FLOODS. Edited by D J Parker, Routledge Hazards and Disasters Series, 2000. ISBN 0-415-17238-1 (hardback, two-volume set), xxix + 431 pages (Vol. I), xiv + 317 pages (Vol. II)). Price £260.

More than fifty leading international researchers have contributed their knowledge and experience to FLOODS, the third title in the Routledge Hazards and Disasters Series. Like its predecessors, DROUGHT and STORMS (reviewed in Asian Disaster Management News, Vol. 6, No. 2, April-June 2000) it is a massive publication bringing together a vast corpus of current information on the practical management of flood hazards and the research from which improved strategies to reduce disaster potential may be designed. It covers a wide range of relevant disciplines and areas of the world where flooding remains a major concern.

In Part I, the editor provides a perceptive introduction to floods and flood management. He points out that flood hazards and disasters are products of societal change and that the best hope for reducing death and destruction will be through a more balanced understanding of their nature. Part II examines the social nature of flood hazards and disasters and the response as reflected by public policy and institutional influences. Human vulnerability is a central theme, with case studies in India, the Philippines, Bangladesh and elsewhere demonstrating how economic and political pressures impact the population, especially its poorer sectors.

Flood mitigation strategies constitute the principal theme linking Parts III and IV. A lack of essential knowledge for a valid assessment of the socio-economic impact of floods is stressed in Part III, while Part IV concentrates on selected mitigation strategies such as floodplain management and flood-proofing.

Vulnerability and the measures that can be used to reduce it form the subject of the next two parts. Preparedness, warnings and insurance are considered in Part V which includes case studies of major flood emergencies in Europe during the 1990s. These provide examples of flood emergency management and the difficulties arising from public response to warnings, and provide invaluable advice on effective strategies. This part ends with a survey of the role of insurance as a means of compensating for flood losses. In Part VI vulnerability reduction is approached differently. The issues here are those of regulation and other social processes. Building codes and other appropriate legislation are critical components of efforts to reduce vulnerability.

Two papers in Part VII deal with perhaps the most vital question of the day – climate change and its implications for sea level rise. In the first of these, it is concluded that global warming will continue to increase, leading to an average sea level rise of 17-99 cm by 2100. There are uncertainties in results from present models which do not provide a confident basis for planning for the impact on coastal areas. Models must be refined so that appropriate adaptation strategies can be devised. The second paper points out that flooding in coastal areas may increase without any climate change because of demographic growth. Mitigation strategies include zoning, flood-proofing or elevation above expected flood levels, and structural measures such as floodwalls. Among the impacts of climate change on sea level rise needing consideration are the spatial variation in thermal expansion, possible regional changes in storm surge regimes, and changes in storm track and frequency.

The final two parts of FLOODS look at how real advances in predictability are being made but, for a large part of the globe, flood prediction and flood forecasting are anything but state of the art and may well be in inexperienced hands. Attention is given especially to floods in cold climates, mud floods in Middle Asia and the Caucasus, tsunamis and the Mediterranean area. The final Part IX sums up the lessons, directions and future challenges, covering experiences in South Asia and Africa. Although not intended to be an assessment of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, inevitably some results are discussed. While there has been a dramatic reduction in the loss of life from floods, property damage has continued to be high in many areas. There is a need for “post audits to learn the positive and negative lessons from the numerous mitigation programs”.

Parker winds up the publication in a final chapter in which he raises many pertinent and thought-provoking issues. These include social justice and morality, and other emerging ethical issues. This increased awareness, as seen in various chapters of this publication, places new perspectives on matters of great humanitarian importance. They will not be easy or quick to achieve, but at least they are receiving the attention they merit.

The reader’s task is facilitated by the editor’s introduction to each part, together with the “conclusions” ending most chapters. A quick look at the main features is thus possible pending more detailed study. As with previous volumes in this series, the production is of high quality and attractively bound. An interesting and practical innovation is the inclusion of an appendix to Volume II containing references to relevant flood hazards and disaster websites. 

This reviewer must express his admiration to Professor Parker for the extent of his contribution to these volumes. It includes not only his editorship and introductions to each of the nine parts but also the authorship of two chapters and part of another. Many will be grateful for his inspired leadership of this enterprise.

Peter Rogers spent most of his professional career in the Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) where, from 1967 to 1984, he was principally responsible for the WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme. He is now based in Bangkok and advises ADPC on meteorology-related issues from time to time.