Flood disaster management neglects rural areas

Abstract

Flooding has become the most frequent natural disaster in the world¹. Although reporting tends to focus on impacts in urban centres, rural areas often bear the bulk of the damage, with livelihoods, agricultural production and supply chains impacted. Moreover, the majority of people affected reside in low-income countries reliant on agriculture for food security². As flood risk increases with climate change, more attention must be given to rural areas, as they are not only the most impacted, but they are also where solutions for mitigating flood risks are most likely to lie.

Alongside the increasing frequency of floods caused by climate change, lack of flood control facilities in rural areas — namely, insufficient dams, barriers and drainage systems — contributes to intensified risk and losses. Lack of insurance in rural areas further aggravates these losses. In low-income countries, flood insurance in rural areas is practically non-existent. In middle-income countries, flood insurance may be present, but often only covers a fraction of the damages. While flood insurance in the USA can reach up to 70%, for example, China’s insurance has in some cases been shown to cover only about 2% of losses⁸. Moreover, at present and increasingly in the future, certain areas in even the most high-income countries will not be covered at all by flood insurance because of rising threats from climate change⁹.