**5. Strategies and technologies for improved flood disaster management**

#### **5.1 Flood disaster management strategies**

Flood Disaster Management Strategies refer to a bundle of processes and activities that are aimed at reducing the overall impacts of floods on societies. Flood management needs to be considered within the overall national development planning strategy of every country and must involve strategic institutional arrangements and collaborations for a sustainable flood management.

The management of floods as problems in isolation almost necessarily results in a piecemeal, localized approach (World Meteorological Organization [28]). The flood disaster management process should also be coordinated with efforts made

*Natural Hazards - Impacts, Adjustments and Resilience*

strategies at country and regional levels. More importantly, by influencing human actions and perceptions through societal behaviour and behavioural adaptation, information and education can increase flood risk awareness and play a more effective

*Showing respondents awareness to flood disaster risk at Asamankese, Eastern region, Ghana. Source: Author.*

To proffer an understanding on the flood risk awareness of residents in the Asamankese Municipality of Ghana, [9] surveyed some residents and sought to know how likely the area was susceptible to flood through the major rainy season from March to July. **Figure 3**, which summarises the respondents result, pointed out that an overwhelming proportion of respondents (70.0% and 77.5% within the flood prone and Non-flood prone zones respectfully) indicated that flooding has become a regular phenomenon, and the community was likely to be flooded every

Awareness is a very crucial element for a society to effectively adapt to a flood risk. As stated by [23] awareness is diminished when the provision of an appropriate information is minimal or when memories of past experiences or events are diminished. Awareness can generally be uplifted through efforts that are centred on local issues, contain the simple solution to reduce the flood risk and are repeated on

Scholars like [25] posit that worry is an important risk characteristic that serves as a normative value for awareness. Society can be aware of a flood risk, however, if it is not afraid of the risk, it will not take any action to prepare for it. A higher level of worry is more likely to result in a higher level of awareness and preparedness. There is a positive correlation between these two variables. This was reinforced by [26] with their assertion that most people become aware and prepared for disasters based on their previous personal experiences with flood disasters. Early warning information can, therefore, allow the disaster managers to be pre-informed and take steps which may significantly reduce the loss of life and

**4. Flood disaster preparedness and resilience strategies and practices**

The argument now is that adequate preparation can make it possible to significantly reduce the impacts of flood disasters through a good understanding of preventive action as well as knowledge of some life-saving techniques during disasters [27]. Nowhere has the issue of floods become a developmental issue than in poor and developing countries where systemic problems and institutional constraints

role in reducing the costs of catastrophes associated with natural perils [22].

**26**

time it rained.

**Figure 3.**

a regular basis [24].

damage to property.

in closely related fields. For example, the disaster mitigation process should consider human health impacts during flooding (e.g. cholera, malaria), thereby more effectively address a health issue that arises during and after flooding [28].

The management of floods takes several approaches ranging from traditional approaches to integrated approaches. The traditional management response to a severe flood was typically an ad- hoc reaction, the quick implementation of a project that considered both the problem and its solution to be distinct and self-evident. Traditional approaches usually gives no thought to the consequences for upstream and downstream flood risks [28]. Thus, flood management practices have largely focused on reducing flooding and reducing the susceptibility to flood damage. Traditional flood management has employed structural and non-structural interventions, as well as physical and institutional interventions. These interventions have occurred before, during and after flooding, and have often overlapped.

There has been a paradigm shift in flood management. Traditionally, controlling floods has always been the main focus of flood management, with the emphasis on draining flood water as quickly as possible, or storing it temporarily, and separating the river from the population through structural measures such as dams and levees [28].

The concept of integrated flood management has led to a paradigm shift: absolute protection from floods is a myth, and focus should aim at maximizing net benefits from the use of flood plains, rather than trying to fully control floods [28].

A proactive approach towards the management of floods over a traditionally reactive approach is rapidly gaining recognition among flood managers. The proactive approach does not treat floods only as an emergency or an engineering problem, but as an issue with social, economic, environmental, legal and institutional aspects. The proactive approach is not limited to a post-event reaction but includes preparedness (including flood risk awareness) and response measures to flood management at different stakeholders' levels [28].

Recent calls in flood management are geared at taking a transboundary approach since floods do not respect borders; neither national nor regional or institutional [29]. The great advantages of transboundary cooperation are that it broadens the knowledge/information base, enlarges the set of available strategies and enables better and more cost-effective solution. Furthermore, widening the geographical area considered by basin planning enables measures to be located where they create the optimum effect [29].

#### **5.2 Early warning systems**

The term 'early warning' is used in many fields to describe the provision of information on an emerging perilous circumstance where that information can enable action in advance to reduce the risks involved. The early warning system comprise the set of capacities needed to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities and organizations that are threatened by hazards to take necessary preparedness measures and act appropriately in sufficient time to reduce the possibility of harms or losses [30].

