Why are some people more vulnerable to flooding than others?

Gender

Women and marginalised gender groups generally experience flooding differently from cisgender men, especially in settings with a high level of gender inequality. Traditional dresses with heavy skirts make it harder to swim, cramped evacuation centres make it difficult for women on their period to maintain good hygiene and for transgender people to feel safe, girls are more likely than boys to miss out on schooling in the aftermath of floods.

Find out more about the gendered experience of flooding, and flood resilience building, in these resources from across the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance:

• Gender and early warning systems lessons from Nepal and Peru
• Missing voices: Experiences of floods and early warning from marginalized women in Nepal and Peru
• Gender transformative early warning systems: Experiences from Nepal and Peru
• Climate change young women and girls: Vulnerability impacts and adaptation in northern Thailand
• Disasters Deconstructed Podcast: Gender
• Addressing gender-based violence in Bangladesh
• Back to basics: Gender equity and social inclusion in flood resilience
• Are we really doing equitable and inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction?

Age

500 million children live in extremely high-risk flood zones. Unless we act now, climate change will harm the poorest and most vulnerable children first, hardest and longest. Zurich Flood Resilience Partner Plan International work specifically with children to build resilience against floods.

Poverty 

Poverty is a key cause of vulnerability. The World Bank’s report Unbreakable found that “When poor people are affected, the share of their wealth lost is two to three times that of the nonpoor, largely because of the nature and vulnerability of their assets and livelihoods”.

Urban poor people, especially people living in slums and informal settlements, face marginalisation, insecure accommodation, limited access to life-sustaining services, higher proportionate costs of living, food insecurity, and greater health risks.

Lack of resources makes it harder to prepare for and bounce back after a flood.

Disability

About one billion people globally live with disabilities. That’s about 15 per cent of the world’s population. This makes people with disabilities the world’s largest disadvantaged minority.

They may face social, economic, and cultural barriers limiting their access to full and effective participation in a society, including economic development, education, employment, and health services. These challenges are exacerbated where disability intersects with other characteristics that increase vulnerability. Women and girls with disabilities are 4 to 10 times more likely to experience gender-based violence than those without disabilities. Children with disabilities are more than twice as likely not to attend school.

What can be done to reduce people’s flood vulnerability?

Governments need to prioritise the most vulnerable in their budgets and policies and donors must ensure their funding targets those most at need.

If you want to learn more and ensure that your work is inclusive of marginalised groups and contribute to reducing the kinds of systemic vulnerabilities covered above a good place to start is with the resources below.