Hurricane Harvey and Greater Houston households: comparing pre-event preparedness with post-event health effects,event exposures,and recovery

Most disaster studies rely on convenience sampling and ‘after-only’ designs to assess impacts. This paper, focusing on Hurricane Harvey (2017) and leveraging a pre-/post-event sample of Greater Houston households (n=71) in the United States, establishes baselines for disaster preparedness and home structure flood hazard mitigation, explores household-level ramifications, and examines how preparedness and mitigation relate to health effects, event exposures, and recovery. Between 70 and 80 per cent of participants instituted preparedness measures. Mitigation actions varied: six per cent had interior drainage systems and 83 per cent had elevated indoor heating/cooling components. Sixty per cent reported home damage. One-half highlighted allergies and two-thirds indicated some level of post-traumatic stress (PTS). Three-quarters worried about family members/friends. The results of generalised linear models revealed that greater pre- event mitigation was associated with fewer physical health problems and adverse experiences, lower PTS, and faster recovery. The study design exposed the broad benefits of home structure flood hazard mitigation for households after Harvey.     

Is there a trade-off between households’ precautions,mitigations and public protection for flood risk?

This paper evaluates willingness-to-pay (WTP) for flood insurance and floodgate installation in Tainan, Taiwan, and finds that household flood precaution (observing the water level) has a minor effect in terms of increasing the WTP for flood insurance, rather than decreasing it. The reason for this is that people who have public flood protection nearby do not lower their WTP for floodgate and insurance, and those who live near the water source of floods and exhibit precautionary behavior have higher risk perceptions and intend to pay more. The adopted mitigation (having sandbags or other barriers) will not affect the intention to further mitigate or buy insurance. This also means that adverse selection in relation to flood insurance is not serious in the flood-prone area of Tainan. Households may be aware of the limitation of public flood protection though the precautionary behavior, and found that flood insurance can compensate for most of the flood damage.     

中国实行洪水保险的可行性研究

在回顾洪水保险实施现状的基础上，指出了我国洪水保险与世界洪水保险的差距，根据我国洪水灾害的特点和我国经济体制的特点，提出了符合我国国情的洪水保险措施：建立洪水保险准备金是进行洪水保险的前提，洪水保险的特殊性决定了洪水保险不可能是个营利性的保险，因此要保证洪水保险的正常运行必须有社会和国家的扶持，洪水保险机构应按流域设立，中国洪水灾害发生的空间特点决定了洪水保险机构只能按流域设置，洪水灾害发生的时间特点决定了洪水保险的对象必须是固定资产，而不应该是流动资产，遭受洪水灾害影响最大的是农田，因此农田应该是洪水保险的对象，不应该是种植在农田里的农作物，另外可以通过农业保险对不同农作物进行保险，洪水保险需要洪水风险的分析和研究作技术支撑，没有科学的洪水风险分析，洪水保险很难顺利进行，加强与洪水保险有关的各方面法律法规的建立，在洪水保险法中明确界定洪水保险的保险对象，明确保险双方的义务和权利。     

Valuing floodplain protection and avoidance in a coastal watershed

Flood‐related losses in the United States are increasing despite large‐scale mitigation efforts. To offset the rising cost of floods, the US Congress passed legislation in 2014 that will augment insurance premiums to make the National Flood Insurance Program more actuarially sound. Consequently, there is interest in lowering flood‐related costs to the homeowner, both in terms of premiums and damage. This study addresses the issue by integrating premium savings and damages avoided based on several mitigation scenarios. Specifically, it examines how much policyholders within a watershed near Houston, Texas, could have saved between 1999 and 2009 had their communities introduced specific avoidance‐based mitigation activities. The results indicate that homeowners and communities can offset premium rises and a majority of the damage suffered through marginal expansions of such initiatives. However, the costs associated with their implementation could counter some of these savings, and hence they need to be considered in future work.     

