Preparedness against floods in nearly pristine socio-hydrological systems

ABSTRACT

The relations between preparedness and psycho-social attributes of people and communities exposed to river floods in a nearly pristine socio-hydrological system were investigated, applying a hydrological-hydraulic analysis of flood risk in combination with results from a survey, social cartography, semi-structured non-participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. Results show that preparedness in nearly pristine systems is noticeably different to that reported for altered systems. People adopt innovative and simple but efficient measures against floods, conditioned by (1) damage suffered during past floods, (2) perceived exposure to floods, and (3) the number of dependent people in the household. The studied system proved to be well adapted to floods but not resilient. Studying attributes that explain preparedness as part of flood risk management plans would contribute towards uncertainty reduction in risk calculations and increase the safety of goods and people from floods.

KEYWORDS:

• socio-hydrology
• floods
• preparedness
• climate change adaption
• resilience

Editor S. Archfield Guest editor G. Di Baldassarre

Editor S. Archfield Guest editor G. Di Baldassarre

Acknowledgements

The presented results are part of the project PREGA Nr. 4503152513. We thank Universidad de Concepción and Universidad de Zaragoza for the scholarships granted to the master’s degree students participating in this research. Our technician, René Iribarren, is greatly acknowledged for his engagement and support during the field campaigns. Finally, we especially thank the participants from Arauco, Carampangue, and Ramadillas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ARAUCO SA [PREGA Nr. 4503152513].