Health Impacts of Large-Scale Floods: Governmental Decision-Making and Resilience of the Citizens

Abstract

During the 15th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine in Amsterdam, May 2007 (15WCDEM), a targeted agenda program (TAP) about the public health aspects of large-scale floods was organized. The main goal of the TAP was the establishment of an overview of issues that would help governmental decision-makers to develop policies to increase the resilience of the citizens during floods. During the meetings, it became clear that citizens have a natural resistance to evacuations. This results in death due to drowning and injuries. Recently, communication and education programs have been developed that may increase awareness that timely evacuation is important and can be life-saving. After a flood, health problems persist over prolonged periods, including increased death rates during the first year after a flood and a higher incidence of chronic illnesses that last for decades after the flood recedes. Population-based resilience (bottom-up) and governmental responsibility (top-down) must be combined to prepare regions for the health impact of evacuations and floods. More research data are needed to become better informed about the health impact and consequences of translocation of health infrastructures after evacuations. A better understanding of the consequences of floods will support governmental decision-making to mitigate the health impact. A top-10 priority action list was formulated.

Property level flood adaptation measures: a novel approach

“…To manage this ingress the building needs to include a form of resilience but these materials are sometimes perceived as unattractive [31]. Agreeing to allow floodwater inside the house is not favoured by homeowners [32]. The other alternative resilient option would be complete internal 'tanking' as British Standards Type-A or -C, but this is expensive (Table 5) and extremely disruptive to homeowners [31].…”

“…There is a desire to avoid the serious effects of disruption and keep the home as normal, so the use of resilient measures and permitting floodwater ingress is not favoured [31,32]. Unfortunately, this is the only option when differential flood depths in excess of 600 mm are present as they can cause structural damage [20,21].…”

Property level flood protection: a new effective and affordable solution

“…Floods are the most destructive natural disaster to affect humans [25]. In [18] found residents have a natural resistance to evacuation, regardless of the severity of the threat, and a consequence of evacuation causes lasting mental health problems. In order to make the decision to install flood protection, the property owner must have both the desire to act and the ability to act.…”

“…External resistance measures are mostly acceptable to property owners but they do not always offer full protection; whereas, resilience measures offer internal protection but disruption, and daily reminder, can seriously affect lives [17]. Normality of home life is needed by flood victims [18]. Therefore, a new system is needed that can be installed with minimum disruption to provide protection against all routes of water ingress; whilst, also being aesthetically acceptable.…”

Impacts of a flash flood on drinking water quality: case study of areas most affected by the 2012 Beijing flood

“…Inevitably, after a flash flood, there is an immediate response by government agencies, as relief operations get underway to try and restore basic infrastructure and provide the fundamental items that are necessary for survival and subsequent recovery. Floodwater will often produce many health problems because of, among other things, damage to water supply systems, insufficient drinking-water supplies, and disruption of transport systems ( Michelozzi and de' Donato, 2014 ; Bich et al, 2011 ; Carroll et al, 2010 ; Fundter et al, 2008 ). However, the most serious consequence of flooding is large-scale contamination of drinking water (surface water, groundwater, and distribution systems).…”