METHODOLOGY FOR MATURITY OF FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS ASSESMENT – APPLICATION TO ASIAN AND EUROPEAN CITIES

Abstract

Urban flooding processes have a significant impact on urban systems and urban communities. Floods are qualified as one of the most frequent hazard, especially in Asia. The population exposed to floods is doubled in the past decade. An economic impact caused by floods has a notable influence on national GDP. The priority of new strategies within flood risk management focuses on reduction of flood impact, short the recovery time and capacity building of human resources. Existing flood risk management frameworks in Asian and European countries are developed based on different principles and focusing on different goals. Research presented in this paper investigates flood risk management frameworks in the case study areas and evaluates their maturity level based on three key elements of flood risk: flood hazard, vulnerability and exposure. Considering the diversity of different frameworks the unique methodology is developed in order to evaluate on both Asian and European flood risk management frameworks. The concept of readiness and maturity associated with a specific grading scale is used. The research is done within CORFU project, an interdisciplinary international project founded by the European Union under the 7 research framework – FP7 – that looks at advanced and new strategies to provide adequate measures for improved flood management in Europe and Asian case studies.