中国洪涝灾害结构式与非结构式减灾措施耦合协调性研究

结构式与非结构式减灾措施是构成洪涝灾害防治体系的两个相互补充、相互促进的子系统,基于2008—2018年的面板数据,构建中国洪涝灾害结构式与非结构式减灾措施耦合协调度评价指标体系,引入耦合协调度模型测度中国洪涝灾害结构式与非结构式减灾措施建设水平以及两者间的耦合度和耦合协调度,以期进一步提升我国洪涝灾害防治体系的防灾减...     

The 2011 flood event in the Mekong Delta: preparedness,response, damage and recovery of private households and small businesses

Floods frequently cause substantial economic and human losses, particularly in developing countries. For the development of sound flood risk management schemes that reduce flood consequences, detailed insights into the different components of the flood risk management cycle, such as preparedness, response, flood impact analyses and recovery, are needed. However, such detailed insights are often lacking: commonly, only (aggregated) data on direct flood damage are available. Other damage categories such as losses owing to the disruption of production processes are usually not considered, resulting in incomplete risk assessments and possibly inappropriate recommendations for risk management. In this paper, data from 858 face‐to‐face interviews among flood‐prone households and small businesses in Can Tho city in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta are presented to gain better insights into the damage caused by the 2011 flood event and its management by households and businesses.     

基于农户视角的政策性种植业保险调研报告——以湖南省566户调查数据为例

基于566户调研数据,对湖南省开展的政策性种植业保险做了深入分析,以期对农业保险的开展和相关政策实施提供有益的参考。调查结果显示:水稻和棉花保险保障程度有限,低于基本物化成本;对相关政策的不理解以及担心得不到赔偿是限制农户购买农业保险的主要原因;农户愿意支付的水稻与棉花的保险费率平均在2.6%～3.0%。建议加强农村基础设施建设,提高农业生产设防水平;结合农民需求和支付意愿,设计合理丰富的保险产品;增加农民收入,加强保险知识教育;加大农业保险宣传,保证基层政府和保险公司良好的公信度。     

长江荆江分蓄洪区历史演变、前景和风险管理

依据社会经济统计数据、水文资料、遥感影像信息和实地调查资料，分析了荆江分蓄洪区在历史演变过程中形成的分洪与发展的矛盾及其在未来长江流域防洪体系中的重要作用，指出其风险管理的必要性。运用基于GIS栅格数据的二维水动力洪水动态演进模型，对荆江分蓄洪区1954年的分洪过程进行了模拟和验证，模拟了不同分洪规划方案下的洪水淹没范围，水深和水位，并结合现阶段社会经济发展情况，定量估算了农户和农业的分洪可能损失。在分洪损失评估基础上提出了荆江分蓄洪区引导人口合理发展、促进土地有效利用、开展防洪教育、实施洪水保险和确保安全运用预案等减轻洪水损失提高运用机率的洪水风险管理初步方案。     

从广西1994年特大洪灾谈非工程防洪措施

本文根据广西各地１９９４年洪灾的具体情况，深入分析了工程防洪措施的局限性及非工程防洪措施存在的问题，提出了加强广西非工程措施的重点是加强民众水患意识教育，广泛开展洪水多发区的洪水风险评估并加强土地管理，建立先进的洪水预报预警系统及完善的洪水保险业务。     

Earthquake insurance pricing: a risk‐based approach

Flat earthquake premiums are ‘uniformly’ set for a variety of buildings in many countries, neglecting the fact that the risk of damage to buildings by earthquakes is based on a wide range of factors. How these factors influence the insurance premiums is worth being studied further. Proposed herein is a risk‐based approach to estimate the earthquake insurance rates of buildings. Examples of application of the approach to buildings located in Taipei city of Taiwan were examined. Then, the earthquake insurance rates for the buildings investigated were calculated and tabulated. To fulfil insurance rating, the buildings were classified into 15 model building types according to their construction materials and building height. Seismic design levels were also considered in insurance rating in response to the effect of seismic zone and construction years of buildings. This paper may be of interest to insurers, actuaries, and private and public sectors of insurance.     

