IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/nathaz/v78y2015i2p939-956.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of residential vulnerability to flood hazards in Metro Vancouver, Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Greg Oulahen
  • Dan Shrubsole
  • Gordon McBean

Abstract

What influences residents’ vulnerability to flood hazards in a Canadian coastal city? This study addresses the question by identifying and testing hypothetical determinants of residential vulnerability to flood hazards in Metro Vancouver. A household survey is conducted in four neighbourhoods in Vancouver and Surrey to test seven determinants: (1) social vulnerability, (2) hazard perception, (3) institutional arrangements, (4) amenity value conflicts, (5) self-protection, (6) attribution of responsibility, and (7) attenuation of risk due to another dominating concern. Survey findings offer insights into how these determinants interact to produce unequal vulnerability to flood hazards among residents in a Canadian city. The study finds that social vulnerability is an important factor in determining overall vulnerability to flood hazards. Household income, as a key contributor to social vulnerability, is found to have significant correlations with variables that define the other determinants. Institutional arrangements, including property insurance and development regulations, appear to interact with social vulnerability and the other determinants to allow powerful groups of people to live in hazardous places without taking on the full associated risk. The findings of the study have implications for our understanding of how vulnerability is produced and how, or whether, local policy can address these factors to equitably reduce risk. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Greg Oulahen & Dan Shrubsole & Gordon McBean, 2015. "Determinants of residential vulnerability to flood hazards in Metro Vancouver, Canada," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 78(2), pages 939-956, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:78:y:2015:i:2:p:939-956
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-015-1751-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11069-015-1751-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11069-015-1751-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greg Oulahen & Linda Mortsch & Kathy Tang & Deborah Harford, 2015. "Unequal Vulnerability to Flood Hazards: “Ground Truthing” a Social Vulnerability Index of Five Municipalities in Metro Vancouver, Canada," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 105(3), pages 473-495, May.
    2. Torsten Grothmann & Fritz Reusswig, 2006. "People at Risk of Flooding: Why Some Residents Take Precautionary Action While Others Do Not," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 38(1), pages 101-120, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. James B. Davies, 2020. "Reforming Canada's Disaster Assistance Programs," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 46(2), pages 187-197, June.
    2. Chloe H. Lucas & Kate I. Booth & Carolina Garcia, 2021. "Insuring homes against extreme weather events: a systematic review of the research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Chloe H. Lucas & Kate I. Booth, 2020. "Privatizing climate adaptation: How insurance weakens solidaristic and collective disaster recovery," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    4. Sufia Rehman & Mehebub Sahana & Haoyuan Hong & Haroon Sajjad & Baharin Bin Ahmed, 2019. "A systematic review on approaches and methods used for flood vulnerability assessment: framework for future research," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 96(2), pages 975-998, March.
    5. Renato Marques Sanches Pereira & Henderson Silva Wanderley & Rafael Coll Delgado, 2022. "Homogeneous regions for rainfall distribution in the city of Rio de Janeiro associated with the risk of natural disasters," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(1), pages 333-351, March.
    6. Amanda de O. Regueira & Henderson Silva Wanderley, 2022. "Changes in rainfall rates and increased number of extreme rainfall events in Rio de Janeiro city," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(3), pages 3833-3847, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sisira S. Withanachchi & Ilia Kunchulia & Giorgi Ghambashidze & Rami Al Sidawi & Teo Urushadze & Angelika Ploeger, 2018. "Farmers’ Perception of Water Quality and Risks in the Mashavera River Basin, Georgia: Analyzing the Vulnerability of the Social-Ecological System through Community Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-26, August.
    2. Loredana Antronico & Roberto Coscarelli & Francesco De Pascale & Giovanni Gull?, 2018. "La comunicazione del rischio e la percezione pubblica dei disastri: il caso studio della frana di Maierato (Calabria, Italia)," PRISMA Economia - Societ? - Lavoro, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(3), pages 9-29.
    3. Rebecca E. Morss & Julie L. Demuth & Ann Bostrom & Jeffrey K. Lazo & Heather Lazrus, 2015. "Flash Flood Risks and Warning Decisions: A Mental Models Study of Forecasters, Public Officials, and Media Broadcasters in Boulder, Colorado," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(11), pages 2009-2028, November.
    4. Michalis Diakakis & Dimitris G. Damigos & Andreas Kallioras, 2020. "Identification of Patterns and Influential Factors on Civil Protection Personnel Opinions and Views on Different Aspects of Flood Risk Management: The Case of Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Gainbi Park & Zengwang Xu, 2022. "The constituent components and local indicator variables of social vulnerability index," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(1), pages 95-120, January.
    6. Tianlong Yu & Hao Yang & Xiaowei Luo & Yifeng Jiang & Xiang Wu & Jingqi Gao, 2021. "Scientometric Analysis of Disaster Risk Perception: 2000–2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-19, December.
    7. S. A. Mashi & A. I. Inkani & Oghenejeabor Obaro & A. S. Asanarimam, 2020. "Community perception, response and adaptation strategies towards flood risk in a traditional African city," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(2), pages 1727-1759, September.
    8. Ming‐Chou Ho & Daigee Shaw & Shuyeu Lin & Yao‐Chu Chiu, 2008. "How Do Disaster Characteristics Influence Risk Perception?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 635-643, June.
    9. Chang, Chiung-Ting, 2017. "Risk factors associated with flying in adverse weather: From the passengers' point of view," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 68-75.
    10. Sandeep Kumar Sood & Keshav Singh Rawat, 2021. "A scientometric analysis of ICT-assisted disaster management," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 106(3), pages 2863-2881, April.
    11. Sıdıka Tekeli‐Yeşil & Necati Dedeoğlu & Charlotte Braun‐Fahrlaender & Marcel Tanner, 2010. "Factors Motivating Individuals to Take Precautionary Action for an Expected Earthquake in Istanbul," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(8), pages 1181-1195, August.
    12. Laura K. Siebeneck & Thomas J. Cova, 2012. "Spatial and Temporal Variation in Evacuee Risk Perception Throughout the Evacuation and Return‐Entry Process," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(9), pages 1468-1480, September.
    13. Donatella Baiardi, 2021. "What do you think about climate change?," Working Papers 477, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.
    14. Heidi Kreibich & Annegret Thieken, 2009. "Coping with floods in the city of Dresden, Germany," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 51(3), pages 423-436, December.
    15. Michael K. Lindell & Seong Nam Hwang, 2008. "Households' Perceived Personal Risk and Responses in a Multihazard Environment," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 539-556, April.
    16. Karina Landeros-Mugica & Javier Urbina-Soria & Irasema Alcántara-Ayala, 2016. "The good, the bad and the ugly: on the interactions among experience, exposure and commitment with reference to landslide risk perception in México," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 1515-1537, February.
    17. Ibidun Adelekan & Adeniyi Asiyanbi, 2016. "Flood risk perception in flood-affected communities in Lagos, Nigeria," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(1), pages 445-469, January.
    18. Xaimarie Hernández-Cruz & Saylisse Dávila, 2020. "Quantifying adaptive capacity to floods: an assessment of Rincón, PR," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(1), pages 1537-1564, August.
    19. Osberghaus, Daniel & Reif, Christiane, 2021. "How do different compensation schemes and loss experience affect insurance decisions? Experimental evidence from two independent and heterogeneous samples," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    20. Jia He & Linmei Zhuang & Xin Deng & Dingde Xu, 2023. "Peer effects in disaster preparedness: whether opinion leaders make a difference," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 115(1), pages 187-213, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:78:y:2015:i:2:p:939-956. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.