (CDA) and Thematic data analysis (TDA) were used to analyse the qualitative data. . Data was coded by paragraph and the analysed data was presented in graphs, pictures and a word cloud. The word cloud was generated using word frequency, identifying similar key phrases within the data. Here, only findings from the CDA is presented.
Summary of findings Findings from the fieldwork are now presented. First, we present the findings from focus group discussions in the Sepe Buokrom Community of the Kumasi Metropolis followed by findings from key informant interviews with flood victims at the Deduako community of the Oforikrom Municipality. The section ends with findings from interviews with four topranked Ghanaian insurance companies with offices in the Greater Kumasi area.
Findings from Sepe Buokrom Lessons were drawn from theoretical frameworks under four major thematic areas: flood risk, coping strategies, management and sustainability. Readers interested in the findings for the complete study may refer to Ahadzie et al. (2020). However, here only responses relating to the uptake of insurance are reported. Below are some of the intriguing comments that the participants in the focus group discussions (FGDs) made regarding the uptake of insurance in Sepe Buorkrom. We have already heard about flood insurance. I owned four cars, but when there was an issue, things grew complicated, so I ultimately sold the vehicles. Therefore, I think that even if I get any insurance, I won’t be able to benefit from it unless I pass away. When they visit you, their packages look quite alluring, but when you need help, they may even claim they can’t find your file. (FGD member 1) Another participant, FGD member 2, stated that No one really trusts the insurance firms here in Ghana because, unlike other nations, they don’t follow the rules. A community effort to raise money for flood victims won’t be successful because some members of the community won’t fully participate. Even just setting up a community forum will make the program effective. There will need to be some insurance education. The proclivity of those in power to squander the monies prevents me from believing it should be done, even though it would be good. Yet another member of the FGD commented and this is what he had to say: The community should get involved in our self-help projects, we have them. However, in this community, people are reluctant to take part in discussions about issues that do not directly touch them. How much more will they pay to a program like this if some people won’t even show up to offer their condolences? Because they are unable to comprehend our issues, I believe that the flood victims should band together and forget about the entire community. 179
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Findings from Deduako The findings address the effects of floods in the community, the community members’ knowledge of flood insurance, the presence of volunteer groups and the presence of early warning systems.
Effects of floods From the interviews, the effects of the floods included the destruction and loss of properties, absenteeism from work and school and insecurity. At Deduako, it was observed that the people who lived on the banks of the Oda River were cut off because the bridge on the Oda River, which serves as their main route to Deduako township, had been flooded. As a result, workers and students who lived across the river could not attend work and school respectively. Again, during the field visit, most of the respondents were in the middle of post-flood maintenance activities. At ID1 and ID2’s houses, they were busily scooping water from their veranda using buckets, while ID3, ID4 and ID5 were busily drying clothes and bringing their furniture outside, explaining that the water entered their rooms. ID6, who happened to be the assemblyman, was stuck in his house, waiting for the water to subside.
Knowledge on flood insurance From the interviews, it also emerged that none of the interviewees had any knowledge on flood insurance. In response to the knowledge of flood insurance policies available, Interviewee 1 at Deduako (ID1) responded, I have heard about insurance in general. I have heard about car insurance and life insurance. As for flood insurance, I don’t think I have ever heard of it. Another interviewee (ID4) also responded, Maybe it is because I have not given the matter of insurance a serious thought. I have never engaged in conversations about insurance, so even if there was something like flood insurance, I will not even know.
Presence of disaster volunteer groups The respondents were asked about the presence of disaster volunteer groups. All of the respondents responded no to the question. One man in Wellington boots (ID3), who was seen wading in the flood waters, answered, In this community, it is each one for himself. Each one protects him or herself against the floods. See, the last time, we decided to pay money for dredging, some people didn’t even pay. Look at those people with fence walls, they act unconcerned, they think they won’t be affected.
Education on early warning signs Interviewees were also asked how they are educated on early warning signs. 180
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From the answers, the two main sources of information were relying on weather forecasts from the radio and also depending on nature. One man remarked, Me, for instance I know when it’s June July, there is heavy rains. When it gets to that period, I brace myself for the rains. When I go out and it is cloudy, I make sure I return home quickly to avoid getting stuck outside. During this period, together with my children, we fill sand in sacks to raise the steps. That helps sometimes. One young man also replied, I am a huge fan of sports news, because of that, I listen to news every morning. Before the sport news, there is the weather forecast, which gives me a picture of how the weather will be. The forecast is done in twi so I am able to understand it well and prepare very well when I hear there will be rains. Respondents were also asked if they receive any form of external education on detecting warning signs. They all answered in the negative. The interviewees were also asked if they report flood incidence to people in authority. One woman retorted, To do what? What will they even do for us? See, wade through the water, the house you see at the end is the Assemblyman’s house. He himself is stuck in his house. The water entered his house. He even needs help. How can he help us? The last interview at Deduako was with the assemblyman. He affirmed the earlier responses from the respondents. He stated emphatically that there were no community flood volunteer groups. When asked about early warning systems, he replied that, “When the community experiences two major downpours, that is when they begin to prepare themselves for the worse.”
The potential of community flood insurance uptake from the perspective of insurance companies It emerged that both the bundle system and option system are in place in the Ghanaian insurance industry. For instance, in response to the type of insurance policies commonly available flood insurance, interviewee 1 (IC11) stated that: We do not have such policy on flood insurance alone but rather fire and allied peril. The allied peril includes flood and earthquake. Another interviewee stated that: The flood policy is a broad one which offers several packages such as homes/individuals or commercial (cooperation, companies) etc, as such some of these policies has the flood policy embedded in it. (IC3) 181
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This is how IC4 also put it: It is not only homeowners’ policy that covers flood insurance. We have three policies that covers flood insurance. We have the fire and allied perils, that is the main policy, access or risk insurance and then there is also the homeowners’ comprehensive insurance. So basically, these are product designs that cover among other things the risk of flooding. When a follow-up question was posed to find out the differences, this is what followed: Yes, in terms of the scope of cover, there is. There is a difference between them and basically the focus is also different. Alright. For example, while the homeowners comprehensive insurance is basically designed for home risks, pertaining to the home, so if you have a house you’re living in or you may not even be in the house but you’re renting it, you can take a policy to cover the risks that are associated with your ownership and use of the house, right. Now those risks that are covered under the policy is where the flood insurance is. Among others is the fire, earthquakes and the rest and flood is also covered there. And then there is also the fire policy. For the fire and allied perils policy, it is also taken to cover commercial properties as well as home. And the access one can. The scope of cover is what differentiates between those three types of policies. While it emerged that both bundle and option policies are available in Ghana, IC2 provided some interesting clarification worth noting. According to the manager, they have two types of flood insurance: (i) floods in waterlogged areas and (ii) floods resulting from leaking faucets. This introduction of taps and faucets is quite revealing as it is often not common in flood discussions in Ghana. He also said that they will normally insure places that are not likely to flood; however if the client has properties elsewhere which he/she has already insured with the company, then they are more likely to insure other properties in waterlogged areas, but even then, they would require the property owner to put in extra measures to reduce the risk of flooding. The study also sought to find out from the perspective of the insurance companies the level of patronage of flood insurance. Here there was consensus that there is more room for improvement as patronage is generally low. With regards to the response to the patronage of flood packages, one interviewee (IC3) stressed it has been both negative and positive. He further stressed that on the positive aspect, it was a yes because the government has made it mandatory for commercial buildings or properties to be insured and therefore individual companies, cooperatives and owners of private commercial buildings ensure that the property is insured. On that note, he concluded it was lucrative. On the other hand, it was a “no” because individuals or homeowners did not really insure their homes because there is no force attached to insuring individual properties. In other instances, individuals do not see the need to insure their homes or property. Whereas others were convinced or believed that their properties were safe from flood and were never likely to face flood in the future. He went on further to say that in reference to the strategies used by the company, the insurance company had an alliance with several banks where they partner with these banks to encourage flood insurance. The moment an individual opens an account with these banks, they are encouraged by the bank to take out home insurance or flood insurance. 182
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In the context of the understanding of the insurance companies on what really constitutes community flood insurance, there was consensus that the interviewees had no clue. Notwithstanding that some individual households do patronise the service on a personal level, community flood insurance is not yet on the radar. That is, in the strict sense of the definition, that community flood insurance is when an organisation, be it quasi-government or private, buys insurance on behalf of a group, the evidence suggested that this is not a practice known in Ghana. Here is what IC1 said: they do not have an insurance package on a community basis but for individuals. In terms of encouraging community-level flood insurance, the interviewee (IC1) stated that it was about time they made their policy flexible and open to cover cooperatives. In that case, IC1 suggested it would be good if community people formed such unions for their own good. This is how another interviewee put it: We believe individuals come together to form community and so the individual homes are rather encouraged to insure the homes with this the flood insurance among other policies such as car, education is the cheapest. This is also to encourage individuals to patronize the flood insurance as a result the bank is a step used to encourage community flood insurance. Thus, in the understanding of IC3, once individuals are patronising the scheme, it is akin to community insurance. A specific question was then put as to whether institutions or maybe communities forming cooperatives and teaming up to buy insurance is encouraged. This how the officer reported, No! No! No! No! there is nothing like that, I haven’t even heard anything like that before. community as a cooperative taking up insurance, there has never been anything like that. IC4 pointed out that the institutions just want to take a policy to cover their risks and that the issue of a cooperative has not crossed their minds. There was a follow-up question to the effect that if community insurance was to be encouraged, what they thought would be some of the potential challenges. The challenges were to be addressed from the political, cultural and administrative perspectives. Generally, the companies interviewed did not anticipate any serious challenges regarding the political perspective. With respect to administrative challenges, this is how IC4 put. “Administratively, not really. I really don’t think there would be an administrative challenge on the part of the insurance companies. I don’t foresee any challenge.” IC3 on the other hand anticipated that the administrative challenge may be that a lot of people have little or no knowledge about insurance; even though the home policy among others is the cheapest insurance, people did not know about it. However, all four companies were in consensus on the cultural challenges. This is how IC4 put it: For example, if we get a call to go and insure community cooperatives, we’ll go there, we’ll engage them and we have staff who are capable of undertaking such tasks so I do not really see there to be any administrative challenge. The basic challenge has to do with the cultural aspect so if we are able to overcome that challenge and of course it is 183
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going to take a long time. So, to me, the best thing to enhance the uptake of policy is constant marketing, engagement and educating them on the risk exposure and then try to take certain measures to mitigate the risks. IC3 also stated that the main challenge would be cultural and stressed that the insurance company’s challenge is relatively religious. When asked why, IC3 answered: “why because, Ghanaians are too religious and therefore believes it is God who protects all and so nothing or flood cannot destroy their property in the watch of the Lord.” He stated that there had been several instances in which clients said no to insuring their homes, saying God would protect their properties. This is what IC4 also said: Culturally, there is a challenge. By our very nature, we don’t have a good orientation about insurance. Insurance is the last thing that comes to people’s mind when they are thinking about things that really concern them and things that they want to tackle. So basically, we’re not really predisposed to taking actions on our risk exposures. Our culture does not really permit people to take up insurance unlike other countries such as South Africa (they have a very strong insurance market) and of course the western countries. Yes, there are cultural factors that inhibit the growth of insurance policy packages covering flooding. According to the literature, trust and transparency are two important measures that go with insurance at all levels: individual, corporative and/or community level. Another question was posed to the insurance companies and these are some of the responses. Here, there was agreement from the insurance companies that trust was an issue and they all put the blame on the customer. So, you used two words; transparency and trust. Okay, I have not really come across those terminologies in the context of insurance but one key principle that we work with in insurance is the doctrine of utmost good faith. So, umm, you can say that transparency and trust mirrors somehow that concept. What that means is that the parties in the insurance contract should deal honestly with each other. They should be open and give whatever information that they know about the risk that they are going to insure so the insured person or the owner of the property he knows everything about the risk that he is going to insure because he owns it, he lives with the risk so he should be able to explain and give out all the information that is necessary about that risk to enable the insurance company to inform themselves appropriately about the nature of the risk before they make a decision as to whether to cover it or not. So that is the transparency aspect so the doctrine of utmost good faith if it is really complied with ensures the transparency so that both parties are clear in their minds as to what they are going to cover and what is covered under the policy. (IC4) Here is what (IC4) said So, it appears that there is a trust deficit between the insured on one hand and the insurance company on the other hand. It is a general thing, the public have this perception about insurance companies. The general perception is that, insurance companies don’t pay claims. However, the interviews disagreed. 184
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This is how IC3 also put it: We pay genuine claims and sometimes if a claim comes and there are issues with it, the client may not really appreciate what you are telling them because he thinks that oh, I insured my property against this and it has happened so why will you not pay? You tell him this and that and that, bring this and that and that. The person must be able to bring all the documentations required and until we are unable to retract the claim process a little bit and the person becomes disappointed and then he thinks it is because the company doesn’t want to pay. Yeah, so that’s for the transparency and the trust. A follow-up question was further posed on what insurance companies can do to promote trust in the industry. Here, there was consensus that the best thing to engender trust between insurance companies and their clients is proper customer service. IC1 responded that: I mean that for example, if you come up to me and you say that you need an insurance policy cover, I should be able to explain to you everything that the policy covers so that at least you know that this policy that you have taken, this is what is expected of you, if there is any when there is a claim this is what you have to do, even before there is a claim, this is what you have to do, that is how it is supposed to work out. So, when the client is aware of the terms of the policy it makes them appreciate it when there is a loss and the insurance company is dealing with it and communicating with them and working towards the claim, it helps to be able to understand it best. Trust is enhanced when there is transparency and when there is proper customer service. It emerged from the earlier discussion that community flood insurance in the strict sense of the definition is not known in Ghana. We also tried to find out if the insurance companies themselves do approach communities, especially those in flood-prone areas, to consciously talk to them about these insurance packages. The response we got suggested that if an area is already flood prone, insurance companies would not be willing to go in there. Here is an example of the view expressed, But the thing is that if an area is flood prone, we will never go there. Why should we? It’s flood prone, we know that. I mean, there is a high chance that there would be flood anyways so we won’t go there. That is, if there is a high risk of a particular occurrence of a disaster, the insurance companies are unwilling to insure against it, which then defeats the intention of really seeking to insure properties against flood. This calls for a pool of concentration by insurance companies in partnership with the government that will take care of such areas, such as exists in the UK where they have an arrangement sponsored by the government that provides insurance for flood-prone areas. Recently Ghana’s government instituted something similar for agriculture-related risks – Agric Insurance. It is partly sponsored by the government with the participation of insurance companies. This is how IC4 put it: 185
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If there are any communities with exposure to flood risks that insurance companies will not be willing to insure, then the government could come in to support or to create such a pool where maybe there will be a regular contribution of insurance companies towards the events of those disasters. Moreover, IC4 was quick to add that, “These things work when the communities themselves are aware of such things and they see the need for such risks and there is a clamour for it; there is a demand for it.” IC4 cited the agriculture insurance example and stated thus: For example, the agric thing that I said, the farmers are really making a call on the insurance companies to insure their farms but insurance companies generally cannot insure farms because of its nature so the government came in. So, there is demand on their side but the supply is not there so we needed to partner with the government to provide a cover for the farmers. The literature identifies a public private partnership (PPP) approach to making any flood insurance policy successful and this as stated is dependent on the state of collaboration (Green & Penning-Rowsell, 2004). Whilst insurance companies would obviously be driven by the profit motive, there is an obligation on government to create an enabling environment for effective collaboration. This calls for more avenues for increasing education and engagement with communities in order to increase their interest and social responsibility for flood mitigation. Evidence gathered from the interviews suggests that some of the insurance companies collaborate with financial institutions (e.g. banks) by providing advice for customers on the need to access flood insurance (IC3). IC3 also pointed out a scheme being rolled out by the State-owned Insurance Company (SIC) in educating second cycle students (in senior high schools) on insurance policies and their importance. This he said was a good start since the young ones when educated would in turn inform others and educate their families on it (INTW 3).
