Timescale: Oct. 2021 – Sept. 2024
Supervisors:
Prof. Annegret Thieken, University of Potsdam
PD Maik Heistermann, University of Potsdam
Dr. Tobias Sieg, University of Potsdam
Prof. Fabrice Cotton, GFZ Potsdam & University of Potsdam
Description
Increasing flood losses have often been attributed to changes in exposure, e.g. extended built-up areas and increasing wealth in flood-prone regions (Barredo 2009; 2010), or changes in vulnerability: after a long absent of floods, people’s preparedness is low, while there’s a steep increase in the uptake of property-level mitigation and preparedness measures after floods (e.g. Bubeck et al. 2012; Kienzler et al. 2015) resulting in an overall lower level of damage and risk (e.g., Thieken et al. 2016b; Kreibich et al. 2017). While a lot of work has already been done on fluvial floods, comparatively little is known about such developments in the context of pluvial floods (also called urban floods, in hilly regions they may result in flash floods). In addition, exposure is an under-researched element of the risk equation. Therefore, this project addresses these two research gaps.
While the project Q3 focussed on the quantification of changes in vulnerability of residents (susceptibility) and their motivation to implement precautionary measures in respect to fluvial and pluvial floods (Laudan et al. 2019), the project P7 is aimed to develop a dynamic model that delivers projections of precautionary behaviour and that can be integrated into a flood loss model. This project (Q13) aims to quantify changes in exposure and to combine these with changes in vulnerability of flood-prone residents. Together with the underlying hazard scenarios this will lead to new risk scenarios and metrics. The project consists of three steps:
Dedicated Regional Cluster: Central Europe / Germany
Related PhD-projects: Q3 (first cohort, Jonas Laudan), P7 (second cohort, Lisa Berghäuser), associated PhD on loss model transferability (Guilherme S. Mohor) and I12 (third cohort)
References:
Barredo, J. I. 2009. “Normalised flood losses in Europe: 1970–2006.” Natural Hazards and Earth System Science 9 (1): 97–104. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-9-97-2009.
Barredo, J. I. 2010. “No upward trend in normalisedwindstorm losses in Europe: 1970-2008.” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 10 (1): 97–104. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-10-97-2010.
Bubeck, P., W. J W Botzen, H. Kreibich, and J. C J H. Aerts. 2012. “Long-term development and effectiveness of private flood mitigation measures: An analysis for the German part of the river Rhine.” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 12 (11): 3507–18. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-12-3507-2012.
Cammerer, Holger, Annegret H. Thieken, and Peter H. Verburg. 2013. “Spatio-temporal dynamics in the flood exposure due to land use changes in the Alpine Lech Valley in Tyrol (Austria).” Natural Hazards 68 (3): 1243–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0280-8.
Kienzler, S., I. Pech, H. Kreibich, M. Müller, and A. H. Thieken. 2015. “After the extreme flood in 2002: Changes in preparedness, response and recovery of flood-affected residents in Germany between 2005 and 2011.” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 15 (3): 505–26. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-505-2015.
Kreibich, H., S. Vorogushyn, H. Apel, D.T. Chinh, A.K. Gain, N.V. Dung, K. Schröter, et al. 2017. “Adaptation to flood risk: Results of international paired flood event studies.” Earth’s Future 5: 953–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/eft2.232.
Laudan, Jonas, Gert Zöller, and Annegret H. Thieken. 2020. “Flash floods versus river floods-a comparison of psychological impacts and implications for precautionary behaviour.” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 20 (4): 999–1023. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-999-2020.
Sieg, Tobias, Kristin Vogel, Bruno Merz, and Heidi Kreibich. 2019. “Seamless Estimation of Hydrometeorological Risk Across Spatial Scales.” Earth’s Future 7 (5): 574–81. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF001122.
Thieken, Annegret H., Holger Cammerer, Christian Dobler, Johannes Lammel, and Fritz Schöberl. 2016. “Estimating changes in flood risks and benefits of non-structural adaptation strategies - a case study from Tyrol, Austria.” Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 21 (3): 343–76. doi.org/10.1007/s11027-014-9602-3.