Early warning systems exist for natural geophysical and biological hazards, complex socio-political emergencies, industrial hazards, personal health risks and many other related hazards. Studies have demonstrated that disaster prevention can pay high dividends and found that for every Euro invested in risk management, broadly 2 to 4 Euros are returned in terms of avoided or reduced impacts on life, property, the economy and the environment [31]. Early warning systems can be set up to avoid or reduce the impact of flood hazards and other disasters such as, landslides, storms and forest fires and volcanic eruptions. The significance of an

**29**

*Flood Disaster Hazards; Causes, Impacts and Management: A State-of-the-Art Review*

losses to human lives and economic entities when disasters strike [31].

A people-centered early warning system necessarily comprises four key elements: (I) knowledge of the risks; (II) monitoring, analysis, and forecasting of the hazards; (III) communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings, and (IV) local capacities to respond to the warnings received. The expression "end-to-end warning system" emphasizes that early warning systems need to span all steps from hazard detection to community response. It is essential to link downstream communities and upstream communities for the effective operation of an early warning system [31]. There are several instances where early warning systems have helped to mitigate the impact of disasters. As an example, the Bangladesh cyclone preparedness program has successfully warned, evacuated and sheltered millions of people from cyclones since its inception in the early 1970s by the International Federation, the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and the government of Bangladesh. In the Caribbean, during 2004's hurricane season, most countries successfully alerted their populations to approaching storms and saved many lives as a result. The key to their success was putting people, not just technology, at the centre of their warning systems. As a result of early warning systems, there were no deaths reported in La Independencia, Guatemala during the hurricane season in October 2005 [26]. The importance of early warning has been underlined in various UN General Assembly resolutions as a critical element of disaster reduction. Early warning received very high attention after the 26 December 2004 tsunami, when it became clear that a tsunami warning system and associated public education could have saved thousands of lives. The UN Secretary-General in his report; *In Larger Freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all*, proposed that the United Nations system should take a leadership role in developing comprehensive global capacities for systematic people-centered early warning systems, which would cover all hazards for all countries and communities. Subsequently, he requested that a global survey is undertaken, with a view to advance the development of a Global Early Warning System (GEWS) for all natural hazards [32]. Thus early warning systems are very important for disaster management and should be a

Flood Disaster Mitigation measures tend to be potentially more efficient long term sustainable solutions to water-related problems and should be enhanced, in particular, to reduce the vulnerability of human beings and goods exposed to flood risk. Flood forecasting and warning is a prerequisite for successful mitigation of flood damage. In the field of environmental engineering, flood mitigation involves the managing and control of flood water movement, such as redirecting flood run-off through the use of floodwalls and flood gates, rather than trying to prevent

effective early warning system lies in the recognition of its benefits by the members

Early warning is a major element of flood disaster risk reduction. It saves life and reduces economic and material losses from flood disasters. To be effective, community-based early warning systems need the active involvement of the community people, a strong public education on and awareness of risks, an effective communication system ensuring a constant state of preparedness [31]. Early warning systems contribute with other Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) interventions to protect and support sustainable economic development and early detection of undesirable situations. The society benefits from early warning systems if they are in place. Many governments have failed to take early warning into account while formulating their development and disaster risk reduction policies. Subsequently, it results in heavy

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95048*

priority at global, national and local levels.

**5.3 Flood disaster mitigation strategies**

of the general public.

### *Flood Disaster Hazards; Causes, Impacts and Management: A State-of-the-Art Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95048*

effective early warning system lies in the recognition of its benefits by the members of the general public.

Early warning is a major element of flood disaster risk reduction. It saves life and reduces economic and material losses from flood disasters. To be effective, community-based early warning systems need the active involvement of the community people, a strong public education on and awareness of risks, an effective communication system ensuring a constant state of preparedness [31]. Early warning systems contribute with other Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) interventions to protect and support sustainable economic development and early detection of undesirable situations. The society benefits from early warning systems if they are in place. Many governments have failed to take early warning into account while formulating their development and disaster risk reduction policies. Subsequently, it results in heavy losses to human lives and economic entities when disasters strike [31].