Conclusion Flooding has become a major threat in developing countries like Ghana. Flooding has been noted to reduce household assets, making them more susceptible to shocks and poverty (Afriyie et al., 2018). While structural measures are critical, it is also imperative to look at non-structural measures like flood insurance, which not only shares risks but also includes mitigation measures against floods (Champonnois & Erdlenbruch, 2021). Generally, the uptake of flood insurance is very low in developing countries although they are very susceptible to climate risks like flooding (Abbas et al., 2015). From the literature, it was seen that flood insurance helps in five broad areas: providing knowledge on risks, prevention through improved preparation, property-level security, structural security and readiness. From the results of the study, it was revealed that insurance uptake was generally low among the respondents. The following factors attributed to the low uptake of flood insurance: mistrust of flood insurance agencies, apathy and low education on flood insurance and mistrust of insurance agencies. Flood insurance policies adopted in countries with comprehensive national flood insurance programmes indicate that insurance can play a significant role in encouraging anticipatory flood risk management. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that: 186
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The Parliament of Ghana spearheads the passing of a national flood insurance policy, just as have been adopted in other countries. From the long-term perspective, this legislation would not only make flood insurance a national priority, but also provide measures to ensure the implementation and enforcement of an integrated flood-risk management framework, including aspects that relate to community insurance and resilience. The intensity of public private partnerships in flood insurance delivery be heightened as has been initiated in the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI). Community forums are established to kickstart community flood insurance programmes.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to Evelyn Amekudzi, Bridget Koya, Buti Dramani and Gifty Ayita, thirdyear settlements planning students of KNUST, who undertook the interviews. We are also grateful to the assembly members and members of the unit committee of the study areas for taking time to show us the flood-prone areas of the community. Finally, we thank the insurance companies that participated in the study.
References Abbas, A., Amjath-Babu, T. S., Kächele, H., & Müller, K. (2015). Non-structural flood risk mitigation under developing country conditions: An analysis on the determinants of willingness to pay for flood insurance in rural Pakistan. Natural Hazards, 75(3), 2119–2135. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11069-014-1415-x Afriyie, K., Ganle, J. K., & Santos, E. (2018). ‘The floods came and we lost everything’: Weather extremes and households’ asset vulnerability and adaptation in rural Ghana. Climate and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2017.1291403 Ahadzie, D., Dinye, I., & King, R. S. (2020). Weathering the storm reflections on a community-based approach to flood-risk management in Kumasi, Ghana (In Press, Routledge Studies in Cities and Development www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Cities-and-Development/book-series/ RSCID).. . Akomea-Frimpong, I., Boadi, C., & Owusu-Boafo, R. (2021). Determinants and challenges of supplying microlife insurance in Ghana. Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41288-021-00226-6 Champonnois, V., & Erdlenbruch, K. (2021). Willingness of households to reduce flood risk in southern France. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12696 Crichton, D. (2008). Role of insurance in reducing flood risk. Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.gpp.2510151 GhanaWeb. (2021, October 2). 70% of Ghanaians have no access to insurance - UNDP report reveals. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/70-of-Ghanaians-have-no-access -to-insurance-UNDP-report-reveals-1370854 Green, C., & Penning-Rowsell, E. (2004). Flood insurance and government: “parasitic” and “symbiotic” relations. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance – Issues and Practice - Issues and Practice, 29(3), 518–539. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0440.2004.00301.x GSS. (2012). 2010 Population and Housing census, Summary report of Final Results. Ghana Statistical Service, 1–117. (https://statsghana.gov.gh/gssmain/storage/img/marqueeupdater/ Census2010_Summary_report_of_final_results.pdf, accessed, December 2022) Intermap. (2018, May 9). Flood insurance models around the world. https://www.intermap.com/risks -of-hazard-blog/flood/insurance/models/around/the/world 187
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Korah, P. I., Cobbinah, P. B., Nunbogu, A. M., & Gyogluu, S. (2017). Spatial plans and urban development trajectory in Kumasi, Ghana. GeoJournal, 82(6), 1113–1134. https://doi.org/10.1007 /s10708-016-9731-1 Kousky, C., & Shabman, L. (2015). A proposed design for community flood insurance. December. http://www.rff.org/files/document/file/RFF-Rpt-KouskyShabman-CommunityFloodIns_0.pdf %0Apapers3://publication/uuid/473AC5CC-382D-4486-93CD-A8524D7368D5 Monday, J., Grill, K., Esformes, P., Eng, M., Kinney, T., & Shapiro, M. (2006). An evaluation of compliance with the national flood insurance program part A: Achieving community compliance. Washington, DC: American Institutes for …, October, 1–211. https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/disasters/ insurance/nfip_eval_community_compliance_b.pdf Netusil, N. R., Kousky, C., Neupane, S., Daniel, W., & Kunreuther, H. (2021). The willingness to pay for flood insurance. Land Economics. https://doi.org/10.3368/wple.97.1.17 Owusu-Ansah, J. K. (2016). The influences of land use and sanitation infrastructure on flooding in Kumasi, Ghana. GeoJournal, 81(4), 555–570. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-015-9636-4 Relief, Web. (2018, June 13). The ARC plans to insure 30 African countries against climate risks by 2020 - World | ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/arc-plans-insure-30-african-countries -against-climate-risks-2020 Roder, G., Hudson, P., & Tarolli, P. (2019). Flood risk perceptions and the willingness to pay for flood insurance in the Veneto region of Italy. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101172 Surminski, S., & Oramas-Dorta, D. (2013). Do flood insurance schemes in developing countries provide incentives to reduce physical risks? Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, (139), 1–27. Retrieved from http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/publications /WorkingPapers/Abstracts/110-19/flood-insurance-schemes-developing-countries.aspx. Van Schoubroeck, C. (1997). Legislation and practice concerning natural disasters and insurance in a number of European countries. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, 22(2), 238–267. https://doi.org/10.1057/gpp.1997.19 Zinda, J. A., Williams, L. B., Kay, D. L., & Alexander, S. M. (2021). Flood risk perception and responses among urban residents in the northeastern United States. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 64, 102528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102528
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Section V
Technologies to support community flood initiatives
14 Technology-mediated flood risk management tools A review of smart and mobile applications Eric K. Simpeh, Henry Mensah, Rudith S. King, John J. Smallwood and Athenkosi Sogaxa
Introduction Globally, attention has been drawn to the prevalence of flood disasters and the associated risks to cities and communities (Mensah & Ahadzie, 2020). The occurrence and severity of flood disasters are significant for managing flood risks through protection, prevention and preparedness for future events (Wehn & Evers, 2015). In an era of technological developments and increased information density, the threat of urban flooding seems inevitable globally (Echendu, 2022; Horita et al., 2015). However, the dynamic of citizens’ involvement in existing flood risk management (FRM) has seen a paradigm shift from community-based approaches to information and communication technology (ICT) imbedded methods to improve observation (Wehn & Evers, 2015). Idris (2016) contends that, to some extent, it is not viable to address flooding issues solely by installing retention basins or providing pumps and food; instead, the application of flood technologies should now be given attention. This calls for social innovations related to FRM to foster the application of technology in local FRM processes. Therefore, it is important to amalgamate FRM approaches to incorporate flood technologies in predicting future flood disasters since current predictions for future scenarios continue to worsen (Mccallum et al., 2016; Kim & Cho, 2019). The flood technologies will aid in providing access to high-quality flood data, develop strong yet affordable approaches and improve understanding of urban flood hazards, vulnerabilities and risk in general (Ndiaye et al., 2016; Kim & Cho, 2019). For instance, flooding may be understood better and its effects minimised by using Geographical Information Systems GIS and remote sensing to identify and help visualise flood threats ( Hussain, Tayyab, Zhang, Shah, Ullah, Mehmood & Al-Shaibah, 2021; Ndiaye et al., 2016; Adefisan et al., 2015). To monitor floods in recent times, depth and ultrasonic flow sensors are strategically placed throughout floodprone areas, and the data they collect is then sent off-site to computer models that forecast flooding trends (Abedin et al., 2022; Frigerio et al., 2018; Wehn & Evers, 2015). Substantive research has captured the essence of ICT in FRM in most developed countries. Meanwhile, in sub-Saharan Africa where the adoption of technology is at a snail pace, there has been the development of various methods of urban flood forecast, but the field is still suffering from a DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-19
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lack of vital theoretical approaches (Abass et al., 2020; Thiemig et al., 2011). The slow pace of application of smart technologies in FRM in sub-Saharan Africa is of great concern to the society. Human settlements continue to grow in flood-prone locations despite increased flood risk awareness because of the need for land and poverty (McGranahan et al., 2007). According to McCallum et al. (2016), community-level information is notoriously difficult to obtain, despite the fact that this is typically the focal scale of flood impacts and interventions. Busayo et al. (2022) contend that the traditional adaptation approaches in community-based FRM are frequently accompanied by high costs, including conflicting interests associated with the dense urban fabric and inflexibility. McCallum et al. (2016) add that governments in many least developed countries (LDCs) typically have limited human and technological capacity for disaster risk monitoring. Furthermore, most developing countries lack ICT readiness for community flood risk reduction and management due to a lack of training. Therefore, Nhamo, Chapungu and Nyika (2021) postulate that community training tailored to ICT flood and other disaster risk reduction and management should be implemented. With this in mind, the aim of this study is to perform a systematic literature analysis of smart/mobile technologies application in FRM to combat the occurrence of flood. Specific objectives to be addressed include identifying the available mobile applications for FRM, determining the effectiveness of FRM mobile applications and evaluating the level of awareness of FRM mobile applications. The following research questions were pursued to aid in achieving the aim and objectives of the study: 1. What are the available mobile or smart application for flood risk management? 2. How effective is the available mobile or smart application for flood risk management? 3. To what extent are end-users aware of flood risk management mobile applications? This chapter therefore contributes to existing literature in the area of technology-mediated flood risk management by expanding the knowledge on existing smart technologies used in managing flood risk. This will contribute to participatory action in flood management by exploring smart technologies and create awareness for the public in defining flood risk and assessing flood vulnerability.
Methodology Rigorous investigation relating to previous literature was carried out to extract the germane information appertaining to current mobile or smart applications for FRM, the effectiveness of the mobile applications and the level of awareness of FRM mobile applications. The literature review was compiled using textbooks, journals, conference proceedings, roundtable discussions and theses. It is important to highlight that a comparison was made with data from the literature regarding the different types of technology-mediated FRM, the effectiveness and availability in both developed and developing countries all of which contributed significantly to the study. The subsequent sections outline the inclusion criteria, search strategy, study selection and data synthesis and analysis.
Inclusion criteria For the purpose of this study, both quantitative and qualitative studies reporting on technology-mediated applications for FRM and the availability and effectiveness of the 192
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applications for FRM as well as the level of awareness of FRM mobile applications in the Global South and Global North were interrogated. In addition, local, national and regional as well as international best practices in respect of technology-mediated applications for FRM formed part of the systemic review of literature. In terms of the availability of mobile applications for FRM, included studies had analyses of current trends and different categories of mobile applications for FRM. With regard to the effectiveness, the key input phrases into the search engines were usefulness of social media tools and mobile mapping tools for FRM. Concerning the level of awareness of FRM mobile applications, thematic areas included in the search were barriers, familiarity and user experiences of smart flood risk assessment tools. The selection of publications for the systematic literature review was restricted to those published in the last two decades, that is, from the year 2002 to 2022.
Search strategy and study selection The following systemic approach was employed to achieve the search strategy and study selection. The Google Scholar search engine guided the selection of the articles, which were opened via academic-scientific search engines such as Science Direct and Scopus Distinct databases. The search was not only limited to articles but included conference proceedings and reference lists of germane research articles. Other policy documents and relevant reports were also included in the search. Thereafter, each title and/or abstract identified by the search strategy was screened for potential eligibility by the researcher to remove duplicated articles. Also, full texts were obtained and further reviewed for inclusion.
Data synthesis and analysis The study examines technology-mediated applications in the developed and developing worlds for FRM, narrowed down to smart technologies which are easily accessible to the general public for FRM. The effectiveness of such technology-mediated applications to sensitise the public regarding the use of such FRM technologies was reviewed throughout the literature. The data synthesis and analysis were carried out systematically using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) diagram to document secondary data included in this study. The PRISMA diagram that was adopted to synthesise the data for the study is depicted in Figure 14.1. A total of 1,146 articles which are associated with the subject of technology-mediated applications for FRM and aptness of the technologies to reduce flooding were analysed and scrutinised to investigate the availability of mobile applications for FRM and the effectiveness and level of awareness of FRM mobile applications. It is noticeable from Figure 14.1 that a total of 877 duplicated articles were excluded after screening the titles and abstracts. Full texts of 169 of the 1,146 articles were assessed for eligibility. It is instructive to note that after the content analysis of germane articles, 119 articles were excluded and only 50 comprising quantitative and qualitative studies met the eligibility criteria for the review. In line with the objectives and research questions, a further review of the articles was finally done to group the articles into thematic areas comprising 23 articles on the availability of mobile applications for FRM, 15 articles on effectiveness and 12 articles on the level of awareness of FRM mobile applications.
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Records idenfied through database searching Google Scholar, conference proceedings and reports
1146 Arcles idenfied and downloaded
Screening of arcles tles and abstracts
877 duplicates excluded
Content Review of Germane arcles for eligibility (n=169)
119 excluded based on irrelevant contents
23 arcles on availability of mobile applicaons for FRM
50 Germane arcles obtained and included in review
Further review to group into focus areas
15 Arcles on effecveness
12 Arcles on level of awareness of FRM
Figure 14.1 PRISMA flow diagram adopted in selecting useful articles for the SLR.
Availability of flood risk management applications Recent technological developments have brought about significant advancements in flood modelling, mapping and incident management. Despite the availability of thorough community-scale data in industrialised countries and the more developed portions of the developing world, the absence of data continues to be a significant obstacle to effective flood risk management throughout much of the developing world. The ability of the governments of the least developed countries to monitor the danger of natural disasters is frequently constrained, but this is changing as the use of mobile phones becomes more widespread in poor countries. As a result, there has been a noticeable rise in the usage of cutting-edge technology in flood response and recovery. However, the use of technologies for mitigating risk reduction is still in its infancy, especially when it comes to recognising important risk factors like hazards and vulnerabilities that are associated with flooding. The sections that follow to examine the current state of the technology in respect of FRM. 194
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Social media tools Telecommunication has significantly improved flood management (Samonte et al., 2017). The advent of ICT has resulted in developments like mobile applications, which seek to improve disaster management by fostering interactions to minimise uncertainty (Tan et al., 2017). It is widely recognised that non-structural solutions like flood forecasting and earlywarning systems are essential to minimising the risk of flooding. To alert residents, realtime water levels and other hydrologic data can be collected and distributed via SMS or other smart devices. For instance, the Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology sends mass SMS messages to mobile phones users when there is a likelihood of floods (Timalsina, 2021). These warnings are straightforward: “Be alert,” “Get ready to evacuate” and “Evacuate now.” Houston et al. (2015) revealed that social media use exists throughout the disaster life cycle. New kinds of social engagement, communication, exchange and collaboration are being fuelled by social networks like Twitter and Facebook (Bruns et al., 2011; Wehn & Evers, 2015). Users can exchange ideas, make updates and comments or take part in activities and events using some of these applications. Users of social networking services are being drawn into lively online discussions. It is currently one of the quickest methods for sharing information and interacting with communities. As social media have evolved, technologies have become more mobile such that citizens are now potential participating sensors that give information or perform tasks to aid in disaster management (Tan et al., 2017). News organisations frequently keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook profiles, which adds another way to get notice in the national and local press. For instance, the UK’s flood risk management industry routinely interacts with social media users to provide flood preparation tips and guidance following a flood event (Wicks et al., 2011).
Mobile mapping tools Building a reliable system that can aid in forecasting or predicting such disasters, facilitate communication from affected areas and provide maps to identify paths to reach stranded individuals is necessary for recovering from disasters. Mobile mapping tools for flood risk management include Google Maps (Sonwane, 2014), OpenStreetMap (Paul et al., 2021b) and Google Earth. Machine learning techniques can be used to improve the performance of existing imaging-based systems. Technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have already paved the way for the provision of information about impending disasters and their efficient management protocols in various nations (Munawar et al., 2021). In India, where Google is attempting to forecast floods and alert people using Google Maps and Google Search, AI technology is now advancing. Data from rainfall records and simulated floods is used to train AI systems (Munawar, 2020). The AI-based systems track the flood simulation with climate and rainfall incidence instead of the conventional techniques. It can also be used to anticipate urban flooding.
My Flood Risk Accra My Flood Risk Accra app as depicted in Figure 14.2 provides information to the public on flood hazards. For instance, how high the water level may rise in a particular neighbourhood can be assessed using this app. Multiple flood maps, for various statistical return periods, are included in the app. The water depth, which is displayed in meters above mean street 195
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Figure 14.2 Photograph of My Flood Risk Accra app.
level, should only be used as a guide. The software is a component of the programme called “Development Risk Management Approaches for Climate and Health Risk,” in which HKV, GIZ and Allianz were involved. The programme focuses on reducing the effects of floods and boosting social function recovery and resilience following flooding (Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA), 2022: online).
