SAFETYLIT WEEKLY UPDATE

We compile citations and summaries of about 400 new articles every week.
RSS Feed

HELP: Tutorials | FAQ
CONTACT US: Contact info

Search Results

Journal Article

Citation

Fang Y, Du S, Scussolini P, Wen J, He C, Huang Q, Gao J. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018; 15(8): e15081602.

Affiliation

Institute of Urban Studies, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Shanghai 200234, China. paolo.scussolini@vu.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph15081602

PMID

30060583

Abstract

Although China suffers from frequent and disastrous floods, the spatiotemporal pattern of its population living in the floodplain (PopF) is still unknown. This strongly limits our understanding of flood risk and the effectiveness of mitigation efforts. Here we present the first quantification of Chinese PopF and its dynamics, based on newly-available population datasets for years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2015 and on a flood map. We found that the PopF in 2015 was 453.3 million and accounted for 33.0% of the total population, with a population density 3.6 times higher than outside floodplains. From 1990 to 2015, the PopF increased by 1.3% annually, overwhelmingly faster than elsewhere (0.5%). A rising proportion (from 53.2% in 1990 to 55.6% in 2015) of the PopF resided in flood zones deeper than 2 m. Moreover, the PopF is expected to increase rapidly in the coming decades. We also found the effect of flood memory on controlling PopF growth and its decay over time. These findings imply an exacerbating flood risk in China, which is concerning in the light of climate change and rapid socioeconomic development.


Language: en

Keywords

China; flood memory; floodplain; population exposure; sustainability

NEW SEARCH


All SafetyLit records are available for automatic download to Zotero & Mendeley
Print