Assessment of Social Vulnerability to Floods in the Floodplain of Northern Italy

Practices for reducing the impacts of floods are becoming more and more advanced, centered on communities and reaching out to vulnerable populations. Vulnerable individuals are characterized by social and economic attributes and by societal dynamics rooted in each community. These indicators can magnify the negative impacts of disasters together with the capacity of each individual to cope with these events. The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) provides an empirical basis to compare social differences in various spatial scenarios and for specific environmental hazards. This research shows the application of the SoVI to the floodplain of northern Italy, based on the use of 15 census variables. The chosen study area is of particular interest for the high occurrence of flood events coupled with a high level of human activity, landscape transformations, and an elevated concentration of assets and people. The analysis identified a positive spatial autocorrelation across the floodplain that translates into the spatial detection of vulnerable groups, those that are likely to suffer the most from floods. In a second stage, the output of the index was superimposed on the flood hazard map of the study area to analyze the resulting risk. The Piemonte and Veneto regions contain the main areas prone to flood \u201csocial\u201d risk, highlighting the need for a cohesive management approach at all levels to recognize local capacities and increase communication, awareness, and preparedness to mitigate the undesirable effects of such events

The Role of Gender in Preparedness and Response Behaviors towards Flood Risk in Serbia

Adverse outcomes from 2014 flooding in Serbia indicated problematic response phase management accentuated by a gender imbalance. For this reason, we investigated the risk perceptions and preparedness of women and men regarding these types of events in Serbia. Face-to-face interviews, administered to 2500 participants, were conducted across 19 of 191 municipalities. In light of the current findings, men seemed to be more confident in their abilities to cope with flooding, perceiving greater individual and household preparedness. By contrast, women displayed a deeper understanding of these events. Perhaps owing to a deeper level of understanding, women demonstrated more household-caring attitudes and behaviors and were more prone to report a willingness to help flood victims at reception centers. Emergency management agencies and land planners should account for these differences in gender awareness and preparedness. Based on these findings, doing so may increase citizen participation and shared responsibility under flood hazard scenarios

Design of terrace drainage networks using UAV-based high-resolution topographic data

Hillslope viticulture has a long history in Mediterranean Europe, and still holds important cultural and economic value. Steep hillsides have widely been levelled by terraces, in order to control surface water flow and facilitate cultivation. However, under unsustainable management and growing rainfall aggressiveness, terraced vineyards have become one of the most erosion-prone agricultural landscapes. The Valcamonica valley in Lombardy (Italy) presents a typical example of an ancient wine production region where rural land abandonment has previously caused widespread degradation of the traditional terracing systems. Recently, a local revival of wine production led to restoration plans of the terraces and their drainage functioning, to safeguard productivity and hydrogeologic safety. In this study, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) survey was carried out to reconstruct an accurate and precise 3D terrain model of a Valcamonica vineyard. through photogrammetry. The resulting high-resolution topographic data allowed insights of surface flow-induced soil erosion patterns based on the Relative Path Impact Index (RPII). Three diverse drainage networks were designed and digitally implemented, allowing scenario analysis of the costs and benefits in terms of potential erosion mitigation. The presented methodology could likely improve the time-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of similar restoration plans in degraded landscapes

Floods, landscape modifications and population dynamics in anthropogenic coastal lowlands: the Polesine (northern Italy) case study

It is widely recognized that the complex relationship between humans, soil, and water has become increasingly complicated due to anthropogenic activities, and is further expected to worsen in the future as a result of population dynamics and climate change. The present study aims at shedding light on the multifaceted links between floods, landscape modifications, and population dynamics in anthropogenic coastal lowlands, using a large flood-prone area (the Polesine Region, northeastern Italy) as a significant case study. Based on the analysis of historical events and the results of hydraulic modeling, it is shown that human interventions on both the landscape and the subsoil have substantially altered the flooding dynamics, exacerbating hydraulic hazard. Furthermore, the combined analysis of people and assets exposure to inundation reveals that flood risk is not properly taken into account in land-use planning, nor it is properly understood by people living in areas subject to low-probability, high-impact flooding events

Farmers' landslide risk perceptions and willingness for restoration and conservation of world heritage site of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China

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Knowledge of children and youth about forest fires: Discrepancies between basic perception and reality

Forests have a vital role for all living things. Children understanding of forest phenomena is the important knowledge for various sectors such as educators, policymakers, environmentalists, etc. This paper deals with the factors that affect knowledge and perception of forest fires of students, aged 10 to 19, in the city of Belgrade. The research was conducted between October 20th, 2013 and February 3rd, 2014. The authors have used a method of surveying students in order to identify and describe the factors affecting their knowledge about forest fires. A total of 3,548 students from 18 schools in Belgrade participated in the survey. The results of the research show that there is a discrepancy between perception and reality that is what students think they know and what they actually know in very basic terms. This set of findings in combination with other findings of moderators replicates previous research on the need for educational programs to ensure there is a match between youth confidence about what they know of hazards and their actual knowledge levels. Mismatches between the two could have serious consequences in disaster risk reduction terms. Given basic knowledge gaps here, this translates into educational programming that then needs to take account of this basic discrepancy to ensure, even from the early ages, consistency between 'knowledge and coping confidence' and actual knowledge and ability to cope and respond