Wetln App The “WetIn App” as shown in Figure 14.3 is an Android-friendly app which alerts residents of three states in Nigeria that are prone to flooding when flooding is anticipated. The application, which concentrates on the three states of Kogi, Benue and Anambra in Nigeria, assists locals and farmers in safeguarding their property and crops and evacuating the area in the event of an emergency. The mobile application for flood forecasting satisfies Nigeria’s urgent needs among its actions for a good flood risk management action plan. It provides a system of early warning that attempts to empower people and encourage proactive behaviour (VOA News, 2016: online).
Mobile Application for Emergency Response and Support (MAppERS) Figure 14.4 shows the MAppERS app which consists of an Android app and a platform for storing snapshot data that enables in-depth data analysis. The goal is to employ a
Figure 14.3 Photograph of Wetln App. 196
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Figure 14.4 Photograph of MAppERS.
location-based system for on-site users that provides enough real-time data storage as a useful, pertinent tool to support rescue teams in the field during a crisis and raise local awareness of low-cost and widely dispersed surveys (Frigerio et al., 2018). The first actors in surveillance schemes are citizens, hence MAppERS consists of two modules: MAppERS-C (MC) for citizens and MAppERS-V (MV) for volunteers. The exposed population receives training in terminology usage and flood awareness through the use of the app. Additionally, during a crisis, the app might be utilised to facilitate communication between citizens and civil protection personnel. It enables citizens to contribute images or geolocalised waterlevel assessments and to offer information about the location and condition of those affected by the flood. The organisation and prioritisation of interventions by emergency responders could be greatly aided by this knowledge. The general principles of MAppERS focus on giving consumers a straightforward, consistent conceptual structure, maximising the impact of a small number of graphical elements and adapting the presentation to the user’s skills (Frigerio et al., 2018).
Flood Alert Figure 14.5 presents the Flood Alert app that can be used with the help of a smartphone. Flood Alert users can easily, swiftly and conveniently keep an eye on flooding in key or nearby locations. It is important to highlight that Apple, Android and Blackberry devices can use Flood Alert (Agency et al., 2013). Links to instructions on how to prepare and what
Figure 14.5 Photograph of Flood Alert. 197
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to do in the event of flooding are provided by the application. Additionally, it enables you to speak with FloodLine, the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service, immediately to get more details. Users can view flood warnings for their present area and learn more about the risk they face based on geolocation. This cutting-edge programme offers guidance on what users should do if they are in danger of flooding. Additionally, the user can get more information by clicking a direct link on the phone’s web browser that leads to the Environment Agency website. As the programme is fully integrated with the user’s smartphone, they can let a friend or member of their family know there is a risk of flooding by text, email or phone call. Users can create a Flood Alert account and save significant locations, including their houses or nearby businesses. After creating an account, users will start receiving flood alerts up to two days before the flooding is predicted to happen (Agency et al., 2013).
AtmaGo AtmaGo was introduced in 2015 by Atma Connect5 as a neighbourhood-level social network that can be accessed through website or Android app to improve disaster management in Indonesia (Setiadarma et al., 2018). AtmaGo, a platform for sharing realtime disaster-related information, such as reports of fires, floods and other calamities, was created with the idea of crowd-sourcing reports and information. AtmaGo was first released in 2015, and since then it has expanded quickly. AtmaGo has more than 300,000 users in Indonesia as of December 2017, and they have made more than 600,000 actions on topics like water, food, employment, education, housing, flooding, crime and fires (Setiadarma et al., 2018).
DDSS In tsunami events, the Geographic Information System-Social Media – Decision support System (GIS-SM-DDSS) as shown in Figure 14.6 supports collective action for public evacuation. The Emergency Operations Center assesses the evacuation path to a safe place, while the Mobile-GIS gives real-time spatial visualisation of tsunami risk and resources (Ai et al., 2016). When there is internet access, the emergency managers tweet the evacuation routes to the inhabitants of their community after sending them to Twitter’s local community leaders. The opportunistic network – Coverage-based Probabilistic Forwarding in adhoc routing – will function when the internet is not accessible (Ai et al., 2016).
Figure 14.6 Photograph of DDSS. 198
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Effectiveness of flood risk management applications Mobile networks can be used to broadcast users’ physical observations and measurements to the pre-designed scientific domain, and modern mobile phones may be outfitted with sensors that can be used for scientific observation (Cooper et al., 2007; Mccabe et al., 2017). Mobile technologies fit in well with the tenets of citizen science because they have the potential to increase the diversity, inclusivity and decentralisation of knowledge creation and resilience building, give mobile users more control over their immediate surroundings and enable the rapid generation and dissemination of extensive, real-time information for risk management (Guerriero, 2021; Lukyanenko et al., 2016; Paul et al., 2021b). Since the early 2000s, mobile technologies have been used before, during and after disasters and have been used throughout the disaster risk management (DRM) cycle. Much emphasis has been placed on the tangible and obvious role that mobile phones play in emergency response: in addition to being used frequently to distribute information and instruct and inform the general public and emergency services, they are increasingly viewed as a way to record events that are personally witnessed and/or experienced (Gething et al., 2011). Emergency response teams can alert and find people in peril more quickly than they can with conventional broadcast media or telecommunications means by using these technologies’ viral potential (Laituri & Kodrich, 2008). For instance, when Nepal and India’s water bureaucracies send monsoon flood advisories for specific rivers during the rainy season, voice calls and SMS messaging were used to reach large segments of the population in places with poor internet access and/or low smartphone ownership (Pandeya et al., 2021). While frequently associated with emergency response, social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as messaging apps such as WhatsApp, also serve as an important channel for official hazard warning notifications and may help increase social capital for internetconnected smartphones (Setiadarma et al., 2018). In addition, Google Maps was utilised in Bangladesh to create a user-driven disaster management system (Sonwane, 2014). By mobilising marginalised actors who might otherwise be overlooked by more conventional knowledge generating techniques, mobile technologies hold great promise for promoting more equitable resilience. These marginalised actors include women, who are more vulnerable in catastrophe scenarios, and those with disabilities, who are four times more likely to die when a disaster strikes (Paul et al., 2021b). Social media and other technologies are helpful during crisis events despite the added problems because they also have many good qualities including improved capacity and interactivity (Houston et al., 2015; Tan et al., 2017). When it comes to advancing public preparation and enhancing the connection between residents and authorities during disasters, mobile technology is at the cutting edge of innovation (Tan et al., 2017).
Awareness of flood risk management applications Snel et al. (2019) revealed that even though information on flood risk and potential mitigation measures is widely available, homeowners are rarely aware of the urgency of flooding and frequently fail to adequately prepare their properties or implement mitigation measures. The top-down communication orientation is persistent in flood risk management, with goals such as increasing risk awareness and knowledge transfer and providing subsequent action advice (Höppner et al., 2012). In order to improve flood risk assessment and risk mitigation interventions, community input and expertise are crucial. To facilitate data collecting and monitoring, development 199
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and humanitarian groups working in the fields of catastrophe risk reduction and climate change adaptation are increasingly utilising new technology (Paul et al., 2021b). Despite the need for better assurance regarding the efficacy and value for money, there is a higher predisposition to accept FRM technologies because they are a potential answer. The explicit endorsement of FRM technology in policy is uncommon in Africa, only appearing in a limited way in the UK, Germany and France. Decision-maker guided policy priorities, budgets and procurement processes are also uncommon on the continent. There is a belief that there is little room to accept it as a possibility because of this. Nine out of ten people own a cell phone, which are particularly prevalent in South Africa and Nigeria. According to data from the 2015 Mobile Africa research, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa have the greatest percentages of mobile internet access on the continent, with Ghana having an average mobile internet usage of 51% and Nigeria having a percentage of 47%. Even in countries with low FRM awareness (Spain, Greece and Cyprus), professional stakeholders overwhelmingly favour technology when it is demonstrated to them, indicating that acceptance would be less of a concern for strategic decision makers if awareness were higher and the policy framework were more accommodating. Furthermore, it is seriously questioned whether property owners might be held accountable for installing FRM technology in nations where the government offers some type of compensation against floods, such as the Netherlands (Navarro de Corcuera et al., 2022; Pilarczyk, 2007). Regarding the technologies themselves, both manually and automatically deployed technologies are being introduced to people. Lack of confidence in the effectiveness of weather warning systems to enable time for their deployment and practical concerns, such as usability for the elderly, have a negative impact on the acceptance of manually controlled FRM technology. The additional expenditures incurred by the deployment of mobile barriers over permanent flood defences were noticed by professional stakeholders in Germany. According to Wicks, Berry, Wilkinson, Dunn and Rhodes (2011), there is growing awareness of the potential benefits of engaging with social media audiences; however, much more needs to be done to raise awareness in order to realise these benefits.
Research findings Based on the systematic literature review, the following was evident. There are different technology-mediated applications that are available for use in FRM in the global context; however, these smart applications are more extensively used in developed countries compared with developing ones. Notably the socio-cultural dimensions of flooding have received attention in Africa and, as a result, many countries in sub-Saharan African have not been engaged or active in flood risk management using smart/mobile applications. The situation may also be ascribed to the fact that technology-mediated applications for FRM may be complicated and costly. For instance, the cost of technology and installing an application may be expensive for developing countries that have other economic priorities, hence the low patronage of the applications in managing flood in developing countries. There are varieties of smart and mobile applications that are available for managing flooding. The matrix of FRM mobile applications depicted in Table 14.1 indicates the type of smart/mobile technologies that are available and their corresponding application. It can be inferred from the literature and Table 14.1 that the smart applications predominately used in developed countries include but are not limited to MAppERS and Flood Alert whereas smart applications used in the developing country context include but are not limited to My 200
Technology-mediated flood risk management Table 14.1 Matrix of FRM mobile applications Type of application Application Social medial tools Twitter and Facebook SMS Mapping tools Google Map OpenStreetMap Google Earth My Flood Risk Accra
Wetln App MAppERS
Flood Alert
DDS AtmaGo
Flood forecasting and preparation Flood breaking news
Flood mapping Determining frequency of urban flood Reducing the effects of floods and boosting social function recovery Checking water level Flood anticipation and alert Flood awareness and geolocalised waterlevel assessments Locating flood in key areas Speaking with FloodLine and environmental agencies Managing tsunami Lessening the harm that floods and other calamities cause, as well as the morbidity and mortality rates
Reference
Remark
(Budimir et al., 2018; Houston Developing and et al., 2015; Samonte et developed al., 2017; Tan et al., 2017; countries Timalsina, 2021; Wehn & Evers, 2015; Wicks et al., 2011) (Munawar, 2020; Paul et al., Developing and 2021a; Sonwane, 2014) developed countries Google Play Store
Developing country
www.iwmi.cgiar.org
Developing country
(Frigerio et al., 2018)
Developed country
(Agency et al., 2013)
Developed country
(Ai et al., 2016) (Setiadarma et al., 2018)
Developing country Developing country
Source: Authors, 2022.
Flood Risk Accra, Wetln App, DDS and AtmaGo. However, the following applications are common to both developed and developing countries: social medial tools (e.g. Twitter and Facebook and SMS) and mapping tools (e.g. Google Map, OpenStreetMap and Google Earth). Technology-mediated applications for FRM represent a great opportunity for developing countries to explore and to develop a guiding policy to assist in fast tracking its application in the local context. Nonetheless, technology-mediated applications for managing flood are more effective in developed countries compared to developing countries. This may be due to the fact that the developing countries are replicating some of the smart applications without considering the local context. Hence, the effectiveness of these applications in the developing country context depends on the following. Firstly, developing countries should not just replicate the policies of developed nations, but must adjust and adapt the smart applications trends to their own national circumstances. Secondly, in designing technology-mediated 201
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interventions such as smart/mobile applications, developing counties should take into consideration the peculiarities such as culture, adaptation to technological advancement and climatic conditions.
Conclusions and recommendations Despite global efforts to minimise flood risk through protection, prevention, preparedness for future events and other social interventions, flood disasters continue to occur unabated. As a result, there has been a noticeable rise in the usage of cutting-edge technology in flood response and recovery. This chapter, therefore, explores the application of technology-mediated tools for FRM based on existing literature on flood risk management. The systematic review revealed that FRM technologies are growing since the introduction of smartphones such as Android and IOS; however, limited study has been performed using mobile device FRM. In addition, the systematic review discovered that, on the one hand, FRM technologies have a lot of potential to assist in controlling flood risk by reducing vulnerabilities in both developed and developing countries. On the other hand, it should be emphasised that FRM faces a lot of limitations, especially aspects relating to the idea and justification behind using technology that could result in homeowner costs. It was also evident that there are quite a number of technology-mediated applications available for FRM; however, factors determining their availability are linked to economic considerations such as affordability and accessibility. Additionally, there is a lack of knowledge with respect to FRM technology among both the general public and flood risk management experts, who are largely in agreement about the need for education and capacity building in this area. In the end, even if technologies exist and have in some cases been commercialised, more focus needs to be put on awareness creation and understanding how they fit into local contexts. Based on the conclusion emanating from the literature review, the following are recommended: • • •
Cost-benefit analysis of the different smart applications is urgently needed to establish the most affordable option(s) and how feasible it would be for end-users in developing countries. The level of awareness of technology-mediated applications should be broadened through education and advocacy. Flood management operations should then be implemented both during and after an event. Given the future uncertainties associated with climate change, modifications to manage floods must be adaptable enough to take into account a variety of scenarios to help people cope with potential changes and rainfall patterns through the application of technology to create awareness.
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Setiadarma, E. G., Agahari, W., Rinaldi, M., & Wijayanti, A. P. (2018). Can mobile phones improve disaster preparedness? A survey-based analysis on the impact of AtmaGo. Centre for Innovation Policy and Governance (CIPG), Indonesia Sustainability Centre, Plaza Harmoni Blok B-5, Harmoni, Jakarta Pusat, 10130 Snel, K. A., Witte, P. A., Hartmann, T., & Geertman, S. C. (2019). More than a one‐size‐fits‐all approach: Tailoring flood risk communication to plural residents’ perspectives. Water International, 44(5), 554–570. Sonwane, V. S. (2014). Disaster management system on mobile phones using google map. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies (IJCSIT), 5(5), 6760–6763. Tan, M. L., Prasanna, R., Stock, K., Hudson-Doyle, E., Leonard, G., & Johnston, D. (2017). Mobile applications in crisis informatics literature: A systematic review. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 24, 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.06.009. Thiemig, V., de Roo, A., & Gadain, H. (2011). Current status on flood forecasting and early warning in Africa. International Journal of River Basin Management, 9(1), 63–78. https://doi.org/10.1080 /15715124.2011.555082. Timalsina, K. P. (2021). People, place, and space: Theoretical and empirical reflections in studying urban open space. Geographical Journal of Nepal, 14, 171–188. https://doi.org/10.3126/gjn.v14i0 .35558. VOA News. (2016). Predicting Nigeria’s floods, there’s now an app for that. Accessed 14 January 2023. https://www.voanews.com/a/nigeria-flood-app/3472453.html. Wehn, U., & Evers, J. (2015). Technology in society the social innovation potential of ICT-enabled citizen observatories to increase eParticipation in local fl ood risk management. Technology in Society, 42, 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2015.05.002. Wicks, J., Berry, R., Wilkinson, P., Dunn, B., Rhodes, F., & Agency, E. (2011). New technologies from the UK to support flood risk management. Paper presented at 52nd Floodplain Management Association Conference, Australia, 1–13.
