Flooding poses one of the greatest natural hazard dangers to Canadians. As human
populations increase and concentrate in areas vulnerable to floods, and uncertainty about
future flood risk increases with the possibility of a changing climate, major urban
communities, coastal settlements and communities located within floodplains are faced with
an even greater risk of floods in the coming years. Canada's policies and practices
towards flood control are best described as ad hoc, and have developed over the years in
response to experiences with floods. No national scale flood damage reduction program
exists, and there is currently no opportunity for Canadian homeowners to purchase flood
insurance.
This study specifically examines how a national mitigation strategy, focused mainly on non
structural techniques could help decrease damages from floods in Canadian communities.
The strategy proposed here is theoretically based in EPC and IBC suggestions for a greater
national mitigation strategy, as well as IDNDR research, and federal, provincial and
municipal goals for sustainable development and sound land use planning objectives.
Ideally, a successful non structural flood mitigation strategy for Canada would address
issues at the national scale, yet be implementable at the local level in accordance with
community needs, risk characteristics, and local expertise. The strategy proposed here
would maximize the efficiency of federal resources and private industry as well as allow
local expertise and existing mitigation schemes to be formalized, bolstered and improved.
There are three major components of the non structural flood mitigation strategy. Risk
avoidance measures such as early warning systems, land use and resource planning and
ecological conservation all work towards reducing the chances of a dangerous flood
occurring. Risk spreading measures help communities deal with flood risks by improving
equity and accountability, they include tax incentives, disaster financial assistance, and
flood insurance. Lastly, vulnerability reduction measures help reduce damages if a flood
were to strike, and these include enforcement of building codes and the maintenance of
existing protective infrastructure.
An integrated, non structural flood mitigation strategy would require basin-wide cooperation
between all levels of government, citizens and the private sector. This strategy is also an
opportunity for communities and individuals to meet goals of environmental conservation
and sustainable development.
The focus in this study lies on the mitigation tools, although it is the overall process of
inserting the premise of mitigation into all land use and planning decision making processes
that will be the key to successful flood mitigation strategies in Canadian communities. / Science, Faculty of / Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/10505 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Slater, Alyson |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 8652606 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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