Insurance and flood risk reduction in Ghana: do insurers penalise homeowners who take precautionary measures?

Today, many advocate insurance as a tool for coping with natural disasters. Beyond providing prompt financial relief to victims of disasters, insurance can also incentivise individuals to invest in preventive measures if insurers reward such efforts with reduced premiums. However, insurers might be unable to reward investments in precautionary measures with lower premiums if they are ill-informed about individual-level risks. Here, we explore how Ghanaian home insurers respond to investments in flood risk reduction by asking them to quote premiums for four identical buildings; two had investments in flood risk reduction, while the other two had none. We find that insurers did not reward investments in risk reduction, with some charging higher premiums for elevated buildings, suggesting they have interpreted such preventive measures as a sign of high flood risk. This failure to reward investments in precautionary measures may discourage insured homeowners from investing in risk reduction.     

基于GIS多准则评价与BP神经网络的暴雨洪涝灾害风险辨识--以闽三角地区为例

灾害风险辨识是灾害有效防控的重要环节之一,辨识体系与风险水平之间的非线性复杂关系使研究方法向精细化、智能化转型。闽三角地区是我国重要的沿海经济开放区,独特的“山-海”自然地理格局、起伏破碎的地形、高发的台风暴潮和极端短时降雨特征使其常遭受洪涝灾害侵扰。以闽三角为例,将生态服务价值纳入风险评价体系,构建基于GIS多准则评价与BP神经网络模型的风险辨识方法,旨在完善评价体系的同时,弥补传统评价方法存在的非线性缺陷和主观依赖,并以此为基础,进一步探究该地区风险空间分布规律和空间格局,为灾害风险防控提供思路。结果表明:①基于GIS多准则评价与BP神经网络模型的风险辨识方法能够系统准确的认知暴雨洪涝灾害风险水平与空间分布;②高风险区主要分布在河流沿岸、河口处、湾区,且人口、经济活动较活跃地区,城市化发展快速区与缓慢区相比,更容易遭受洪涝灾害威胁;③洪涝风险以高-高和低-低集聚为主,风险根据空间自相关性特征分为“整体随机”“局部随机-邻域集聚”和“整体集聚”三种类型。最后根据风险特征将闽三角地区高风险分为“厦门集美版块”“泉州湾区版块”“漳州县区版块”,分别提出灾害治理建议。     

Repetitive flood victims and acceptance of FEMA mitigation offers: an analysis with community-system policy implications

Of all natural disasters, flooding causes the greatest amount of economic and social damage. The United States' Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses a number of hazard mitigation grant programmes for flood victims, including mitigation offers to relocate permanently repetitive flood loss victims. This study examines factors that help to explain the degree of difficulty repetitive flood loss victims experience when they make decisions about relocating permanently after multiple flood losses. Data are drawn from interviews with FEMA officials and a survey of flood victims from eight repetitive flooding sites. The qualitative and quantitative results show the importance of rational choices by flood victims in their mitigation decisions, as they relate to financial variables, perceptions of future risk, attachments to home and community, and the relationships between repetitive flood loss victims and the local flood management officials who help them. The results offer evidence to suggest the value of a more community-system approach to FEMA relocation practices.     

Innovation in risk transfer for natural hazards impacting agriculture

Agricultural income from growing crops is susceptible to a variety of risks—the price of output and the actual amount of output are generally the largest risk variables. This article focuses on yield risk rather than price risk by reviewing innovation in risk transfer for natural hazard risk in agriculture. While many higher-income countries have long-standing crop insurance programs, these programs are not appropriate for lower-income countries. Lower-income countries can ill-afford the subsidies that are used in most multiple peril crop insurance programs throughout the world. Still, lower-income countries have large numbers of small farms increasing the need for agricultural insurance to protect against common problems that create disastrous losses for many individual farm households.     

