Citation

Douglas I. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 2017; 26: 34-42.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.09.024

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Understanding what can be done about flooding involves examining how everyday urban activities exacerbate flood risks, and how to reduce the inequitable exposure to flood risks at all scales from the individual household to national governments and international river basin management. Those who change the landscape in ways that make flooding worse are not usually those who suffer the consequences of such changes. Understanding of the inter-relations between both geophysical processes and human drivers and human victims at multiple scales is required. Teleconnections mean that the global, the rural and the urban all affect one another. Across Africa, as in other continents, flooding may arise locally within built-up areas from debris blocking streams and from overflowing sewers. Nevertheless, many cities are flooded by major rivers that carry extreme flows of water from surrounding regions and even distant mountains. The causes and impacts of floods, human vulnerability, possibilities of risk reduction and political and management responsibilities vary from the household and community levels up to sub-continental hydrologic systems and the global climate system. Co-ordinated action must take account of the differing scales of flood problems ranging from those arising from highly localised thunderstorms to the huge flood flows on major rivers produced by tropical cyclones. Urban flood management needs local, regional or national action at appropriate scales, with communities dealing with problems entirely with their areas, local governments acting on issues that are totally within their boundaries and national governments or international river basin organizations dealing with problems across many administrations.

Language: en