Coping and adaptation strategies and institutional perceptions of hydrological risk in an urban Amazonian city

Abstract

This paper investigates coping and adaptation strategies and institutional perceptions of hydrological risk at the local scale in Santarém, an Amazonian city in the state of Pará, Brazil. Methods and tools of analysis encompassed secondary data, field observations, and qualitative techniques (focus‐group discussions and in‐depth interviews). Stakeholders from affected neighbourhoods describe their means of coping with and adapting to flooding, focusing on purposefulness, type of initiative and investment, risk timing, temporal and spatial scope, and performance. The results comprise an inventory of 16 mostly structural measures. The perceptions of six institutions of general responses to flooding are presented as opinions on actions that reduce the effects of such events, individual strategies and collective community endeavours in at‐risk areas, and the activities of the public and private sectors to manage floods. Understanding of coping and adaptation strategies and knowledge of institutional flood risk perceptions can benefit the implementation of risk and disaster reduction policies and practices.

The Impact of Land Use Change on Disaster Risk from the Perspective of Efficiency

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Multi-Sensor Techniques to Flood Mapping

“…The risk of flood disasters is the most common issue around the world and in the Amazon basin. Recurrent flooding damages in Amazon urban cities vary from material losses, traffic interruption, increased water-borne diseases, dislodged people, and loss of life (ANDRADE; SZLAFSZTEIN, 2019). Historical factors contributed to large river occupation in cities of the Brazilian Amazon and the improvements in disaster risk management topic were few and limited to flood-prone areas (BECKER, 1995;SZLAFSZTEIN, 2015;TRINDADE-JUNIOR, 2015).…”