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15 River naturalisation and load sediment detection sensor for community-based flood risk management in Indonesia Rian Mantasa Salve Prastica, Zulis Erwanto, Data Iranata, Mahendra Andiek Maulana, Tabrizy Azkiyan Nafil and Muhammad Sulaiman
Introduction Effective disaster risk reduction in developing countries, particularly in the context of flood mitigation, requires further adjustment due to the lack of resources and critical infrastructure needed to prevent flooding (Tanaka et al., 2011) or develop adaptive prevention strategies to mitigate the environmental impact of flooding (Brody et al., 2009). Currently, there are various types of flood mitigation approaches that can provide beneficial effects to vulnerable regions in developing countries. These include early warning systems, community-based flood management (Ali & George, 2022), sustainable land use practices (Mandarano, 2010), infrastructure development (Mallakpour et al., 2020), disaster preparedness and response planning and international assistance. Historically, flood mitigation strategies have focused on the role of infrastructure as an engineered environment to reduce and manage the volume of water from heavy rainfall with high intensity. Examples include drainage engineering to modify river channels to accommodate more floodwater (Hauer et al., 2021), dredging as a sedimentation solution (Bianchini et al., 2019) and canalisation which is an effective method to accelerate the flow of water, thereby preventing inundation in vulnerable areas (Scionti et al., 2018). Flood mitigation efforts must also address the issue of rain erosivity, which can increase sediment loads, leading to floods and avalanches. The application of sensor-based sediment concentration and turbidity detection technology can be valuable in this regard. Sediment concentration detection is crucial for land conservation efforts, both vegetatively and mechanically. One such initiative is the use of gully plugs made from environmentally friendly materials, such as Lego bricks, which are community-led efforts. Furthermore, green infrastructure is currently emerging as a potential alternative to traditional flood adaptive strategies. For instance, river naturalisation can replace the concretebased channel with vegetated riparian, and green infrastructure, such as well infiltration, 206
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green swale and green pavement, are increasingly being adopted. These techniques are known as low-impact development (LID) (Yang et al., 2021; Zhou et al., 2022) or watersensitive urban design (WSUD) strategies (Meng et al., 2022; Wu et al., 2023). Both grey infrastructure, such as dams (Cencetti & Di Matteo, 2022; Michailidi & Bacchi, 2017; Yazdi et al., 2018), and green methods, such as nature-based solutions (Bohorquez et al., 2023; Lo et al., 2021; Vojinovic et al., 2021) for flood mitigation, are expected to promote environmental healing. However, given that flooding is a dynamic phenomenon that varies from year to year, infrastructure alone cannot mitigate flood disaster. Therefore, community engagement and participation are essential to complement infrastructure and technological development for more effective flood mitigation (Skilton et al., 2022). This chapter offers a novel perspective on community-based flood management in urban areas in Indonesia, which is a developing country. Community initiatives for flood management in Indonesia are quite common (Nugraheni et al., 2022), as society cannot rely solely on government funding to address flooding issues in their neighbourhoods. Consequently, communities have formed pro bono groups to manage flooding in their villages or cities. However, the lack of supporting technologies for community initiatives has resulted in drawbacks, such as time-consuming efforts, as communities cannot prioritise or predict the most vulnerable areas in their regions. Therefore, they can only save small portions of impacted regions. To assist communities better, optimising community-based flood management by providing suitable technologies is necessary. However, the adaptation of technology for flood disaster risk reduction, particularly in urban rivers, is limited, especially in developing countries.
Overview of existing research/case study River restoration movement with CCTV as monitoring and early warning system in Yogyakarta city Belik River, an urban river situated in the centre of Yogyakarta city, is a tributary of the Opak River. The river has its source of water upstream in Karangwuni Village, Caturtunggal Village, Kapanewon Depok, Sleman Regency. In the 1970s, the Belik River had a width of up to 5 meters and the flowing water was utilised by the local community for bathing, washing, swimming and fishing. Numerous small ponds filled with fish are also found around the river. In the downstream part of the Belik River, it is utilised for agricultural irrigation, as evidenced by the presence of debit suppletion from the Mataram Irrigation channel, an ancient agricultural channel in the Yogyakarta region. Over time, the transformation of agricultural land into settlements has led to a reduction in the width of the Belik River and a decline in its water catchment area, as illustrated in Figure 15.1. Consequently, flooding incidents have become more frequent in the area. Notably, Samirono, Terban, Klitren, Gondomanan and Nggolo are among the regions that are susceptible to flooding during the rainy season. In 2012, a significant flood event occurred, causing severe damage to the wall of the Stella Duce High School Girls Dormitory, as depicted in Figure 15.2. The issue of frequent flooding in the Belik River has garnered attention from the government, academia and the community. To address this issue, a survey and simulation were conducted by researchers to explore possibilities for green infrastructure installation in the river and surrounding areas. The study found that detention ponds and river restoration are viable options for flood mitigation strategies. The Serayu Opak River Basin office, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, which is responsible for constructing flood 207
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Figure 15.1 Settlements in Belik River upper stream part now.
Figure 15.2 The building failure of Stella Duce High School Girls Dormitory. Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-2129098/diterjang-luapan-sungai-tembok-asrama-putri-sma -stela-duce-yogya-jebol, photo by Bagus Kurniawan, 28th December 2012.
mitigation infrastructure, then implemented the researchers’ recommendations for building green infrastructure. However, the river restoration project requires a significant amount of funding, and knowledge gaps remain in terms of what infrastructure should be installed during river naturalisation, how vegetated riparian areas should be arranged, how to manage sediment and microplastic problems in the naturalised river and other aspects of channel naturalisation. Due to budgetary and knowledge limitations, community-based participatory flood mitigation is deemed the best option for addressing flooding in the study area. Society involvement can increase public awareness of potential flooding and produce recommendations to the government, including the prioritisation of vulnerable areas, the rehabilitation of flood mitigation infrastructure, the development of a self-early warning system ecosystem and the establishment of regular schedules for river naturalisation initiatives. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of these community-based flood management initiatives can be enhanced by leveraging supporting technologies. In this paper, the authors propose the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) facilities for flood monitoring and calibration. Additionally, the authors analyse the practices of gully plugs with community involvement for their construction and maintenance. The Belik River has undergone significant changes in geometry and morphology since the construction of the detention pond in 2013, particularly in the eastern segment of Jalan 208
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Notonegoro. Figure 17.3a shows the condition of the river prior to the construction of the pond, while Figure 17.3b illustrates the post-construction state. Furthermore, the integration of the detention pond with a naturalised river is depicted in Figure 15.3c, which is expected to impact the water level. However, the impact of these changes on the Belik River flood water level is not well understood, as there is a lack of monitoring and early warning systems available to the community.
Construction of interlocking Lego brick-shaped gully plugs with sensor-based sediment load detection tool utilities in Banyuwangi rivers The upstream and downstream areas of the Badeng River, located in Sumberbulu Village and Alas Malang Village, Banyuwangi Regency, Indonesia, respectively, are highly susceptible to flood supply. The Pinus Forest area contributes to the average surface runoff, which flows naturally into the Badeng River through a ditch with a width of approximately 10 m and a depth of approximately 2 m. The runoff discharge rate is approximately 0.04598 m3/ second and carries sediment material due to land erosion (Erwanto et al., 2021), as depicted in Figure 15.4. The rivers in Banyuwangi Regency have dendritic drainage patterns with an elongated form, relatively small discharge and potential for extended flooding, flash floods and landslides downstream. In 2018, the Badeng River Catchment Area recorded a discharge of 26.16 m3/second, Kumbo catchment area 41.86 m3/second and Binaung catchment area 37.36 m3/second, exceeding their drainage capacities. The Badeng watershed has characteristics similar to the Bomo watershed, where landslides due to changes in land use and high sediment yield and erosion rates of 250.65 tonnes/ha/year and 601.92 tonnes/ha/year,
Figure 15.3 The aerial photos illustrate the changes in the morphology of the Belik River, with (a) depicting the condition before the construction of the detention pond in March 2013, (b) illustrating the condition after the detention pond was built in August 2014 and (c) showing the integration of a naturalised riparian system in May 2021. These comparisons were obtained from aerial images on Google Earth, earth .google.com. 209
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Figure 15.4 Construction of interlocking Lego brick-shaped gully plugs for river conservation (Erwanto, Pranowo, Gumelar, et al., 2021).
Figure 15.5 Interlocking Lego brick specifications (Erwanto et al., 2020).
respectively, were recorded from Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological modelling (Erwanto, Pranowo, & Prastyo, 2021). A high erosion hazard zone was found in the forested mountainous area of Sumberarum Village, covering 0.002 km2, and a rather critical area of 10.82 km2 (20.65%) of the Songgon District watershed area. Hence, there is a need to implement mechanical land conservation technology alongside vegetative methods. One such approach is the construction of gully plugs using interlocking Lego bricks, as illustrated in Figure 15.5. This involves empowering community groups in brick production and conservation development. The mix design composition of the interlocking Lego brick employs a ratio of clay : sand : Portland cement (PC) : bagasse ash, with a ratio of 2 : 3 : 3.5 : 1.5. One potential application to enhance gully plug construction is the integration of a sensor-based detection device that measures parameters such as sediment concentration, turbidity, Total Dissolve Solids (TDS) and temperature. This device can aid in determining the correlation of sediment load equations in rivers, as well as providing time-series data on sediment transport in river discharge. The tool’s primary function is to detect changes in water quality resulting from sediment transport, which can be used as an indicator to analyse the level of turbidity and sedimentation due to the impact of erosion in a river basin. A prototype of a sensor-based sediment concentration and turbidity detection tool has been tested in rivers in Banyuwangi Regency, as depicted in Figure 15.6. 210
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Figure 15.6 Prototype trial of a sensor-based sediment concentration detection tool in rivers.
Methodology/approach/emerging research areas River restoration movement with CCTV as monitoring and early warning system in Yogyakarta city The implementation of CCTV technology embedded in flood infrastructure serves the purpose of monitoring the water level of the river and providing calibration data for water level simulation in the HEC-RAS simulation tool. In its capacity as a monitoring tool, CCTV provides real-time information on conditions to the community, allowing them to take quick action in implementing flood mitigation measures. Furthermore, the CCTV data serves as calibration data for flood or water level simulation in the affected river areas. This allows researchers and the government to have prediction data and integrate green infrastructure scenarios into computer models. Subsequently, based on the chosen scenario, the government can allocate budgets and establish a timeline for river naturalisation. The objective of the hydraulic analysis is to establish the flood water level profile along the Belik River, before and after the detention pond’s construction, and following the integration of the river naturalisation system when receiving the discharge load produced from the hydrological analysis. HEC-RAS 5.0.7 software was utilised to carry out the hydraulic analysis in this research. The model was run for the three scenarios mentioned in Figure 15.3. The calibration analysis was performed by comparing the results with the CCTV data’s field condition.
Simulation of structural strength and stability of gully plugs buildings made from Lego brick interlocking materials Gully plug conservation structures are typically constructed in natural ditches or areas that have been eroded by surface runoff. The construction of gully plug structures in rivers requires planning for strength and stability. The stability of the building must be tested by simulating spans of 3 m, 4 m and 5 m per segment width. The construction uses interlocking Lego brick materials with pillar limits per segment. The interlock method is utilised for construction, which involves interdependent or interlocking functions on Lego bricks measuring 250 × 125 × 75 mm. The interlocking Lego brick material is made from bagasse ash and includes class 50 quality that meets the requirements of SNI 15-2094-2000 with a compressive strength of 63.78 kg/cm2 (6.26 MPa) and a volume weight of 1,549 kg/m3 (Erwanto et al., 2020). The community-based nature of gully plug construction requires the 211
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use of environmentally friendly interlocking Lego brick material that can be produced by the community itself and built independently. In accordance with Regulation of the Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry No. P. 22/ Menhut-V/2007, gully plugs are small dams constructed across ditches using materials such as stone, wood or bamboo. Their purpose is to manage sedimentation and mitigate secondary floods that may occur in rivers that have experienced previous flood disasters. To analyse the stability of gully plugs, it is necessary to consider all the forces acting on the weir structure. The stability of the structure must be analysed from the foundation base to the overflow crest and not to the wing crest. To simplify the calculation of the gully plugs, the weir structure is divided into triangular, rectangular or trapezoidal boundaries based on the cross-sectional design, as illustrated in Figure 15.7. For the gully plug’s construction to function effectively, especially the main dam, it must be able to withstand all possible forces acting on it without experiencing any changes in position, elevation or shape (i.e., it must remain stable). A review of the styles was carried out under normal water conditions and flooding, which will be placed on the weir in the Pinus Songgon Tourism area, Badeng river flow, Banyuwangi, as shown in Figure 15.8. A stability test was conducted on the gully plugs to determine their resistance to overturning force, shear force, piping/seepage (creep) and soil bearing capacity. Laboratory tests indicated that the average volume weight of sediment in the Badeng River is 1,572 kg/m3,
Figure 15.7 Loading forces and values for vertical and horizontal creep of gully plugs.
Figure 15.8 Location of the development plan for gully plugs at Pinus Songgon Tourism Weir, Banyuwangi, Indonesia. 212
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which was utilised as input data for the loading process of the structure. The loading of the structure was determined based on live load, which was derived from the hydrostatic pressure force from the volume weight of water and sediment volume weight, and dead load, which came from the weight of the weir itself. The results of the structural loading can be observed in Table 15.1. Table 15.1 presents the three proposed segment models consisting of the solid form, grid model, Fx and Fy loads, pillar loads and deflection results for the 3-meter, 4-meter and 5-meter segments. Moreover, an analysis of the internal forces of each segment will be conducted to determine the most efficient and stable segment spans against axial forces and moments.
Sediment load measurement based on sensor-based hydrometric measurement tool The methodology used to measure variable sediment load is based on river hydrometry (Julien, 2018), as well as laboratory testing of sediment samples to determine sediment characteristics. Water level and discharge measurements are utilised to develop a rating curve, while suspended samples are analysed in the laboratory to establish a calibration relationship between turbidity data from sensor readings and suspension levels. The correlation between flow discharge and suspension discharge is strong, although it does not have a significant impact. Meanwhile, rainfall does not have a direct effect on the amount Table 15.1 Results of loading simulation modelling in gully plug construction Span (m) Solid form
Grid model
Loading Fx and Fy
Column loading
Deflection results
3
4
5
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of suspension discharge (Mills & Bathurst, 2015; Walling & Fang, 2003). Empirical equations for suspended and bed load per unit width of a feather-type watershed in major rivers of Banyuwangi Regency are determined using a linear regression model based on the independent variables of water level, flow velocity and discharge, resulting in the following Equation 15.1 and 15.2 models (Erwanto & Anwar, 2022).
qs (ton/day) = 27.0 – 39.0.h (m) – 122.V (m/s) + 71.1.q (m3/s)
(15.1)
with R-Sq = 59.4%
qb (ton/day) = –0.0758 + 0.0853.h (m) + 0.0585.V (m/s) + 0.165.q (m3/s) (15.2)
with R-Sq = 73.6% dengan: qs = Suspended load per unit width (ton/day) qb = Bed load per unit width (ton/day) h = Water level height (m) V = Flow velocity (m/s) Q = Flow discharge per unit width (m3/s) The objective of developing a sensor-based hydrometric measurement tool is to establish a sediment concentration detection tool that can be used as a time series data collection method. This tool is intended to serve as an indicator for determining sedimentation volume, as well as for flood disaster mitigation and land conservation measures in a river basin.
Results/overview of findings River restoration movement utilising CCTV as a monitoring and early warning system in Yogyakarta city Community involvement in river naturalisation is crucial for the success of sustainable river naturalisation projects. To achieve this, various key aspects have been implemented to ensure the success of the project. Firstly, education on the significance of river naturalisation and its impacts on daily life should be provided. Such education can be conveyed through seminars, workshops and group discussions. Secondly, increasing public awareness about the relationship between human activities and the condition of rivers and the surrounding environment is essential. This may include efforts to reduce waste and pollution entering rivers, as well as caring for river ecosystems. Thirdly, community involvement in the planning and decision-making processes should be prioritised. This can be done through participatory meetings and open dialogue regarding river restoration plans. Such involvement can ensure that the community’s needs and aspirations are considered in the planning process. Furthermore, developing community-based programmes such as river cleaning drives, tree planting along the river and regular river condition monitoring can also foster a sense of ownership and responsibility among the local community. The participation of the local community in water quality monitoring and identifying environmental changes can also ensure that river naturalisation efforts are effective and provide significant benefits to the community. By involving the community in the river naturalisation process, the project can be made sustainable and beneficial to the local community. In addition, the project has involved the development of community participation programmes, including initiatives for river cleaning, tree planting along the river and regular 214
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monitoring of the river’s condition. Such programmes can increase the community’s sense of ownership and responsibility towards the sustainability of river restoration projects. Moreover, involving local communities in activities to monitor water quality and identify changes in environmental conditions can help ensure the success of river restoration efforts and deliver the anticipated benefits to the community. To support these community initiatives for construction, rehabilitation, maintenance and early warning systems, CCTV has been provided. Before the construction of the detention pond, the Belik River located on the east side of Jalan Notonegoro functioned as a canal while the other part was a garden, which frequently became inundated during heavy rainfall events. The limited channel capacity to accommodate flood discharges from upstream resulted in channel overflow (Peruzzi et al., 2018). The pre-construction condition of the Belik River is presented in Figure 15.9a. The construction of the flood detention pond began in 2013 and was completed in 2014, as illustrated in Figure 15.10a. The primary function of the detention pond is to temporarily store water during flood events, thereby reducing peak flooding (Harada & Ishikawa, 2022). In 2014, the flood detention pond was integrated with the green open space design based on the river restoration concept to restore the river to its natural state (Sammonds & Vietz, 2015), as shown in Figure 15.11a. The green open space serves as a water catchment area and provides oxygen supply in urban areas, particularly in Yogyakarta city. The HEC-RAS simulation will utilise the flooding data obtained from hydrological analysis and be run under three scenarios: (1) the river water level prior to the installation of green infrastructure, (2) the river water level with the constructed detention pond and (3) the integration of the detention pond and river naturalisation. The flooding events observed from the HEC-RAS simulation and CCTV data as a monitoring system will be compared. The scenarios for HEC-RAS and CCTV data can be seen in Figure 15.9b, 15.10b and 15.11b, respectively. Based on the HEC-RAS simulation results, it can be observed that the flow velocity decreases approximately 63% from 2.52 m/s to 0.92 m/s after the construction of the detention pond, as shown in Table 15.2. Meanwhile, the naturalised river integration with detention pond increases the velocity to 1.21 m/s. This occurs because the vegetated channel of the river lacks a specific configuration to effectively slow down the water flow.
