Participatory responses to historical flash floods and their relevance for current risk reduction: A view from a post-communist country

Abstract

Participatory responses to natural disasters are currently considered to be the primary tool for disaster risk reduction. However, the implementation of this tool in post-communist Central European countries is constrained by the strong position of the central government and a weakened civil society as a heritage of the former communist governments. This study analyses documentary sources to reconstruct social responses to five disastrous flash flood events (1897, 1907, 1925, 1926 and 1927) in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. The reconstruction of social responses has revealed their complexity and strong component of a participatory approach. The analysis shows that certain historical measures and approaches to recovery from flash floods can be useful for re-establishing and reinforcing former social patterns in post-communist transition countries in terms of strategies for disaster risk reduction.