ABSTRACT
This paper focuses upon a small qualitative study of two communities in England that were flooded over the Easter weekend in 1998. It reports on the only known longitudinal study of flood-affected respondents in the UK with the same participants over a 4 1/2-year period. It examines how 'place', both as a physical location within the floodplain and in terms of social places, may impact upon the health of those affected. It also demonstrates how floods may influence people's relationship with and perception of place, further impacting upon health outcomes. Illustrations in the form of narratives are provided by those who were flooded. Findings demonstrate that even relatively small, localised flood events may seriously disrupt people's lives and have a significant impact upon their physical but particularly their mental health and well-being.
Subject(s)
Disasters , Health Status Indicators , Adult , England/epidemiology , Female , Focus Groups , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle Aged , Stress, Psychological/etiologyABSTRACT
This paper presents research results on the impacts that floods can have on the people affected, thus complementing the existing data on the monetary losses liable to occur in flood events. Both datasets should be used when deciding on investment in flood defence measures. We report on research on the vulnerability of flood-affected communities to adverse health effects, and the development of an index of community vulnerability based on extensive focus-group research and secondary-source census data.
Subject(s)
Disasters , Life Change Events , Public Health , Risk Assessment/methods , Risk Factors , Health Status Indicators , Humans , Public Opinion , Social Change , Social Environment , Socioeconomic Factors , Stress, Psychological/prevention & control , United KingdomABSTRACT
Four main groups are considered in relation to the risk from flooding: the engineers involved in the design of flood alleviation schemes, emergency planners, the public, including both the population at risk from flooding and the rest of the population who will bear all or most of the cost of flood alleviation schemes and the researchers, such as geographers and economists concerned with flood hazards and scheme appraisal. It is argued that these different groups vary significantly in their selection and definition of risks from flooding as a focus of concern and that their definition of risk influences their expectations about future events and the appropriate response to those events. But the different groups share two tendencies: the expectation that the future will be a replication of the past; and the neglect of "uncertain uncertainties" in favour of known uncertainties of risk.
