Impact of social vulnerability assessment on flood risk management processes in the urban environment in Annaba province

Abstract

Considering that flood risk is one of the greatest natural hazards threatening human beings, the standard approach of flood risk management is mostly based on structural mea- sures giving less importance to uncertainty as a main factor. The robustness leads frequently to failures in the structural measures as a factor of uncertainty, in addition to other factors like changes in hazard comportment. The current study represents an evaluation of flood policy in Annaba city, how decision-makers deal with this issue, and how to reduce exposure and susceptibility factors. The evaluation is based on the study of flood risk components, hazard amount, vulnerability degree and people’s perception of flood risk. The study also assesses how people handle flood risk and their capability to cope with extreme events. A survey method was used to assess the potential risks as it involves analyzing different flood risk aspects by conducting a survey through questioning local residents. We can state that exposure is highly affected by the number and density of the population characterized by the high probability of human and material losses in the study area. On the other hand, the vulnerability operates on a smaller scale that increases the capacity of flood risk to affect humans and other components of the environment. This study affirms that the uncertainty in hazard determination forecasting and misevaluation of social vulnerability leads inevitably to devastating consequences in the case of an exceptional event. Moreover, the behaviour of citizens during and after disaster phases can have a key role in flood risk management. Taking into consideration complexities related to social behaviour enhances the outcome of scenarios that lead consequently to more realistic forecasting. These findings concluded that the risk has always existed, i.e., the notion of «zero risk» never exists by natural laws. Knowing that risk management is the only way to deal with such issues, we highlight the importance of urban governance that integrates all actors without exclusion, based on a partnership aimed at obtaining optimal results. The essential principle of this mode of management is the reduction of economic and human losses.