Efficiency of preventive actions for landslides and flooding : evaluation of Scandinavian practices

• The results presented here covers natural hazards with focus on land slides and flooding. The results are based on Swedish/Scandinavian contexts. Natural events such as erosion, flooding and land slides are common, but the number of accidents (events causing severe negative impact) is rare. Therefore, in such analysis there is limited data and other information available which can be used for example in statistical analysis of actions and their effects. Instead, the analysis must be based on other information. The analysis may have to include aspects that only can be assessed by scenario and "what-if" analyses.In this project the main method has been interviews with officials in Swedish municipalities and national agencies in Sweden and Norway. In all municipalities, one politician and officials working with planning and rescue service have been interviewed. The study covers hazard and risk mapping, follow up of such maps, physical planning and lessons learned from previous events and activities.The final outcome of the research will be a review of what is found to be well functioning, identification of weak points and recommendations for the management of landslides, erosion and flooding. The present results indicate that hazard/risk maps are of great importance, but the knowledge about the maps and how to use them varies depending on who you ask and between municipalities. Most officials in municipalities are aware of climate change (CC) but, due to high uncertainties and since climate induced events such as natural hazards are rare, the issues are often not prioritized. Further, the results indicate that the documentation, communication and the responsibilities among different units is not always clear, having impacts on for example the knowledge transfer to new personnel.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Klimatforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Climate Research (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Landslide

Flooding

Interview

Local authority

Planning

Risk

Map

62 Road: Soil mechanics

62 Road: Soil mechanics

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)