Flood dynamics, social vulnerability and risk perception: challenges for flood risk management

The 2015 was a remarkable year in the global policy with the publication of three milestones: The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement for Climate Change. The global significance of such documents raised interest in the understanding of the interaction between humans, the Earth and the climate, and the past and current development of disasters. Anthropogenic landscapes are one of the most sensitive environments to hydrological extremes, fluctuations and changes. Here, hydrogeological disasters such as floods are considered one of the major threat of our time, bringing negative consequences to the whole societal system. However, while climate change and socio-economic development are important drivers of flood impacts, human behaviours can alter the potential effects of a flood by undertaking protective behaviours. In this regard, risk perceptions are potential drivers of behaviour. Thus, exploring individuals’ concern about natural hazards provide essential information about people willingness to take precautionary measures and can, therefore, identify the major reasons behind the unsatisfactory performance level of current disaster management practices. This suggests that advancing our understanding of the hazard perceptions by investigating personal, social and cultural influences can help in determining people preparedness. Limitations of personal action in front of the risk might come from social vulnerabilities, those factors that increase the fragility of individuals toward a particular threat. In light of this, there is the need to create people-oriented management strategies, with governments focused on vulnerable groups, able to recognise local capacities, foster communication and create awareness campaigns to empower the citizens and mitigate the undesirable effects of such events. For this reason, this thesis proposes an analysis of flood and human interactions using historical and land use change data, participatory approaches and analysis of social vulnerability. Furthermore, this thesis would suggest possible flood risk management actions and policies in different anthropogenic communities. Different study areas have been chosen in order to tackle site-specific flood dynamics and capture how the socio-political and unique cultural background of each community might affect individuals conceptualisation of risk.Il 2015 è stato un anno chiave nella politica globale con la pubblicazione di tre documenti fondamentali: il Quadro di Sendai per la Riduzione dei Rischi Naturali, gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile e l'Accordo di Parigi sui cambiamenti climatici. Il significato globale di tali documenti ha suscitato interesse riguardo l'interazione tra uomo, Terra e clima simultaneamente alla frequenza dei disastri. I paesaggi antropici sono uno degli ambienti più sensibili agli eventi climatici estremi, alle loro fluttuazioni e mutamenti. Qui, i disastri idrogeologici, come le alluvioni, sono considerati una delle maggiori minacce del nostro tempo con conseguenze negative sull’intero apparato sociale. Tuttavia, mentre i cambiamenti climatici e lo sviluppo socio-economico sono fattori chiave che incidono sull’impatto delle inondazioni, i comportamenti umani possono anch’essi alterare e talvolta esasperare le conseguenze di tali eventi. A tal riguardo, la percezione del rischio di un individuo costituisce un elemento strategico per la definizione delle politiche di gestione poiché influenza la capacità del singolo di adottare misure precauzionali. Questa conoscenza permette di identificare le motivazioni che spingono le popolazioni ad agire (o non agire) in protezione da questi eventi. Si esaminano così le componenti personali, ma anche la struttura sociale, culturale e politica della comunità, che influenza tutto il processo cognitivo relazionato alle alluvioni. Tra i caratteri personali, ci possono essere degli elementi che amplificano la vulnerabilità verso tali eventi, rendendo l’individuo più esposto al pericolo e limitando la capacità di reazione. Tutti questi elementi sottolineano la necessità di una gestione integrata del rischio alluvionale, atto a riconoscere le capacità locali, aumentando la comunicazione, sensibilizzando la popolazione ad una cultura del rischio affinché possa prepararsi e mitigare gli effetti di tali eventi. Per questa ragione, questa tesi mira a proporre un approccio integrato alla gestione del rischio, proponendo analisi di dinamiche di piena e di cambiamento di uso del suolo, valutando il comportamento dell’uomo in relazione a tali eventi, attraverso analisi storiche, di vulnerabilità sociale e anche attraverso l’uso di approcci partecipativi. Inoltre, questa tesi suggerisce possibili azioni e politiche di gestione del rischio alluvionale in diversi territori antropizzati. Le aree di studio analizzate si differenziano tra loro al fine di comprendere come il contesto socio-politico e culturale unico di ogni comunità possa influenzare la comprensione del rischio e come si sono evolute le dinamiche di piena

Cyclone Fani: A success in weather forecast and disaster preparedness

Blog post published with Natural Hazards (NH) Division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)