Figure 15.9 (a) The condition of the river before the installation of green infrastructure; (b) comparison of simulation results with flood events in the field before the installation of green infrastructure. Source: (a) Detention Pond Planning documentation, 2013; (b) HEC-RAS simulation and CCTV data at Wisdom Park, 2014.
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Figure 15.10 (a) Belik River condition after construction of detention pond, (b) comparison of HEC-RAS simulation result with observed flood events after detention pond construction. Source: CCTV at Wisdom Park, 2014 and HEC-RAS simulation results.
Figure 15.11 Comparison of simulation results with field flood events by integrating river naturalisation and detention pond construction, showing (a) the integration of river naturalisation and detention pond construction, and (b) the comparison of simulation results with flood events in the field. The source of the data is the CCTV at Wisdom Park in 2014 and the HEC-RAS simulation result.
Table 15.2 Velocity profiles under different scenarios River condition
Average flow velocity (m/s)
Without pond detention Detention pond Detention pond and naturalised river concept are integrated
2.52 0.92 1.21
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Thus, it is recommended to conduct further investigations on vegetation, flow and sediment interactions to improve river management.
Simulation results of structural and stability modelling of gully plug buildings using interlocking Lego bricks as materials Based on the findings presented in Table 15.3, the 3-meter span segment with an axial compressive force Fx of 425.11 kN and an axial lift Fy of 435.42 kN is observed to be the most effective. The (+/–) sign denotes the direction of the force, whereby (+) indicates the downward force direction as a compressive force, while the (–) sign represents the upward force direction as a lifting force. If the compressive force surpasses the lifting force, the weir may become unstable against shear forces as the compressive force does not include the weight of the weir itself to resist the hydrostatic pressure lift. Thus, it is concluded that the 3-meter span segments are the most stable among the three. The results of modelling the strength of the gully plug weir structure for three segments suggest that a 3-meter span segment is recommended for planning the development of a gully plug in a river body. This is because a span of 3 m exhibits minimal deflection and can be considered the optimum and most economical length for constructing a weir with interlocking Lego brick material, reinforced with river stone masonry pillars on the left and right of the interlocking brick pairs. To anticipate flooding, the structure should be strengthened by providing reinforcement in the construction of interlocking Lego brick pairs to withstand shear forces and moments. The foundation plan should include creeping construction with river stone masonry Table 15.3 Modelling results of axial force distribution in gully plug structures made of interlocking Lego bricks Span Axial force (m) FX (Pressure)
Axial force FY (Uplift force)
Overturning Moment MX
Resistance Moment MY
Shear force (V max)
Deviation (y)
425,11 kN
-435,42 kN
281,83 kN-m
-491,07 kN-m 311,46 kN
596,08 kN
-576,36 kN
297,08 kN-m
-391,83 kN-m 351,91kN
10,17 cm
930,27 kN
-887,23 kN
355,61 kN-m
-422,18 kN-m 433,57 kN
12,05 cm
3
10cm
4
5
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and a slope plate as the support and reinforcement connection between the river stone foundation and interlocking Lego brick pairs. The modelling results for the total span of the 17-meter gully plug, with a length of 3 meters for each segment, can be observed in Figure 15.12. After conducting simulations for the gully plug structure with various span segments including 3 m, 4 m and 5 m, the most effective segment was identified as the 3 m span with a total span of 17 m. The stability of the gully plug constructed with interlocking Lego brick material spanning 3 m was found to be superior compared to the other span segments, as indicated in Table 15.4.
Summary/conclusion In conclusion, river naturalisation with community participation and support from monitoring technologies can be an effective approach to address urban flooding. The construction of stable and optimal gully plugs conservation buildings using interlocking Lego bricks and incorporating sensor-based hydrometric measuring instruments can contribute significantly to the restoration of rivers in an effective and sustainable manner. However, river naturalisation is a complex process that requires a comprehensive understanding of various factors affecting river conditions, including human factors. Therefore, further research on river naturalisation is crucial to obtain accurate and up-to-date information and develop best practices for restoring rivers. This research should also focus on scenarios during floods, vegetation configuration in riparian sections, microplastic management and sedimentation reduction strategies. By implementing these measures, we can ensure the preservation of our rivers, which are crucial ecosystems for the environment and our societies. The gully plug building was found to be stable and optimal with a span per segment of 3 m and a pyramid shape with a lower width dimension of 2.8 m, an upper width of 1.4 m, a height of 2.6 m and a height per layer of 0.867 m. Incorporating sensor-based hydrometric measuring instruments in the construction of gully plugs conservation buildings is highly recommended. These instruments can be utilised to detect sediment concentration, turbidity and TDS in time series, which are essential indicators for determining sediment transportation, flood disaster mitigation and land conservation efforts in a river flow. An additional lesson learned from the project is that community resilience in conducting flood mitigation can be achieved not only by providing supporting tools and technologies but also by providing training on tool operation and maintenance. This approach can be
Figure 15.12 Modelling results for the construction of a 17-meter gully plug weir with 3-meter segments. 218
kN
425.11 596.08 930.270
3 4 5
Axial force Fx (pressure force)
–435.42 –576.36 –887.230
kN
229.24 229.24 229.24
kN
1.50 1.43 1.31
Stable Unstable Unstable
Calculated > Permitted 281.83 297.08 355.6050
kN.m
Axial force Dam weight Shear safety Permitted safety Overturning Fy (uplift (W) factor factor = 1.5 moment force) (Mx)
Output of inner force
m
Span
Table 15.4 Summary of results on the structural and stability analysis of gully plug buildings
–491.07 –391.83 –422.1830
kN.m
Resistance moment (My)
1.74 1.32 1.19
Stable Unstable Unstable
Calculated > Permitted
311.46 351.91 433.57
kN
10.00 10.17 12.05
cm
Overturning Permitted safety Shear force Deflection (y) safety factor factor = 1.5 (V max)
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cost-effective as the community will be able to continuously maintain flood disaster management independently, becoming active actors rather than passive recipients of aid during flooding events. In this way, communities can help themselves without relying solely on government assistance, leading to a reduction in the impact of flooding.
References Ali, S., & George, A. (2022). Fostering disaster mitigation through community participation-case of Kochi residents following the Kerala floods of 2018 and 2019. Natural Hazards (Dordr), 111(1), 389–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-05058-0 Bianchini, A., Cento, F., Guzzini, A., Pellegrini, M., & Saccani, C. (2019). Sediment management in coastal infrastructures: Techno-economic and environmental impact assessment of alternative technologies to dredging. Journal of Environment Management, 248, 109332. https://doi.org/10 .1016/j.jenvman.2019.109332 Bohorquez, P., Pérez-Latorre, F. J., González-Planet, I., Jiménez-Melero, R., & Parra, G. (2023). Naturebased solutions for flood mitigation and soil conservation in a steep-slope olive-orchard catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain). Applied Sciences, 13(5), 2882. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2882 Brody, S. D., Kang, J. E., & Bernhardt, S. (2009). Identifying factors influencing flood mitigation at the local level in Texas and Florida: The role of organizational capacity. Natural Hazards, 52(1), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9364-5 Cencetti, C., & Di Matteo, L. (2022). Mitigation measures preventing floods from landslide dams: Analysis of pre- and post-hydrologic conditions upstream a seismic-induced landslide dam in Central Italy. Environmental Earth Sciences, 81(15), 403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022 -10515-5 Erwanto, Z., & Anwar, N. (2022). Modelling the sediment load in the bird feather-type watersheds along the main rivers of Banyuwangi regency. 1st Lekantara Annual Conference on Natural Science and Environment (LeNS 2021), Malang, Indonesia. Erwanto, Z., Pranowo, D. D., Gumelar, Y. P., Wahyudin, I., & Husamadi, M. R. (2021). Land conversation with gully plugs for erosion control in badeng watershed, Sumberbulu village, Songgon, Banyuwangi. Panrita Abdi - Jurnal Pengabdian Pada Masyarakat, 5(4), 475–487. https://doi.org/10.20956/pa.v5i4.11962 Erwanto, Z., Pranowo, D. D., Holik, A., Amin, M. S., & Darmawan, F. (2020). The innovation of interlock bricks with a mixture of bagasse ash without combustion. The Second International Conference on Science and Innovated Engineering. Erwanto, Z., Pranowo, D. D., & Prastyo, S. D. B., Holik, A. and Husna, A., (2021). Hydrological modeling using SWAT due to landslides in the badeng watershed. Proceedings of the International Conference on Innovation in Science and Technology (ICIST 2020). Atlantis Press, pp. 402–410. Harada, S., & Ishikawa, T. (2022). Evaluation of the effect of Hamao detention pond on excess runoff from the Abukuma River in 2019 and simple remodeling of the pond to increase its flood control function. Applied Sciences, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020729 Hauer, C., Flödl, P., Habersack, H., & Pulg, U. (2021). Critical flows in semi‐alluvial channels during extraordinarily high discharges: Implications for flood risk management. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 14(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12741 Julien, P. Y. (2018). Mechanics of rivers. In P. Y. Julien (Ed.), River mechanics (2nd ed., pp. 14–46). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316107072.003 Lo, W., Huang, C.-T., Wu, M.-H., Doong, D.-J., Tseng, L.-H., Chen, C.-H., & Chen, Y.-J. (2021). Evaluation of flood mitigation effectiveness of nature-based solutions potential cases with an assessment model for flood mitigation. Water, 13(23), 3451. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/23/3451 Mallakpour, I., Sadegh, M., & AghaKouchak, A. (2020). Changes in the exposure of California’s levee-protected critical infrastructure to flooding hazard in a warming climate. Environmental Research Letters, 15(6), 64032. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab80ed 220
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Mandarano, L. (2010). Sustainable land-use planning: Revitalising a flood prone office park. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 53(2), 183–196. https://doi.org/10.1080 /09640560903529584 Meng, X., Li, X., Nghiem, L. D., Ruiz, E., Johir, M. A., Gao, L., & Wang, Q. (2022). Improved stormwater management through the combination of the conventional water sensitive urban design and stormwater pipeline network. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 159, 1164–1173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.02.003 Michailidi, E. M., & Bacchi, B. (2017). Dealing with uncertainty in the probability of overtopping of a flood mitigation dam. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21(5), 2497–2507. https://doi.org /10.5194/hess-21-2497-2017 Mills, C. F., & Bathurst, J. C. (2015). Spatial variability of suspended sediment yield in a gravel-bed river across four orders of magnitude of catchment area. CATENA, 133, 14–24. https://doi.org/10 .1016/j.catena.2015.04.008 Nugraheni, I. L., Suyatna, A., Setiawan, A., & Abdurrahman, A. (2022). Flood disaster mitigation modeling through participation community based on the land conversion and disaster resilience. Heliyon, 8(8), e09889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09889 Peruzzi, C., Castaldi, M., Francalanci, S., & Solari, L. (2018). Three‐dimensional hydraulic characterisation of the Arno River in Florence. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 12(S1). https:// doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12490 Sammonds, M. J., & Vietz, G. J. (2015). Setting stream naturalisation goals to achieve ecosystem improvement in urbanising greenfield catchments. Area, 47(4), 386–395. https://doi.org/10.1111 /area.12181 Scionti, F., Miguez, M. G., Barbaro, G., De Sousa, M. M., Foti, G., & Canale, C. (2018). Integrated methodology for urban flood risk mitigation in Cittanova, Italy. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 144(10). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000985 Skilton, L., Osland, A. C., Willis, E., Habib, E. H., Barnes, S. R., ElSaadani, M., Miles, B., & Do, T. Q. (2022). We don't want your water: Broadening community understandings of and engagement in flood risk and mitigation. Frontiers in Water, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.1016362 Tanaka, K., Yamada, F., Kakimoto, R., Matsuo, K., & Ohmoto, T. (2011). Information support systems for community-based flood risk management. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 4(3), 156–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-318X.2011.01100.x Vojinovic, Z., Alves, A., Gómez, J. P., Weesakul, S., Keerakamolchai, W., Meesuk, V., & Sanchez, A. (2021). Effectiveness of small- and large-scale Nature-Based Solutions for flood mitigation: The case of Ayutthaya, Thailand. Science of the Total Environment, 789, 147725. https://doi.org/10 .1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147725 Walling, D. E., & Fang, D. (2003). Recent trends in the suspended sediment loads of the world’s rivers. Global and Planetary Change, 39(1), 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8181(03)00020-1 Wu, W., Jamali, B., Zhang, K., Marshall, L., & Deletic, A. (2023). Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) spatial prioritisation through global sensitivity analysis for effective urban pluvial flood mitigation. Water Research, 235, 119888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119888 Yang, W., Zhang, J., Mei, S., & Krebs, P. (2021). Impact of antecedent dry-weather period and rainfall magnitude on the performance of low impact development practices in urban flooding and nonpoint pollution mitigation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro .2021.128946 Yazdi, J., Moghaddam, M. S., & Saghafian, B. (2018). Optimal design of check dams in mountainous watersheds for flood mitigation. Water Resources Management, 32(14), 4793–4811. https://doi.org /10.1007/s11269-018-2084-4 Zhou, Y., She, D., Wang, Y., Xia, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Evaluating the impact of low impact development practices on the urban flooding over a humid region of China. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 58(6), 1264–1278. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688 .13032
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16 Towards flood resilient supply chain systems A facility location model for flood-prone communities K.I. Abisoye, O.A. Adebimpe and V.O. Oladokun
Introduction Concerns about flooding have increased in recent times due to climate change, the rise in sea level, rapid population growth and urbanisation, the increased level of awareness of flood risk, the vulnerabilities of large populations to flood and the limited capacities of many communities in flood disaster risk reduction (Adebimpe et al., 2018; Olatunji et al., 2023). From 2000 to 2006, water-related disasters affected more than 1.5 billion people, killed more than 290,000 people and inflicted more than USD 422 billion in damage (Adakiri & Yoshitani, 2009). Large-scale disruptions caused by natural disasters like floods have resulted in different forms of losses for many organisations (Oladokun, Proverbs & Lammond, 2017). During the Thailand floods in 2011, as many as 804 companies located in the northern part of the country were flooded for a period between 1 and 2 months. This led to a total suspension of their production and logistics due to restricted access to production facilities, and a shortage of raw materials, and the effect was felt globally in the electronics and automotive supply chains (Benfield, 2011). Losses incurred were estimated to be about USD 32 billion (Haraguchi & Lall, 2015). As supply chains (SC) become globalised, companies’ exposure to flood risk has increased the international ramifications of flood disasters as events in one geographical location can also affect companies in other distant locations due to disruptions to their supply chain systems. The inter-dependency amongst companies results in increased vulnerability since disruption of just one part of the global supply chain can lead to the operational failure of the entire chain (Ando & Kimura, 2005). Economic losses are a direct consequence of disruption. The disruption of a supply chain can negatively impact both revenue and cost, resulting in lost sales as well as a drop in market share. The prevention of disruptions, or reducing the chances of occurrence, through event readiness, effective and efficient response and the ability for a quick recovery, which is key in supply chain system design, represents the whole essence of supply chain resilience (SCR) (Ponomarov & Holcomb, 2009). Therefore, SCR has become a very important consideration in the design and analysis of supply chain systems. 222
DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-21
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Resilience in the context of natural disasters is particularly important while dealing with risks in supply chain management (SCM). Facilities located in an area with high flood risk are prone to supply chain disruptions resulting in severe economic losses (Ali et al., 2021). There is always some level of vulnerability to flooding events associated with all locations due to their natural geographic characteristics such as proximity to water bodies, land slope, soil type, the volume of rainfall, drainage density, etc., or man-made features like dams (National Research Council, 2013). Supply chain flood resilience (SCFR) should therefore be seen as a very important consideration in the design of supply chain systems. While facility location is a key decision influencing supply chain system design, most existing facility location models do not consider resilience to flooding. This study was aimed at developing a suitable model for supporting the decision-making process when locating supply chain facilities in flood-prone regions. The study includes the development of a framework for determining the vulnerability level of a given location using a geographic information system (GIS) – a system designed to capture, store, manage, analyse, manipulate and present all types of geographic data – in conjunction with remote sensing techniques to produce a suitable flood vulnerability map for the model.
