Flood Disaster Risk Assessment Based on DEA Model in Southeast Asia along “The Belt and Road”

Abstract

The “Belt and Road” initiative proposed by China has received much attention from the international community. Natural disasters along the route have posed considerable challenges to the “Belt and Road” economic construction. Southeast Asia, as the main thoroughfare of the Maritime Silk Road, always suffers from floods. It is necessary to evaluate flood risk to enhance disaster emergency management. Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, inputs consist of four factors: the number of deaths, victims, frequency of occurrence, and economic losses caused by meteorological disasters. To study the vulnerability to flood disasters in Southeast Asian countries, the four factors caused by flood disasters were taken as outputs, respectively. The relative efficiency values of Laos, Malaysia and Cambodia exceed 0.8. They are most vulnerable to floods. The following four countries, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, and the Philippines, are also vulnerable to flood disasters. The vulnerability of Vietnam is relatively lower than the others. In brief, the risk of flood disasters in Southeast Asia is high. Risk assessment for Southeast Asia is essential to ensure the implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative.