Mis, N B; Joseph, R; Proverbs, D and Lamond, J (2015) Grass-root preparedness against potential flood risk among residential and commercial property holders. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 6(1), pp. 44-56. ISSN 1759-5916
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to investigate the level of preparedness among property owners who had experienced flood damage to their properties in two cities in England following the summer floods of 2007. Flooding can have a variety of impacts on residential properties and businesses that may be unprepared and therefore vulnerable to both direct and indirect effects. Research suggests that the focus in analysis of damage to flood plain population (residential and commercial) tends to be on the direct tangible impacts, limiting their ability to recognize the true costs of flooding, thereby leading to unpreparedness to future flooding. Greater understanding of the level of preparedness against different types of flood impacts is likely to contribute towards increased knowledge of the likely resilience of residential and commercial property occupiers. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data obtained through self-administered postal questionnaire survey of floodplain residential and commercial residents provide the basis for the research analysis and findings. The rationale behind choosing the locations for the research was based on the need to investigate areas where a sizeable number of residential and commercial properties were affected during the 2007 event, in this case, Sheffield and Wakefield in the northern part of England were chosen. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Findings – The result of the analysis revealed that non-structural measures have been implemented by more people when compared to other measures, which can be linked to the fact that non-structural measures, in most, cases do not have financial implication to the property owners. The uptake of the other measures (resistance and resilience) is very low. It can be concluded from the findings that the level of implementation of measures to reduce damage from potential future flooding among the flood plain residents is relatively low and mainly focussed towards reducing the direct effects of flooding. Practical implications – The study argues that increased resilience can be sustainable only by developing integrated attitude towards risk reduction not only by enhancing coping strategy by reducing direct impacts of flooding but also equally focussing on indirect effects. Originality/value – There have been previous studies towards investigating the impacts of flooding on residential and commercial property owners as a separate entity. It is believed that this is the first time in which both residential and commercial properties will be investigated together as one body of research.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | commercial property; direct effects; indirect effects; measures; mitigation; residential property |
| Index terms: | summer, coping, implementation, direct effect, England, statistical analysis, owner, residential property, indirect effect, questionnaire, mitigation, population, commercial property, methodology, property owner, risk reduction, survey, flooding, strategy |
| Subjects: | demography, sociology, environmental hazards, behavioral psychology, management, factor and component analysis, research methods, Geography, financial risk, data science, contractual arrangements, analytical methods, data collection methods, construction type, climate science |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Sustainability, Procurement, Construction Technology, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here