Supply chain resilience Earlier research works on SCR focused on resilience as a means of alleviating risk and vulnerability (Christopher & Peck, 2004). Also, Sheffi and Rice (2005) see resilience as a capability of the organisation that gives it a competitive advantage. According to Luthar (2006), most researchers view the presence of evident, substantial risk as the common quantifying condition for resilience. They see a resilient supply chain system as having the ability to absorb disruptions or avoid them entirely. In 2018, Adobor and McMullen (2018) added a third type of resilience and named it evolutionary or socio-ecological resilience and suggested that resilient SCs need to have all three types of resilience and synergies, or trade-offs must exist among the types of resilience. Hohenstein et al. (2015) identified four distinct phases of SCR during their systematic review of the literature. The phases include readiness, response, recovery and growth (growth means advancing to a more desirable state post-disruption). These phases adequately cover the pre- and post-disruption phases of supply chain risk management (SCRM) (Barroso, Machado, Carvalho, & Machado, 2015). Hale and Moberg (2005) worked on improving SC disaster preparedness as a decision process for secure site location. They used a five-stage disaster management approach as the framework for secure site location for emergency supplies and combined a set cover location model with Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) data to set up a grid of secure site locations. Wagner and Bode (2006) conducted research that studied SC risks in a more detailed manner to examine the relationship between the risk and vulnerability of SCs. Location problems are not entirely new. They have been an area of interest since the early 1970s. Daskin (1995) categorised location problems into three: network models, continuous models and discrete models. There are four general variants of discrete location models, and they include median, capacitated, covering and competitive models. Median models deal with the problem of locating a finite number of facilities in such a way that the distance between demand points and the facility is minimised while covering models deal with locating facilities within some desired service distance. Capacitated location models place a boundary on the volume that each facility can handle while competitive location models involve a competitor readjusting to any location decisions other competitors make (Eiselt, 2011; Sridharan, 1995). 223
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An example of the median model is the p-median model. The model describes a situation where P facilities are to be selected to minimise the weighted total distances or costs for meeting customer demand assuming that the setup cost of locating a new facility is constant. That is, given variables such as the location of each customer, the cost of transportation, the volume of demand, times and distances, the optimal location is determined to reduce the cost of operations and transportation (Daskin, 1995). Properties of the models mentioned above include one type of facility, deterministic parameters, single-period planning, a single product and location-allocation decisions. The p-median model considers just a single facility but different types of facilities exist (e.g., production, distribution centres, warehousing), and a hierarchy defined by inter-facility material flow also exists as described by Sahin and Sural (2007). An aspect of supply chain risk management is the prevention of supply chain disruption. Decision-makers often argue that disruptions are usually occasional and, as such, literature on it has been sparse (Melo, Nickel, & Saldanha-da-Gama, 2009). Bender, Hennes, Kalcsics, Melo and Nickel’s (2002) research works linked location planning and geographic information systems. They combined the library of location algorithms, which contains a collection of efficient algorithms for solving location problems, with a geographical information system to develop commercial location software for location decision-making. Marianov and ReVelle (1996) also worked on the development of methodologies and formulations used in siting facilities of diverse kinds in a geographic environment as location analysis. In the field of location modelling, the influence of GIS has been very substantial as it has been able to provide a method of organising spatial data for locational search. GIS provides a better approach to representing location model characteristics such as the size and shape of the facility and such improvements can lead to an increase in the flexibility and relevance of location models (Miller, 1996).
Methodology The methodology applied to the problem of facility location in flood-prone areas followed these steps: the identification, characterisation and selection of factors contributing to flood vulnerability based on literature review, the adoption of a flood vulnerability map created using a combination of remote sensing and geographic information system technology, the assigning of cost to flood mitigation strategies to determine the cost of vulnerability, the development of a model to integrate the p-median location model and the cost of flood vulnerability, the development of an algorithm and the implementation of the model.
Model formulation This study adopted the p-median tool of the location-allocation model in solving the facility location problem in a flood-prone environment. The p-median model is based on a basic assumption that the cost of building a facility on all optimal nodes is the same. This assumption may be reasonable if we consider the variation in the initial cost of building to be insignificant compared with the long-term operational costs. However, the proposed model captures the cost of all mitigation actions performed in a location as an additional cost variable. This is a variable cost that varies from one location to another and is dependent on the flood vulnerability of locations. The subsections that follow present the assumptions made in the model formulation, model notations and meanings, model formulation and the solution algorithm. 224
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Model assumptions The following assumptions were made in the development of the model: 1. Demand is constant across all locations. 2. Facilities at any location site can meet the assigned demands. 3. The cost of transportation per distance is constant for all transportation routes. 4. The cost of locating facilities in all potential sites is the same. 5. The type and number of facilities to be located are the same across all potential locations. 6. The distance between potential sites is known. 7. Two paired locations are symmetrical. Model notations The followings are the model notations and their respective meanings: P : Number of facilities to be located. hi : Amount of demand at node i . dij : The distance cost between demand node i and site location j . j, J : Index and set of facility sites which are usually network nodes. i, I : Index and set of demand areas which are usually network nodes. Qij : Vulnerability level i of location j. C (Qij ): Cost due to vulnerability level i in location j .
Flood vulnerability cost Resilience in this study was considered from a disaster preparedness perspective. That is the level of preparedness of the system for a possible flood event. A set of costs that are associated with vulnerability mitigation strategies have been identified through experts’ consultation and systematic literature review. The costs include the cost of the structural project, the cost of education and training programmes, the cost of preparedness and response actions and the cost of insurance (Ouma & Tateishi, 2014; Funk, 2006). The summation of all of these associated costs is referred to as the total cost due to flood vulnerability and is expressed in Equation 16.1. Total cost Dueto vunerability C cost of structural projecct C1 cost of education and training programs C2
cost of preparedness and response actions C3
(16.1)
cost of insurance C4 The level of flood vulnerability of a location in this study was considered using indicators that are commonly used in literature for flood characterisation. The indicators include land slope, relief, land use/cover, mean annual rainfall, soil type, drainage density and drainage 225
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order (Saharia, Kirstetter, Vergara, Gourley, & Hong, 2017; Kabenge, Elaru, Wang, & Li, 2017; Acreman & Holden, 2013; Mobini & Sorensen; Mahmud & Gan, 2018). Flood p-median model The flood p-median model adapted the model of the classical p-median which is popularly used in solving location-allocation problems. Thus, the flood p-median model follows the structure of the classical p-median model. The structures and the procedure used in formulating the flood p-median model are presented as follows. Decision variables The two decision variables for the flood p-median model are Yij and X j . The decision variables are expressed in Equations 16.2 and 16.3.
Yij 0;
1; if demand nodei is assigned to a facility at location j Otherwise Xj 0;
1; if a location j is selected for a facility Otherw wise
(16.2) (16.3)
The objective of the study is to minimise the costs due to flood vulnerability and the demandweighted total distance from demand nodes to the location of facilities. Therefore, the cost due to vulnerability is expressed in Equation 16.4: (16.4) C Qlj X j Also, the cost due to the demand-weighted total distance added to overall facilities and demand nodes is expressed using Equation 16.5. For the purpose of this study, hi and dij are measured in monetary terms. (16.5) hi dijYij Therefore, the objective function is finally summarised using Equation 16.6.
C Qlj X j hi dijYij
(16.6)
The constraints of the model are expressed as follows. The first constraint ensures that each demand is assigned to a facility. When a demand i is assigned to a facility j then Yij = 1 as described in Equation 16.7:
Y
ij
1
i I
(16.7)
jJ
The second constraint ensures that demand nodes can only be assigned to open facilities. This means that a demand node can only be assigned to a selected facility. This is described in Equation 16.8. (16.8) Yij X j 0 i I ; j J The third constraint is to ensure that exactly P number of facilities are located. This is expressed using Equation 16.9.
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X
j
P
(16.9)
jJ
The fourth constraint ensures that the location variable X j must be an integer and binary. That is, a location can either be selected or not selected as described in Equation 16.10.
X j 0,1
j J
(16.10)
The fifth ensures that assignment variables are integers and binary. That is, a demand node is assigned to only one facility as expressed in Equation 16.11.
Yij 0,1
i I ; j J
(16.11)
Model summary The proposed flood p-median model is summarised as follows: k
C Q X h d Y
(16.12)
Y
(16.13)
minimise :
lj
j
c 1
Subject to:
i ij ij
jJ iI
ij
1
i I
jJ
Yij X j 0 i I ; j J
X
j
P
(16.14) (16.15)
jJ
X j 0,1 Yij 0,1
j J
(16.16)
i I ; j J
(16.17)
Algorithm Step 1: Measure the distance between potential sites in a location and present it using a distance matrix. Each of these locations represents a demand node. Step 2: Determine the number of available location combinations and enumerate the feasible combinatorial solutions to the binary integer linear programming model. Step 3: Given P , select the median points that are far from each other and establish the possible combination of points. That is, points i to j using the constraints in Equations 16.7–16.11. Step 4: Then combine the non-median points with the selected P median points and enumerate the combination. Check the combination of non-median points with the median point.
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Step 5: Check the combination with the minimum distance and note the location. Repeat this step for all the combinations and sum the total distance in each location. Then rank the location from the lowest to the highest value. This is the objective function. Step 6: Sum the cost due to vulnerability with the summation in step 5. Step 7: Rank the feasible sites according to the returned values of the objective function. Step 8: Select the location with the lowest score.
Model application In this section, the application of the formulated model is illustrated using facility location data of flood-prone sites within a local government area in Nigeria; the formulated model is a case study. The model application considered the influence of the cost due to flood vulnerability and the demand-weighted total distance in facility location in a flood-prone site. The application considered both the classical p-median model and the flood p-median model.
Case study The formulated model was applied at Ido Local Government Area (LGA), Ibadan, Oyo state, in South-West Nigeria. The communities are those identified as vulnerable in a vulnerability study of Ibadan metropolis described in Ajibade et al. (2021). The six towns that were randomly selected in Ido LGA are presented in Table 16.1. Although the city is landlocked, it has experienced severe flooding in the past and it is therefore appropriate for this work. In 2011, the city experienced what has been described as the worst flooding event since official records were kept. More than 100 lives were lost and over 30 billion naira worth of property was destroyed. This led to the creation of the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) by the state government with the assistance of the World Bank to combat flood hazards within the Ibadan metropolis.
Table 16.1 Table showing the locations LGA/towns Ido
A B C D E F Apata Ijokodo Apete Omi-Adio Ido Town Gbekuba
Table 16.2 Table showing the distance matrix for Ido LGA Towns (km) A B C D E F
228
A -
B 14 -
C 24 10 -
D 9.6 14.5 23 -
E 20 21 17 10 -
F 25 11 20 12 18 -
Demand 10 10 10 10 10 10
Towards flood resilient supply chain systems Table 16.3 Table showing the demand-weighted distance matrix Towns (km) A B C D E F
A -
B 140 -
C 240 100 -
D 96 145 230 -
E 200 210 170 100 -
F 250 110 200 120 180 -
Flood p-median solution to the case study This section describes the procedure followed in the application of the flood p-median model to the case study. i. The distances between the locations in the case study were measured as presented in Table 16.2 using a distance matrix. The existing distances between paired locations as shown in the matrix were measured with the aid of Google Maps. It is worth noting that all of the specified distances in the table were taken along the shortest possible road network and symmetry was assumed for each of the paired locations presented in the table. ii. The feasible combinations of two locations in the case study were determined as shown in Equations 16.18 and 16.19.
n! n r ! r !
(16.18)
6! 15. 6 2 ! 2 !
(16.19)
Crn C26
Thus, the 15 possible combinations of locations that were generated are as follows: a-b, a-c, a-d, a-e, a-f, b-c, b-d, b-e, b-f, c-d, c-e, c-f, d-e, d-f and e-f. iii. Each distance was multiplied by the demand emanating from the location to form the demand-weighted total distance. This is generated and presented in Table 16.3. iv. Selecting locations a and b as median points, then X aa = 1 and X bb = 1. To satisfy the second constraint Yij X ij 0 , locations c, d, e, f are attached to either location (a) or (b) (constraint 2 satisfied). Two median locations P are to be chosen. X j = 2 (constraint 3 satisfied). Therefore, the following were enumerated for the combination of non-median and median points. That is, a c 240, b c 100; thus we attached c b 100 because it has the lowest score. Similarly, a d 96, bd 145; d a 96 is selected for attachment. This procedure is repeated for a e 200, b e 210; e a 200 is attached, and a f 25, b f 110 ; f a 25 is attached. Thereafter, the demand-weighted total distance due to the selection of a and b is 100 + 96 + 200 + 25 = 421. Location c is attached to b while locations d, e and f are attached to a. Thus, the objective function score is 421. These steps were repeated for all of the location combinations listed above and the scores are presented in Table 16.4. In the table, the ranking shows that the location a − c has the lowest demand weighted. Steps 1–6 in the algorithm for solving the formulated flood p-median model also represent the algorithm for the classical approach. v. By considering the cost due to vulnerability in each location, a new table and ranking were generated from Table 16.4. The data in Table 16.5 presents the flood vulnerability level for each of the six locations in the case study.. 229
K.I. Abisoye et al. Table 16.4 Table showing feasible location rankings according to the objective function value Feasible locations (a, b) (a, c) (a, d) (a, e) (a, f) (b, c) (b, d) (b, e) (b, f) (c, d) (c, e) (c, f) (d, e) (d, f) (e, f)
Objective function values (classical model) 421 391 495 431 586 565 406 450 425 416 580 415 531 435 405
Rank 6 1 11 8 15 13 3 10 7 5 14 4 12 9 2
Table 16.5 Table showing feasible location rankings according to the objective function value Location A B C D E F
Vulnerability level Less vulnerable Moderately vulnerable Highly vulnerable Moderately vulnerable Least vulnerable Moderately vulnerable
Cost assigned 100 200 300 200 0 200
To determine the cost due to the vulnerability level of each location, the respective costs due to the vulnerability of the two selected median points in the previous analysis were summed up. For example, for the selected locations a − b , the cost due to vulnerability is calculated from Table 16.5 as 100 200 300 . After the cost due to the level of flood vulnerability at locations a and b was determined, the score was added to the score of the respective cost in Table 16.4. Thus, the objective function value at the location becomes 421 300 721. This procedure is repeated for all 15 feasible locations. The result from this step is presented in Table 16.6.
Discussion of results From the model application results, the top three feasible locations ranked according to the objective function value when only the classical p-median was used are listed according to their ranking: (a, c) (Apata and Apete), (e, f) (Ido town and Gbekuba), (b, d) (Ijokodo and Omi-Adio). However, when the formulated flood p-median model was applied to the same case study the top three feasible locations in order of objective function values returned changed from the ranking of the classical p-median. Thus, a new ranking was generated as (a, e) (Apata and Ido town), (e, f) (Ido town and Gbekuba) and (b, e) (Ijokodo and Ido town). 230
Towards flood resilient supply chain systems Table 16.6 Table showing a comparison between rankings Feasible Objective function locations values (classical model) (a, b) 421 (a, c) 391 (a, d) 495 (a, e) 431 (a, f) 586 (b, c) 565 (b, d) 406 (b, e) 450 (b, f) 425 (c, d) 416 (c, e) 580 (c, f) 415 (d, e) 531 (d, f) 435 (e, f) 405
Rank Cost due to vulnerability 6 1 11 8 15 13 3 10 7 5 14 4 12 9 2
300 400 300 100 300 500 400 200 400 500 300 500 200 400 200
Objective function values (flood p-median model) 721 791 795 531 886 1065 806 650 825 916 880 915 731 835 605
New rank
4 6 7 1 12 15 8 3 9 14 11 13 5 10 2
The implication of the shift in the ranking when the formulated flood p-median model was applied is that the inclusion of flood vulnerability can affect facility location viability. Among others, the flood p-model shows that flood risk consideration can have a significant impact on the relative values of cost data and information used for facility location decision-making. It must be noted however that the validity of the model results, like any other model, will be influenced by the values of the parameters used to quantify the cost of flood vulnerability as illustrated in Table 16.5. Hence, it is necessary that decision-makers, facility location practitioners and other stakeholders are familiar with tools and techniques to identify and quantify these flood risk costs and can capture such hazards and/or disasters during the allocation of facilities.
