scholarly journals The role of household adaptation measures in reducing vulnerability to flooding: a coupled agent-based and flood modelling approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 5329-5354
Author(s):  
Yared Abayneh Abebe ◽  
Amineh Ghorbani ◽  
Igor Nikolic ◽  
Natasa Manojlovic ◽  
Angelika Gruhn ◽  
...  

Abstract. Flood adaptation measures implemented at the household level play an important role in reducing communities' vulnerability. The aim of this study is to enhance the current modelling practices of human–flood interaction to draw new insights for flood risk management (FRM) policy design. The paper presents a coupled agent-based and flood model for the case of Hamburg, Germany, to explore how individual adaptation behaviour is influenced by flood event scenarios, economic incentives and shared and individual strategies. Simulation results show that a unique trajectory of adaptation measures and flood damages emerges from different flood event series. Another finding is that providing subsidies increases the number of coping households in the long run. Households' social network also has a strong influence on their coping behaviour. The paper also highlights the role of simple measures such as adapted furnishings, which do not incur any monetary cost, in reducing households' vulnerability and preventing millions of euros of contents damages. Generally, we demonstrate that coupled agent-based and flood models can potentially be used as decision support tools to examine the role of household adaptation measures in flood risk management. Although the findings of the paper are case-specific, the improved modelling approach shows the potential to be applied in testing policy levers and strategies considering heterogeneous individual behaviours.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yared Abayneh Abebe ◽  
Amineh Ghorbani ◽  
Igor Nikolic ◽  
Natasa Manojlovic ◽  
Angelika Gruhn ◽  
...  

Abstract. Flood adaptation measures implemented at household-level play an important role in reducing communities’ vulnerability. The aim of this study is to enhance the current modelling practices of human-flood interaction to draw new insights for FRM policy design. The paper presents a coupled agent-based and flood model for the case of Hamburg, Germany to explore how individual adaptation behaviour is influenced by flood events scenarios, economic incentives, and shared and individual strategies. Simulation results show that a unique trajectory of adaptation measures and flood damages emerge from different flood event series. Another finding is that providing subsidies increases the number of coping households in the long run. Households’ social network also has a strong influence on their coping behaviour. The paper also highlights the role of simple measures such as adapted furnishing, which do not incur any monetary cost, in reducing households vulnerability and preventing millions of euros of contents damage. Generally, we demonstrate that coupled agent-based and flood models can potentially be used as decision support tools to examine the role of household adaptation measures in flood risk management. Although the findings of the paper are case-specific, the improved modelling approach shows the potential to be applied in testing policy levers and strategies considering heterogeneous individual behaviours.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Mayr ◽  
Thomas Thaler ◽  
Johannes Hübl

International and national laws promote stakeholder collaboration and the inclusion of the community in flood risk management (FRM). Currently, relocation as a mitigation strategy against river floods in Central Europe is rarely applied. FRM needs sufficient preparation and engagement for successful implementation of household relocation. This case study deals with the extreme flood event in June 2016 at the Simbach torrent in Bavaria (Germany). The focus lies on the planning process of structural flood defense measures and the small-scale relocation of 11 households. The adaptive planning process started right after the damaging event and was executed in collaboration with authorities and stakeholders of various levels and disciplines while at the same time including the local citizens. Residents were informed early, and personal communication, as well as trust in actors, enhanced the acceptance of decisions. Although technical knowledge was shared and concerns discussed, resident participation in the planning process was restricted. However, the given pre-conditions were found beneficial. In addition, a compensation payment contributed to a successful process. Thus, the study illustrates a positive image of the implementation of the alleviation scheme. Furthermore, preliminary planning activities and precautionary behavior (e.g., natural hazard insurance) were noted as significant factors to enable effective integrated flood risk management (IFRM).


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas S Reynard ◽  
Alison L Kay ◽  
Molly Anderson ◽  
Bill Donovan ◽  
Caroline Duckworth

Floods are one of the biggest natural hazards to society, and there is increasing concern about the potential impacts of climate change on flood occurrence and magnitude. Furthermore, flood risk is likely to increase in the future not just through increased flood occurrence, but also through socio-economic changes, such as increasing population. The extent to which adaptation measures can offset this increased risk will depend on the level of future climate change, but there exists an urgent need for information on the potential impacts of climate change on floods, so that these can be accounted for by flood management authorities and local planners aiming to reduce flood risk. Agencies across the UK have been pro-active in providing such guidance for many years and in refining it as the science of climate change and hydrological impacts has developed. The history of this guidance for fluvial flood risk in England is presented and discussed here, including the recent adoption of a regional risk-based approach. Such an approach could be developed and applied to flood risk management in other countries, and to other sectors affected by climate change.


10.1596/25112 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Anees Soz ◽  
Jolanta Kryspin-Watson ◽  
Zuzana Stanton-Geddes

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