FLOOD MANAGEMENT AND RISK ASSESSMENT IN FLOOD-PRONE AREAS: MEASURES AND SOLUTIONS

Water-related disasters have increased considerably worldwide in recent years. While certain trends are global ( like climate change), some actions to cope with these problems have to be taken locally. In any case, the land characteristics need to be known and analysed in order to cope with the hazards and avoid their transformation into damage or disasters when exceptional events occur. This paper firstly presents preliminary definitions about the concepts of hazard, vulnerability, risk and damage/disaster, because there is a certain lack of uniformity in the use of terms, which sometimes causes confusion; thus definitions are offered, with special attention paid to flood problems. Then, risk analysis procedures are described, which consist of systematic actions in a cycle of preparedness, response and recovery, and would have to form part of integrated flood risk management. Moreover, flooding problem characteristics and the policy and related measures adopted by different European countries to protect themselves against floods, are considered and the lessons learnt from flood defence analysed, with the aim of featuring a new integrated flood management and mitigation approach that allocates more room for rivers and keeps a balance between present and foreseeable future spatial requirements of both water and people. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.