Page - 304 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

304 W.J.WouterBotzenet al. Box12.4 Adoptionof floodpreparedness measures inTabasco, Mexico Floods in theMexicanstateTabascooccur frequently, almostonanannualbasis. Indi- vidualandcommunitylevelfloodpreparednessmeasuresareanimportantwayforlocal households tocopewithfloodevents.The lastdecadefloodshavebecomemoresevere in this poor region,which suggests that local communities have to improveflood risk managementefforts.Atreyaetal. (2017)examinedfloodpreparednessdecisions in ten communities in Tabasco conducting a survey among 664 householdswith questions about their flood preparedness decisions. In particular, they focused on the role that community levelmeasures, such as information provision on risk, play in individual decisions to prepare for flooding. Important flood preparednessmeasures that people takeinTabascoareprotectingbelongingsagainstflooding,havingasafemeetingpoint to go to during a flood event, and emergency preparedness actions, such as having a familyemergencyplanofwhat tododuringaflood,first aid trainingordisasterdrills. Thefigurebelowshowsthepercentageofpeople in thesecommunitieswhohavetaken thesemeasures, fromwhich it is apparent that protectingbelongings is themost com- monly takenmeasures,while improvements canbemade in taking theothermeasures whicharecurrently takenby fewerpeople, Atreya et al. (2017) conducted statistical analyses to examinewhich factors influence individual floodpreparedness decisions. These results show that household prepared- nessactionsarepositivelyrelatedwithcommunitieshavingaccessiblefloodriskmaps, earlywarningsystems,andshelters, amongstother factors.Thisprovides insights into community-level flood riskmanagement strategies that can improve individual flood preparedness.Forexample,very fewpeople (about8%)currentlyhaveaccess tocom- munity’s riskmaps,whilehavingsuchknowledge is foundto improve individualflood preparedness. Moreover, this can be achieved by better communicating about early warningsystemsandshelter availability.