Exploring the feasibility of private micro flood insurance provision in Bangladesh

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the feasibility of the provision of micro flood insurance as an effective tool for spreading disaster risks in developing countries and examines the role of the institutional-organisational framework in assisting the design and implementation of such a micro flood insurance market. In Bangladesh, a private insurance market for property damage and livelihood risk due to natural disasters does not exist. Private insurance companies are reluctant to embark on an evidently unprofitable venture. Testing two different institutional-organisational models, this research reveals that the administration costs of micro-insurance play an important part in determining the long-term viability of micro flood insurance schemes. A government-facilitated process to overcome the differences observed in this study between the nonprofit micro-credit providers and profit-oriented private insurance companies is needed, building on the particular competence each party brings to the development of a viable micro flood insurance market through a public-private partnership.     

Flood insurance and floodplain management: the US experience

Abstract

With over six million buildings located within the boundaries of the 100-yr floodplain, flood losses across the United States are widespread (88% of US counties experienced at least one flood disaster during the second half of the twentieth century). To deal with this problem, the federal government provides flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, which was initiated by Congress in 1968 and amended significantly in 1969, 1973, and 1994. This article describes the US approach to flood insurance and notes a number of problems that have limited its effectiveness. Flood hazard identification is incomplete, and methods used are flawed. Mitigation has failed to contain increasing exposure to property damage in floods and coastal storms, and it has failed to markedly reduce exposure to loss of older buildings located in flood hazard areas. Market penetration of flood insurance is low, in spite of mandatory purchase requirements for new construction and the availability of subsidized insurance rates for older buildings located in flood-hazard areas. These problems, although serious, can be remedied through a variety of actions taken by governments at the federal, state, and local level.     

How structural mitigation shapes risk perception and affects decision‐making

This paper reviews the relationships between risk perception and structural measures in an Australian context in three respects: (i) opinions about authorities’ ability to mitigate flood risks; (ii) the role of flood experience in shaping views on risk; and (iii) perspectives on the ways in which structural measures shape decision‐making pertaining to protective action. The main finding of this analysis is that the study participants do not suffer from the ‘levee paradox'. Most take precautionary steps to guard against residual flood risk. Such actions, however, do not mean that there is a lack of trust in structural measures to reduce significant flood risk. The majority of the respondents agreed about the necessity of engineering structures to mitigate inherent flood risk. This support, though, does not extend to their management. Losses during major flooding in southeast Queensland, Australia, in 2010–11 were attributed primarily by residents to operational decisions concerning dam water releases.     

Innovation in risk transfer for natural hazards impacting agriculture

Agricultural income from growing crops is susceptible to a variety of risks—the price of output and the actual amount of output are generally the largest risk variables. This article focuses on yield risk rather than price risk by reviewing innovation in risk transfer for natural hazard risk in agriculture. While many higher-income countries have long-standing crop insurance programs, these programs are not appropriate for lower-income countries. Lower-income countries can ill-afford the subsidies that are used in most multiple peril crop insurance programs throughout the world. Still, lower-income countries have large numbers of small farms increasing the need for agricultural insurance to protect against common problems that create disastrous losses for many individual farm households.     

Completion of recommended WUI fire mitigation measures within urban households in Edmonton,Canada

The purpose of this study was to examine completion of recommended wildland—urban interface (WUI) fire mitigation measures by residents adjacent to the heavily vegetated North Saskatchewan river valley and ravine system in the City of Edmonton, Alberta. A mail survey was distributed to a random sample of households adjacent to this natural area. Almost all homeowners were found to be completing some recommended mitigation measures and in many cases were willing to complete most but not all of the measures that they had not yet completed, despite mixed motivations to act. Perceived responsibility for reducing risks, social bonds, beliefs that emergency services would protect homeowners' property in the event of a fire, and perceptions of the effectiveness of recommended mitigation measures, were not significantly related to completion of a higher average number of recommended mitigation measures. Importantly, most mitigation measures were completed for reasons other than WUI fire mitigation. The implications of these results and recommendations for emergency managers and communicators are discussed.