Environmental Inequalities in Flood Exposure: A Matter of Scale

Abstract

Studies on inequalities in exposure to flood risk have explored whether population of a lower socio-economic status are more exposed to flood hazard. While evidence exist for coastal flooding, little is known on inequalities for riverine floods. This paper addresses two issues: (1) is the weakest population, in socio-economic terms, more exposed to flood hazard, considering different levels of exposure to hazard? (2) Is the exposure to flood risk homogeneous across the territory, considering different scales of analysis? An analysis of the exposure of inhabitants of Liège province to flood risk was conducted at different scales (province, districts, and municipalities), considering three levels of exposure to flood hazard (level 1- low hazard, level 3- high hazard), and five socio-economic classes (class 1-poorest, class 5-wealthiest households). Our analysis confirms that weaker populations (classes 2 and 3) are usually more exposed to flood hazards than the wealthiest (classes 4 and 5). Still it should be stressed that the most precarious households (class 1) are less exposed than low to medium-range ones (classes 2 and 3). Further on the relation between socio-economic status and exposure to flood hazard varies along the spatial scale considered. At the district level, it appears that classes 4 and 5 are most exposed to flood risk in some peripheral areas. In municipalities located around the center of the city, differences of exposure to risk are not significant.

Quantifying National-Scale Changes in Agricultural Land Exposure to Fluvial Flooding

“…This results in the inability to determine the frequency of exposure for agricultural land, which could be addressed through national-scale mapping initiatives. Internationally, there is evidence that the level of exposure and vulnerability of populations can be altered dependent on the scale at which analyses are conducted, demonstrating the importance of consistency in modeling [ 72 ].…”

Flood impact on income inequality in the Itapocu River basin, Brazil

“…Thus, the source data were disaggregated proportional to the ancillary data without performing the IDM and areal interpolation. Some examples of other studies with similar approaches are Fielding and Burningham (2005) and Poussard et al (2021).…”

“…Rasch (2017) discussed income inequality as a predictor for vulnerability to floods at a municipal level in Brazil. On a household scale, low‐income groups are overall more exposed to river floods (Erman et al, 2018; Fielding & Burningham, 2005; Osberghaus, 2021; Poussard et al, 2021). In addition, Henry et al (2017) found that the location of the low‐income households is more prone to flooding in the Bangkok area.…”

The Impacts of Flood Disasters on the Poverty and Income Disparity in Malaysia: Fine-Tuning The Shared Prosperity Vision 2030

“…Disaster shocks exacerbate poverty, according to research by (Carter et al, 2007;Rodriguez-Oreggia et al, 2013). More people in low-income households are at risk from river floods (Erman et al, 2018;Osberghaus, 2021;Poussard et al, 2021). Natural disasters, such as floods, have the potential to exacerbate class divisions by reducing economic output.…”