Conclusions In this study, we have considered the formulation of a flood p-median model with the consideration of flood vulnerability in a flood-prone site. The developed model shows the capability for facility location in flood-prone locations. The results of the flood p-median model show a shift in the feasible locations and the ranking of candidate sites when compared with the results generated when the classical p-median model was applied. Based on these results, it is concluded that the flood p-median model improves facility location decisionmaking and thereby improves the resilience of supply chain systems to flood events. Also, the flood mitigation strategies considered adequately provide disaster preparedness measures as a method of improving resilience in flood-prone areas. While the model can be applied to any location the local contexts which influence the perception of cost of vulnerability will however the impact the final decisions. The availability of flood risk data and information is therefore key to the application of the model. If knowledge of a potential site’s vulnerability to flood is available, appropriate mitigation strategies can be incorporated into facility construction, the education and training of workers, the type of insurance to buy and the preparedness/response actions to be carried out. Thus, additional research in 231
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this area of study is recommended, such as the development of a heuristic for solving this model as complete enumeration will be too cumbersome for most supply chain location problems.
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Luthar, S S. 2006. “Resilience in development: A synthesis of research across five decades.” Developmental Psychopathology: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation: 740–795. Mahmud, S H, and T Y Gan. 2018. “Multi-criteria approach to develop flood susceptibility maps in arid regions of Middle East.” Journal of Cleaner Production 196: 216–229. Marianov, V, and C ReVelle. 1996. “The queueing maximal availability location problem: A model for the siting of emergency vehicles.” European Journal of Operational Research 93(1): 110–120. Melo, M T, S Nickel, and F Saldanha-da-Gama. 2009. “Facility location and supply chain management – A review.” European Journal of Operational Research 196(2): 407. Miller, H J. 1996. “GIS and geometric representation in facility location problems.” International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 10(7): 791–816. National Research Council. 2013. Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices. Washington DC: National Academies Press. Oladokun, V O, D G Proverbs, and J Lammond. 2017. “Measuring flood resilience: A fuzzy logic approach.” International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation. 35(5), 470–487. Olatunji, E O, O A Adebimpe, and V O Oladokun. 2023. “A fuzzy logic approach for measuring flood resilience at community level in Nigeria.” International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-08-2022-0085. Ouma, Y O, and R Tateishi. 2014. “Urban flood vulnerability and risk mapping using integrated multiparametric AHP and GIS: Methodological overview and case study assessment.” Water 6(6): 1515–1545. Ponomarov, S Y, and M C Holcomb. 2009. “Understanding the concept of supply chain resilience.” The International Journal of Logistics Management. 20(1), 124–143. Saharia, M, P Kirstetter, H Vergara, J J Gourley, and Y Hong. 2017. “Characterization of floods in the United States.” Journal of Hydrology 548: 524–537. Sahin, G, and H Sural. 2007. “A review of hierarchical facility location models.” Computers and Operations Research 34(8): 2310–2331. Sheffi, Y, and J B Rice Jr. 2005. “A supply chain view of the resilient enterprise.” MIT Sloan Management Review 47(1): 41. Sridharan, R. 1995. “The capacitated plant location problem.” European Journal of Operational Research 87(2): 203–213. Wagner, S M, and C Bode. 2006. “An empirical investigation into supply chain vulnerability.” Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 12(6): 301–312.
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17 Conclusion and final remarks Divine Kwaku Ahadzie, David Proverbs, Robby Soetanto and Victor Oladokun
Introduction This edited handbook is a collection of insights from community initiatives in flood risk management. The insights into several community initiatives discussed under a single theme are what make the book a unique contribution in the flood risk management publishing space. This chapter provides an overview of the key contributions organised under five main sections: building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions, governance and community response, community-based flood resilience, flood insurance options and support systems and technologies to support community flood initiatives.
Section I: Building on local knowledge and nature-based solutions In this section titled “Building on Local Knowledge and Nature-Based Solutions,” three chapters are featured. Along and Ahmed draw on the co-production of knowledge to understand how local knowledge is being leveraged in an era of modernity and science to complement community flood risk management initiatives. Using in-depth interviews, they elicit responses involving case studies from multiple stakeholders with different types of knowledge that deal with flood risk in two local communities in Malaysia. Their findings suggest that local communities generate knowledge about flood risk through activities such as social memories, experiential learning and observations. According to Along and Ahmed, the interaction between local communities and authorities created space for knowledge coproduction and generated consultation and engagement, knowledge gathering, sharing, integration, interpretation, application and monitoring and evaluation. They observe that indigenous local knowledge and scientific knowledge about flood risk both have the potential to be co-produced under favourable conditions and it is important for communities to have knowledge of both knowledge streams and be aware of the differences and ways of perceiving them. Here, Sagala et al. also draw on local knowledge to understand how nature-based solutions (NBS) are being applied for flood risk management in local communities in Indonesia. They analysed the effectiveness and implications of local knowledge on applying NbS in 234
DOI: 10.1201/9781003315247-22
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tackling the impact of flooding in a community at high risk of coastal flooding. This narration indicates that the community has been able to grow, protect and sustain mangrove plantation which proved successful in mitigating coastal floods. The findings reveal the potential of the community in relying on local knowledge to restore mangroves along the coast and succeeding in improving their economic and social welfare through various activities and livelihoods. Sagala et al. therefore argue for increasing attention on and the integration of indigenous local knowledge in mainstreaming NbS into policies and regulations for flood risk management. Amid the challenges of COVID-19, it has become imperative to upscale the resilience of flood-prone communities in a pandemic era especially to avoid losing economic benefits in vulnerable communities. Hassan et al. take on this mantle by looking at social resilience in a flood-prone community in Malaysia which also boasts of UNESCO World Heritage Site status. The chapter explores the impact of flood as the impetus for intervention through infrastructure sustainability and exposes readers to the need for the inclusion and development of local knowledge and networks and sustainable initiatives for preserving heritage and community well-being. This was then used as a springboard to explore the level of preparedness of the community and its resilience in combating flood disasters while preserving the historical artefacts and cultural practices and protecting their source of income. This chapter offers a consideration of a socially and environmentally responsible approach to increase institutional and community partnership for community resilience and citizenship. Communities with tourism potential stand to benefit greatly from this chapter in how to build community cohesion from local knowledge to sustain the tourism industry especially amid flood disasters.
Section II: Governance and community response This section focuses on governance and community response. Here, Mohan Kumar Bera discusses local and national government involvement, in collaborating with local communities to manage emergencies during flood disasters in a village in the Czech Republic, in Central Europe. In particular, Bera highlighted the failure and success of the government in collaborating with the community. It is observed that, while emergency situations may enable people to learn and rectify the gaps in their current strategies and make better decisions, they sometimes also require changing leadership. Bera concludes that, in the end, it comes down to building trust between the municipality and the people in accepting changes in the governance system, and also in encouraging them to participate actively in emergency management. It is noted that the challenges or failures associated with emergency management must not be construed negatively as they allow for leaders and organisations to enhance their capability and confidence through the continuous improvement of strategies and operations. In the next chapter Mortiner et al. write from an Australian perspective in bringing to the fore an interesting discussion on what constitute the drivers, services gaps and factors for improving disaster management for displaced victims who particularly suffer prolonged displacement during and after floods. The case study emanates from flood victims who went through prolonged displacement in the 2022 floods in Lismore, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The chapter therefore recounts personal submissions made by flood-impacted residents of Lismore to the NSW Independent Flood Inquiry. The findings suggested, among other things, that delays in governmental response to displacement contributed to people’s experiences of prolonged displacement affecting their lives and livelihood. They make 235
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suggestions that can support trauma-informed institutional approaches to disaster management for displaced communities and thus limit the possibility of prolonged displacement occurring after a disaster. Rahaman and Saba draw attention to capturing the effectiveness of government and NGO support in engendering early warning and sustainable community-based early action interventions for disaster risk reduction in a flood-prone community in Bangladesh. Employing multi-dimensional explanatory research methods, including literature review and qualitative data analysis, they collected recent flood data from different stakeholders through focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII). They argued that, forecast-based early actions are an effective tool for flood resilience and have the potential to enhance resilience at the household and community level in terms of food security resilience, reducing loss and damage, health resilience, etc. The connection and connectedness among community members demonstrated a sense of social resilience, followed by early actions. According Rahaman and Saba, these early actions also helped in increasing the skills of the women participants in the decision-making process and also included engendering disaster risk reduction by the sustainable management of resources in resilient farming, livestock, poultry and rearing. From another interesting Australian perspective, Carrasco et al. draw attention to the intriguing subject of dealing with the safety of animals during floods especially in the event of animal evacuation. The inadequacy of facilities and the knowledge that livestock producers are a highly vulnerable group are acknowledged. While acknowledging the role of government agencies in assisting in the pre-emptive removal of animals from vulnerable areas, Carrasco et al. also note that the logistic challenges associated with a prompt livestock evacuation are magnified by the volumes to be transported, access to trucks and the owners’ uncertainties about the conditions of evacuation sites. This is manifested in data looking at the implications of ensuring the safe evacuation of animals during disasters in the Hunter region in New South Wales, which is recurrently impacted by floods. Their assessment shows that two-thirds of the facilities are unsuitable for floods, fires or both, and upgrading should be considered suitable for multiple disasters. Recommendations are made on the need for updated and reliable information about the conditions of the animal evacuation sites to support livestock owners’ decision-making to evacuate their animals and support the engagement of various stakeholders in ensuring animal welfare. The chapter provides very useful lessons for many communities across the world, especially in regions that fail to prioritise any safety in flood risk management.
Section III: Community-based flood resilience This section focuses on community-based flood resilience. Gleed et al. address flood resilience at the property level looking at an appraisal of the options and opportunities used to mitigate and minimise impacts by home owners for flood protection. This study highlighted case studies from Brazil and the UK of the range of flood protection options and opportunities available to property owners/occupants in restricting and/or admitting floodwater entry into buildings to minimise the impact, disruption and reinstatement of the building. It is observed that, in the UK, cost effectiveness is mainly achieved with insurance companies driving the agenda while property owners as the main stakeholders have to be convinced of the need for resilience. Alternatively, in Brazil, community engaged approaches have been developed that provide resilience at minimal cost. The study highlighted great potential for knowledge exchange between Global North and Global South nations and recommended 236
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adopting a collaborative learning approach to explore the ‘lived-experiences’ of home owners in both countries to identify and share best practices across nations. These experiences and lessons are therefore potentially useful for global knowledge transfer as well. Here, de Oliveira et al. provide insight into the prevention policy and experiences of flood resilience, also focusing on Brazil. Acknowledging the vastness of Brazil in terms of land size and the challenges this can pose to flood risk management, the chapter discusses how state agencies have attempted to use institutions to help address the issue of flood resilience at the national, state and federal levels. Subsequently, an overview of disaster management and successful civil defence practices in state and municipal administrations are discussed including in particular the divergent approaches taken by different communities in seeking to complement government efforts in building resilience, and measures are proposed to improve disaster management in the country. De Oliveira et al. suggest that to ensure pragmatism and effectiveness in policy directions, public managers need to appreciate the local challenges of their municipality and focus on collaborative and participatory governance, both in the context of other actors in society and especially the affected communities. From Ghana in the Global South, Dinye et al. also focus on community-based flood resilience strategies, discussing pathways for and reflections on building community resilience in that country, drawing on documentary reviews and empirical evidence from selected flood-affected informal communities in Kumasi, the second largest urbanised city in Ghana. The chapter provides key indicators, actors and activities for building community flood resilience in a developing country context. The chapter also focuses on exploring a proposed community-based flood risk management pathway to explain the complex dynamics of flood responses, coping mechanisms and adaptive capacities in cities and make a case for a comprehensive community-based flood resilience pathway for flood communities. The proposed framework in this study suggests an iterative flow-chart network with the representatives of the people in the local government assembly, herein known as assemblymen and community elders, as the focal point to lead the mandate for building resilient communities. Even though the proposed framework is context specific, Dinye et al. infer that communities with similar vulnerability conditions such as inadequate resources, lack of preparedness and low adaptive capacities could benefit from the findings in flood policy planning and management.
Section IV: Flood insurance options and support systems Flood insurance uptake is reported to be very low in developing countries. In this section, Adaku and Boateng et al. provide insight with supporting empirical data in understanding the current situation of low and/or no patronage with empirical data from two sub-Saharan African neighbours, Nigeria and Ghana respectively. In the case of Nigeria, Adaku sought to find out the extent of flood insurance uptake in Port Harcourt, a city highly susceptible to floods. The participants were all residents with lived and living experience of flooding. The findings suggested that despite the high susceptibility of residents to flood disasters and their perennial experience with flooding, there was zero flood insurance uptake among the participants. According to Adaku the findings confirm the low degree of awareness and need for education on the importance of insurance to mitigate disaster losses amid the threat of climate change in Nigeria. It is proposed that the government should work closely with insurance firms to educate the people and design 237
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flood insurance products that can help flood victims recover more quickly from disasters and improve resilience. Boateng et al. also confirm the status quo relating to the non-patronage of flood insurance in developing countries in their study focusing on the uptake of community flood insurance in Ghana. According to Boateng et al., the study was conducted to understand the industry requirements, individual acceptance and feasibility of flood insurance policies in Ghana. Data was collected from community members in two flood-prone communities in Kumasi, Ghana, and four high-profile insurance companies. The findings revealed that insurance uptake was generally low among the respondents and this is a result of mistrust of insurance officials and ignorance about flood insurance. It was further revealed that community flood insurance as a concept was unknown even to the insurance companies. Recommendations are advanced on stakeholder engagements to engender understanding of community flood insurance initiatives by both industry players and the general public, especially in the light of the recently initiated Ghana InsuResilience Global Partnership 2025 project, which is seeking to develop an affordable flood insurance support system for developing countries.
Section V: Technologies to support community flood initiatives This section focuses on technologies to support community flood initiatives. In this context, Simpeh et al. sought to interrogate literature appertaining to technology-mediated flood risk management (FRM) tools to identify the current trends and effectiveness of mobile application for managing floods in developing countries. A systematic review of the literature (SLR) using the PRISMA guiding framework was used to achieve the study’s goal. Based on the SLR, a suitable matrix of FRM smart applications has been developed. Following that, the factors influencing the effectiveness and awareness level of FRM smart applications have been outlined. The authors argue that technology-mediated FRM tools present opportunities for developing countries to explore and develop a guiding policy to assist in fast-tracking its application in the local context. They recommend that cost-benefit analysis of the different smart applications is urgently needed to establish the most affordable option(s) and how feasible it would be for end-users in developing countries. They also expressed a need for the level of awareness of technology-mediated applications to be broadened through education and advocacy. The second chapter draws on a case study involving river naturalisation or restoration in flood management. The chapter highlights the engagement of communities to manage floods and improve water quality by leveraging recent technological advancements in Indonesia. Here, Prastica et al. demonstrate the potential to reduce the likelihood and severity of flooding by leveraging CCTV to monitor flooding levels. This method, according to Prastica et al., enables communities to maintain optimal flood volumes and minimise potential damage. They conclude that, by leveraging community-based knowledge and experience, communities can predict flood and sediment volumes accurately, so that they can arrange future flood mitigation measures more effectively in building community resilience against future flooding events. Prastica et al. methodologically recount a step-by-step approach by which the communities were engaged in the project and highlight the role training and capacity building can play in fostering cost-effectiveness in the use of technology. From another interesting perspective, Abisoye et al. contributed to this section by delving into large-scale disruptions that occur in supply chain (SC) systems across many organisations during floods. The authors considered that, while facility location is a key decision influencing SCR, most existing facility location models do not consider resilience to 238
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flooding. They therefore adapted and reformulated what they describe as the “classical p-median location model” as the “flood p-median model” incorporating flood mitigation strategies such as structural projects, insurance, preparedness, response actions, education and training programmes. The application of the formulated model was illustrated using the facility location data of flood-prone sites within a local government area in Nigeria and compared with the classical p-median model. The results of the flood p-median model showed a change in the feasibility ranking of potential locations compared to the results generated by the classical p-median model. Abisoye et al. concluded that the flood p-median model provides additional information that accounts for resilience considerations in SC facility location decision-making problems. They also argued that, with the knowledge of the flood vulnerability level, adequate mitigation strategies can be put in place to improve SCR.