A people-centered early warning system necessarily comprises four key elements: (I) knowledge of the risks; (II) monitoring, analysis, and forecasting of the hazards; (III) communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings, and (IV) local capacities to respond to the warnings received. The expression "end-to-end warning system" emphasizes that early warning systems need to span all steps from hazard detection to community response. It is essential to link downstream communities and upstream communities for the effective operation of an early warning system [31]. There are several instances where early warning systems have helped to mitigate the impact of disasters. As an example, the Bangladesh cyclone preparedness program has successfully warned, evacuated and sheltered millions of people from cyclones since its inception in the early 1970s by the International Federation, the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and the government of Bangladesh. In the Caribbean, during 2004's hurricane season, most countries successfully alerted their populations to approaching storms and saved many lives as a result. The key to their success was putting people, not just technology, at the centre of their warning systems. As a result of early warning systems, there were no deaths reported in La Independencia, Guatemala during the hurricane season in October 2005 [26].

The importance of early warning has been underlined in various UN General Assembly resolutions as a critical element of disaster reduction. Early warning received very high attention after the 26 December 2004 tsunami, when it became clear that a tsunami warning system and associated public education could have saved thousands of lives. The UN Secretary-General in his report; *In Larger Freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all*, proposed that the United Nations system should take a leadership role in developing comprehensive global capacities for systematic people-centered early warning systems, which would cover all hazards for all countries and communities. Subsequently, he requested that a global survey is undertaken, with a view to advance the development of a Global Early Warning System (GEWS) for all natural hazards [32]. Thus early warning systems are very important for disaster management and should be a priority at global, national and local levels.

#### **5.3 Flood disaster mitigation strategies**

Flood Disaster Mitigation measures tend to be potentially more efficient long term sustainable solutions to water-related problems and should be enhanced, in particular, to reduce the vulnerability of human beings and goods exposed to flood risk. Flood forecasting and warning is a prerequisite for successful mitigation of flood damage. In the field of environmental engineering, flood mitigation involves the managing and control of flood water movement, such as redirecting flood run-off through the use of floodwalls and flood gates, rather than trying to prevent

*Natural Hazards - Impacts, Adjustments and Resilience*

management at different stakeholders' levels [28].

in closely related fields. For example, the disaster mitigation process should consider human health impacts during flooding (e.g. cholera, malaria), thereby more

The management of floods takes several approaches ranging from traditional approaches to integrated approaches. The traditional management response to a severe flood was typically an ad- hoc reaction, the quick implementation of a project that considered both the problem and its solution to be distinct and self-evident. Traditional approaches usually gives no thought to the consequences for upstream and downstream flood risks [28]. Thus, flood management practices have largely focused on reducing flooding and reducing the susceptibility to flood damage. Traditional flood management has employed structural and non-structural interventions, as well as physical and institutional interventions. These interventions have occurred before, during and after flooding, and have often overlapped.

There has been a paradigm shift in flood management. Traditionally, controlling floods has always been the main focus of flood management, with the emphasis on draining flood water as quickly as possible, or storing it temporarily, and separating the river from the population through structural measures such as dams and

Recent calls in flood management are geared at taking a transboundary approach since floods do not respect borders; neither national nor regional or institutional [29]. The great advantages of transboundary cooperation are that it broadens the knowledge/information base, enlarges the set of available strategies and enables better and more cost-effective solution. Furthermore, widening the geographical area considered by basin planning enables measures to be located where they create

The term 'early warning' is used in many fields to describe the provision of information on an emerging perilous circumstance where that information can enable action in advance to reduce the risks involved. The early warning system comprise the set of capacities needed to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities and organizations that are threatened by hazards to take necessary preparedness measures and act appropri-

ately in sufficient time to reduce the possibility of harms or losses [30].

Early warning systems exist for natural geophysical and biological hazards, complex socio-political emergencies, industrial hazards, personal health risks and many other related hazards. Studies have demonstrated that disaster prevention can pay high dividends and found that for every Euro invested in risk management, broadly 2 to 4 Euros are returned in terms of avoided or reduced impacts on life, property, the economy and the environment [31]. Early warning systems can be set up to avoid or reduce the impact of flood hazards and other disasters such as, landslides, storms and forest fires and volcanic eruptions. The significance of an

The concept of integrated flood management has led to a paradigm shift: absolute protection from floods is a myth, and focus should aim at maximizing net benefits from the use of flood plains, rather than trying to fully control floods [28]. A proactive approach towards the management of floods over a traditionally reactive approach is rapidly gaining recognition among flood managers. The proactive approach does not treat floods only as an emergency or an engineering problem, but as an issue with social, economic, environmental, legal and institutional aspects. The proactive approach is not limited to a post-event reaction but includes preparedness (including flood risk awareness) and response measures to flood

effectively address a health issue that arises during and after flooding [28].

**28**

levees [28].

the optimum effect [29].

**5.2 Early warning systems**

floods altogether. It also involves the management of people, through measures such as evacuation and dry/wet proofing properties for example. The mitigation of flooding can be done on an individual, community and at city authority or national levels.
