Conceptual Framework for Flood Vulnerability Assessment

This paper proposes a flood vulnerability index utilizing publicly available data that can be applied to different spatial scales. The index enables the development of an appropriate flood risk management strategy, tailored to those factors of vulnerability that have the greatest impact on the overall flood vulnerability of a given place. Currently, following a shift in the approach to flood protection, vulnerability has become a critical element of disaster mitigation. This index is an important contribution to the existing body of research as it can be applied to flood risk management strategies overcoming the ambiguity of definitions of vulnerability and the dynamic nature of temporal and spatial scales of analysis. The proposed flood vulnerability index is a multifaceted approach, encompassing physical, social, economic, environmental, and institutional attributes. In order to create the index, the literature on flood vulnerability was reviewed, including definitions, research methods, as well as the factors and constituents that are major components of vulnerability. The proposed indicator can be used by policy-makers responsible for flood risk management, especially in EU countries, in order to minimize the negative consequences of floods. Compared to other methods used (i.e., disaster loss estimation or modeling), the flood vulnerability index is easy to use when comparing different areas.