Final remarks This final chapter provides a summary of the key findings from the intriguing collection of contributions, which highlighted success stories in community actions for flood risk management across the world. The chapters also provided opportunities for lessons that can benefit cross-boundary knowledge transfer, challenges and how to potentially navigate around these towards a global approach to engendering community efforts in flood risk management. The chapters have demonstrated that communities are unique in their approach to dealing with flood risk management and there are opportunities for workable solutions to be learnt depending on culture. Different community-based actions draw from local knowledge, nature-based solutions, flood resilience at the property and community level, governance in emergency situations and displacement including that involving animals, and buttressing the low uptake of flood insurance in developing countries and the urgent need for upscaling integration. It is contended that this handbook is unique in the manner in which it provides insights on community issues under one umbrella normally uncommon in the literature. It is hoped that it provides a platform for increasing engagement in community issues to fulfil the Sendai Framework aspiration of improving societal capacity and resilience to disaster.
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9/11 54 21st century approach to building resilient communities 2, 131Abisoye, K. I. 222, 224, 226, 228, 230 Adebimpe, O. A. 222 Adi women in East Siang district 10 Africa 2, 4–5, 23, 145, 147, 153, 162, 174, 177, 184, 191, 192, 200 Agriculture and Animal Services Functional Area (AASFA) 103 Ahadzie, Divine Kwaku 1, 2, 4, 234, 236, 238 Ahmed, Iftekhar 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 Alas Purwo National Park Forest Management Unit (KKPH) 29 Along, Nurul Zainab Binti 9–10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 angin gendhi (strong wind) 30 animal evacuation sites (AES) 100, 106 animal welfare 103–105, 108, 110, 236 Animal-Safe Facilities 99, 101, 103, 105, 107, 109 Asamoah, Solomon 174 Asia 4, 24, 85 AtmaGo 198, 201 Australia 2, 4, 10, 66, 67, 73, 78, 99–105, 108, 110, 151, 235 average daily rates (ADR) 39 Avila Belia Ega 24 Avon and Somerset Constabulary 123 Azhari, Danang 24 Badeng River: Sumberbulu Village, Alas Malang Village, Banyuwangi Regency 209, 210, 212, 214 Bangladesh 2, 4, 85–87, 89, 95, 199, 236 Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) 89 Banyuwangi District 25 Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) 123 Belgium 115, 175 Belik River 207–209, 211, 215, 216 Bera, Mohan Kumar 53–54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 235 Binaung catchment area 209
bio-geophysical and social factors 26 Black Summer Bushfires 67, 100 Boateng, Sandra Serwaa 174, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186 Bolivia 2 Bomo watershed 209 Booth, A. Colin 115 Brazil 2, 4, 23, 116, 117, 120, 121, 124, 125, 129–135, 137–143, 236, 237 Brazilian Risk and Disaster Management (DRM) 133 Build Back Better approach 116 Build Indonesia to Protect Nature for Sustainability (BIJAK) 28 Building Resilient Cities 2030 (MCR 2030) 138 Carrasco, Sandra 99–100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110 case study cities: São Luís, Bristol 116–125 Caturtunggal Village 207 Center National Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters (Cemaden) 137 char lands: Jamuna and Teesta Rivers 86 char lands of Bangladesh (riverine islands) 85–86 China 38 cities 1, 2, 31, 37, 102, 116, 119, 125, 129, 133, 137–139, 141, 144–145, 148, 177, 191, 207, 237 the city of Melaka 37–38, 42 classical p-median model 226, 228, 231, 239 climate action 2, 27 climate change 24, 29, 32–37, 41, 47, 67–69, 102, 110, 115, 119, 124, 134, 141, 143, 161, 222, 237 climate change adaptation (CCA) 69 coastal flood 10, 23, 25, 27–31, 119, 124, 235 Colombia 2 colonial trade: Europe, the Portuguese, Dutch, and British 37 community action 1–3, 5, 239 community adaptive capacities 144 community flood insurance 5, 174–179, 181, 183, 185, 238 241
Index
community involvement 4, 32, 214 community networks and relationships 40 community resilience 1, 4, 5, 26, 29, 31, 40, 85, 87, 95–96, 103, 124–125, 142–143, 149, 152–153, 174, 178, 218, 237–238 Community Risk Register 123 community-based flood risk initiatives 1 Community-Based Flood Risk Management pathway 237 community-led initiative 28 concrete-based channel: vegetated riparian and green infrastructure 206–208, 211, 215 Conservation Section for Region V Banyuwangi 29 Coordinated Actions Group (GRAC) 135 COVID-19 36–38, 46 Crisis Management Act No. 240/2000 56 cultural heritage 40, 42, 44 culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities 10 Czech Republic 4, 53, 55–56, 60, 235; forests of 56 Deduako 176–181 Department of Primary Industries (DPI) 103 Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) 37 developing countries 5, 23, 131, 163–164, 174, 186, 192, 200–201, 206–207, 237–239 Development Risk Management Approaches for Climate and Health Risk 196 de Oliveira, Henrique Francisco 129–130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142 de Oliveira, Furlan Renan 129 Dhaka 85–86, 93 Dinye, Irene-Nora 144, 146, 148, 150, 152 Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) 10 disaster knowledge co-production 10 disaster management 23, 27–28, 31, 53, 55–56, 61, 63, 66–67, 69, 77–78, 87, 89, 92, 95, 103, 130, 133–136, 141, 143, 195, 198–199, 223, 235, 237 Disaster Management Law of 24/2007, Water Law of 7/2004, and Spatial Planning Law of 26/2007 27–28 disaster preparedness 87, 206, 223, 225, 231 disaster risk management (DRM) 199 disaster risk reduction 2, 4, 11, 23–25, 32, 39, 69, 92, 95–96, 100, 103, 132, 138, 142, 162, 192, 206–207, 222, 236 drought 2, 41, 100, 102, 129–130, 141, 174 early warning forecasting systems 1 East Java Governor’s Decree Number 188 of 2020, 2021 28, 32 Eastern Australian Floods 66 Echendu, Adaku 161, 162, 164, 166, 168 Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia 15 242
ecosystem restoration 27 ecotourism products: mangrove crabs, syrup, coffee, tea, bread flour, and crackers 31 Ecuador 2 Egbelakin, Temitope 66, 99 emergency leadership 54, 59, 63 emergency response system: Constitutional Act. No. 110/1998 53 engineering techniques or technologies 27 epistemological freedom 10 Erwanto, Zulis 206 Essential Ecosystem Area (EEA) 25, 27–28, 31–32 Europe 2, 115, 235 experiential learning 12, 16, 18–19, 234 extreme weather 1, 41, 115 Favelas 116, 117, 119, 124 Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) 223 fired bricks 118 Flood Action Plan’s flood forecasting model 86 Flood Alert app 197 flood casualties 2 flood emergency management 4, 53, 55–56 flood events 1, 2, 13, 16, 18, 44, 46, 66, 73, 104, 116, 119, 124, 130, 139, 148–149, 151–152, 161, 215–216, 231 Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) 88 flood hazards 144, 147–150, 162, 167, 175, 191, 195, 228 flood insurance 3–5, 57, 161–183, 185–186, 234, 237–239 flood management 37–38, 40, 43, 53, 55–57, 87, 103, 145–146, 148, 151, 174, 178, 192, 195, 206–208, 238 flood mitigation 4, 5, 164, 167, 186, 206–208, 211, 218, 224, 231, 238, 239 flood p-median model 239 flood preparedness 18, 20, 26, 104, 123, 168 flood resilience technologies 115 flood risk management 1–5, 9, 13, 15, 23–25, 27–28, 32, 123, 145, 147, 149, 151, 153, 162, 164, 168–169, 175, 186, 191–197, 199–201, 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, 219, 234–237, 239 flood risk reduction 4, 5, 192 flood vulnerability 23, 87, 96, 145–147, 177, 192, 223–226, 229–231 flood zones 12, 174 flooding: fluvial, pluvial and estuarine/coastal storm 116, 117–122 floodplain 2, 72, 73, 75–76, 119–120, 125, 176 flood-prone areas 4, 5, 85, 146, 169, 177, 185, 224, 231 floodwater 16, 66, 93, 119–120, 206, 236 Foden, George 36 forecast-based early actions 85–87, 90, 236
Index
France 200 frequency and intensity of floods 1, 41 Fulchari 86, 88, 90, 93 Gaibandha Sadar 86–90, 92–93, 95–96 Germany 115, 175, 200 Ghana 4, 5, 115, 145, 147–148, 150, 152–153, 174–179, 181–183, 185–186, 196, 200, 237–238 GIS-SM-DDSS 198 Gleed, Fion 115–116, 118, 120, 122, 124 Gondomanan 207 green infrastructure: infiltration, green swale, and green pavement 24, 206–208, 211, 215 Hassan, Zerafinas Abu 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46 Hawkesbury-Nepean region 10 HEC-RAS 139 heritage preservation 36, 38, 43, 47 historical-comparative practices 3 human losses 2, 137 Hunter Local Land Services 100, 105, 109 Hurricane Katrina in 2005 54 Hydrometeorological Institute, Povodí Odry 56–57 Ibadan 166, 228 Ido Local Government Area (LGA) 228 incremental learning 144, 149 India 2, 10, 23, 195, 199 Indigenous Local Knowledge (ILK) 9 Indonesia 4, 5, 24–25, 27–29, 44, 198, 206–207, 209, 212, 234, 238 Insurance Development Forum (IDF) 175 InsuResilience Global Partnership 2025 238 Integrated Center for Risk and Disaster Management (CIGERD) 135 Integrated Rescue Services (IRS) 56 Iranata, Data 206 Italy 175 IVR technology 95 Jalan Notonegoro 215 Japan 175 Jeseník nad Odrou 55 Kampung: Temai Hilir, Permatang Siput 12 Kapanewon Depok 207 Karangwuni Village 207 Kathmandu 85 Kedunggebang 25, 31 Kedungringin 25, 31 Kedungsari 31 King, Rudith S. 191 Klitren 207
knowledge co-production 9–10, 13–13 knowledge transfer 199, 237, 239 Kristang community 38 Kumasi 145–148, 151–153, 176–179, 237–238 Kumbo catchment area 209 Linheira, Guilherme 129 Lismore 66–67, 69–76, 78, 235 local knowledge 3–5, 7, 9, 11, 24–27, 29–32, 40, 116, 148–149, 234–235, 239 Local Land Services (LLS) 103 Local Resilience Forums (LRF) 103 local-based model 5 low-income communities: Sepe Buokrom and Ahinsan 145, 146, 148, 150–152 Luxembourg 115 Malay 12–13, 15–16, 18, 38, 41–45 Malaysia 4, 9, 15, 36–37, 41, 234–235 Managed Realignment (MR) 10 Mangroves 31–32, 235 MAppERS app 196 Maranhão State 116 Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) 10 Maulana, Mahendra Andiek 206 Melaka, Tengah 43 Melo, Silas N. 115 Mensah, Henry 144, 191 Ministry of Regional Development (MDR) 137 mobile mapping tools: Google map, OpenStreetMap and Google Earth 195 Mobile-GIS 198 monsoon region 41 Morten Village 36–38, 41–44, 46–47 Mortimer, Anastasia 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78 Muncar and Tegaldlimo Sub-district 25, 31 Municipal Secretariat of Security with Citizenship (Semusc) 122 My Flood Risk Accra app 195–196 Nafil, Tabrizy Azkiyan 206 National Civil Defense System (SINDEC) 130–131 National Council for Civil Defense and Protection (CONPDEC) 134 National Policy for Protection and Civil Defense (PNPDEC) 122 National Science Foundation (NSF) 9 National System for Protection and Civil Defense (SINPDEC) 122 natural disasters 39, 41, 60, 85, 129–131, 137, 174, 194, 222–223 natural risks in Malaysia: storms, landslides, wildfires, droughts, earthquakes, and mass migration 41 nature-based solutions 3–5, 24, 26, 32, 207, 234, 239 243
Index
Nepal 2, 195, 199 the Netherlands 32, 115, 200 New Zealand 109 Nggolo 207 Nigeria 5, 161–169, 196, 200, 228, 237, 239 non-structural measures 27, 61, 139, 168–169, 186 North America 2 Northern New South Wales (NSW) 66 Nový Jičín district flood commission 57 Nový Jičín district in the Moravian-Silesian region 55 NSW Independent Flood Inquiry 69–70, 72, 235 Ogunmakinde, Olabode 99 Ogunna, Chukwudi 36 Oladokun, V. O. 222 ongkep (hot temperature) 30 Opak River 207 Orang Asli 12–13, 15–18 Oyo state 228 Pacific Asia 24 padang bulan 30 Padilha, Victor Luis 129 Panceri, Regina 129 Pangpang Bay 24–25, 27–32 Paraguay 2 participant observation 41 Pekan district 15 Peranakan Baba Nyonya community 38 Peru 2 Pinus Forest 209 PMF 73–74 Portugal 175 Prastica, Rian Mantasa Salve 206, 208, 210, 212, 214, 216, 218 Preservation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage Enactment of 1988 42 prolonged displacement 66–84, 78, 235, 236 property flood resilience (PFR) 124 property level flood protection 115 Proverbs, David 1 Putra, Medhiansyah 24 Queensland floods 2, 99 Rahaman, Muhammad Abdur 85–86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 River Avon 118–119 rumah melayu Melaka 44 Rumah Panggung (stage house) 44 Saba, Zereen 85–86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 safety of animals 4, 236 Sagala, Saut 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 Saghata 86, 93 Salsabiela, Indah 24 244
Samirono 207 Santa Catarina 131, 134–137, 140–143 Santana, G. Ricardo 115 São Paulo 139–140, 142–143 scientific knowledge 3, 9, 20, 234 SDGs 1, 3, 4, 175 sediment detection sensor 5, 206 Sendai framework 2–4, 24, 103, 162, 239 Setail River zone 27 Severn Estuary 118–119 Shahrin, Farah 36 Sher, Willy 66 Short Message Service (SMS) 88 Silva, D. Quésia 115 Simpeh, Eric Kwame 144 Sleman Regency 207 smallholder farmers in Jind (Haryana) 10 Smallwood, J. John 191 smart application 192, 200, 201, 238 social memories 12, 18–19, 234 societal capacity 2, 3, 5, 239 socio-ecological learning 150 socio-ecological systems (SES) 10 Soetanto, Robby 1, 234 Sogaxa, Athenkosi 191 Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) 210 South America 2 South Malawi 26–27 Southeast Asia 4, 85 South-Eastern Queensland (QLD) 66 Southern Chinese 38 Spain 175, 200 Special Flood Hazard Area 176 Special Fund for Public Disasters (FUNCAP) 130 Special Group for Public Disaster Matters (GEACAP) 130 stakeholders 9–15, 20–25, 27–28, 38, 47, 60, 87, 100, 109–110, 125, 149, 151–152, 176, 200, 231, 234, 236 Stella Duce High School Girls 207–208 Straits of Melaka 38 structural defences 1 Sub-Saharan Africa 5, 145, 174, 191–192, 200, 237 Sulaiman, Muhammad 206 Sumberarum Village, forested mountainous area of 210 Sundarganj 86 Sungai 13, 36–37, 45–46, 208 Superintendence of Protection and Civil Defense (Sudec) 123 Supply Chain (SC) systems 238 Supply Chain Flood Resilience (SCFR) 223 Supply Chain Management (SCM) 223 Supply Chain Resilience (SCR) 222 support systems 3, 4, 234, 237
Index
sustainable community initiatives 1 Switzerland 115, 175 Teluk Pangpang/Pangpang Bay 25 Terban 207 Thailand 39, 222 tidal floods 27 trans-local resources 144 tukang kayu 44 udan deres (intense rainfall) 30 UK 4, 116–118, 121–125, 164, 185, 195, 200, 236 UNDRR 2, 116, 138
UNESCO 37–38, 235 Union Disaster Volunteer (UDV) 95 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 137 urban slums 146, 149 WetIn app 196 White, Gilbert Fowler 2 Wilsons River 67 Wringin Putih Village 29 Yogyakarta city 207, 211, 214–215
245