Flood Risk, Adaptation, and Economic Insecurity: Rethinking Urban Vulnerability

EICCA Seminar

Disaster risk is commonly described as the product of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. A widely cited global study using satellite nighttime light as indicator of economic activity concluded that although major floods temporarily reduce economic activity, low-elevation areas within flooded cities usually recover rapidly and show no sustained shift of activity toward higher ground. This lecture revisits that conclusion using higher-resolution satellite data on nighttime lights for more than 700 flooded cities between 2013 and 2019 and show that flood losses appear larger than previously measured and the previously documented rebound patterns were likely measurement artefacts.

Speaker

Prof. John Gibson, University of Waikato

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