Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Floods of the world: Quantitative analysis of natural characteristics and parameters of social-economic damages

  • Water Resources and the Regime of Water Bodies
  • Published:
Water Resources Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Results of the quantitative analysis, using 12 parameters, of about 2400 floods of the world are discussed. It is shown that floods are not to a lesser extent social and economic, than the natural phenomena: the most humidified natural zones of the earth are characterized by the smallest damages from floods. Areas of the greatest humanitarian damages (massive evacuations of people, a large number of fatal cases) are related generally with areas of the greatest population density, and areas of the greatest financial damages include as well the territories which are the most developed economically. In spite of the fact that for the analyzed time period the quantity of formally recorded floods increased, average values of the key natural and social-economic parameters of floods did not undergo considerable changes, and mean values of such parameters as the average area of flooding and average financial damage from floods, even decreased a little.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Anomalies of global annual surface air temperature (MAAT) obtained using Tiros-N satellite, http://www.climate4you.com/GlobalTerr

  2. Avakyan, A.B., Navodneniya, kontseptsiya zashchity, Izvestiya RAN, Ser. geograficheskaya, 2000, no. 5, pp. 40–46.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Avakyan, A.B. and Istomina, M.N., Floods as global multidimensional problem, Vestnik RAN, 2002, vol. 72, no. 12, pp. 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Dartmouth Flood Observatory, 1985–2009, http://www.darmouth.edu/~floods/

  5. Dobrovolski, S.G., Global’nye izmeneniya rechnogo stoka (Global changes in the river runoff), M.: Geos, 2011, p. 660 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dobrovolski, S.G. and Istomina, M.N., Navodneniya mira (World Floods), M.: Geos, 2006, p. 256 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dobrovolski, S.G. and Istomina, M.N., The characteristic of floods in the territory of Russia upon natural and social-economic parameters, Wat. Res., 2009, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 515–531.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dobrovolsky, S.G. and Istomina, M.N., The analysis of floods in Russia during 1998–2002), Extreme Hydrol. Situations, M.: Media Press, 2010, pp. 265–295 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ekstremal’nye gidrologicheskie situatsii, M.: Media Press, 2010, p. 470 (in Rusian).

  10. Extreme Hydrological Events: Theory, Modeling and Forecasting, M.: IVP, 2003, p. 380 (in Russian).

  11. Federal Agency for Water Resources of the Russian Federation, http://www.voda.mnr.gov.ru/activities/list.php? part=17

  12. International Disaster Database, 2014, http://www.emdat.be/

  13. Istomina, M.N. and Dobrovolsky, S.G., To strategy of “management” of damages from floods in the Russian Federation, Hydraulic Eng., 2013, no. 4, pp. 11–14.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Istomina, M.N. and Dobrovolsky, S.G., A database on world floods, IVP RAN, Federal Service for Intellectual Property, 2015, Certificate on the state registration no. 2015620292 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  15. MChS (Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation), Operational Reports about Emergency Situations, 1998–2009, http://mchs.gov.ru

  16. Nezhikhovsky, R.A., Floods on the Rivers and Lakes, Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1988, p. 183 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Statistica (Release 5), Tulsa, OK.: StatSoft, 1995, vols. 1–3.

  18. Taratunin, A.A., Floods in the Territory of the Russian Federation, Yekaterinburg: RosNIIVKh, 2000, p. 376 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Taratunin, A.A., Floods on Continents and the Countries of the World, Yekaterinburg: RosNIIVKh, 2011, p. 480 (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  20. United States Census Bureau, International Programs Center, International Database, 2009, http://www.census.gov/ipc

    Google Scholar 

  21. Ward, R., Floods: Geographical Perspective, L., Basingstoke: Mac Millan Press., 1978, p. 244.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  22. World Bank Database, 2009, www.worldbank.org

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Gubkina 3, Moscow, 119333, Russia

    M. N. Istomina & S. G. Dobrovoski

Authors
  1. M. N. Istomina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. G. Dobrovoski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. N. Istomina.

Additional information

The article is published in the original.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Istomina, M.N., Dobrovoski, S.G. Floods of the world: Quantitative analysis of natural characteristics and parameters of social-economic damages. Water Resour 43, 459–471 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807816030076

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807816030076

Keywords

Search

Navigation