Leveraging Hazard, Exposure, and Social Vulnerability Data to Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada

Liton Chakraborty; Jason Thistlethwaite; Andrea Minano; Daniel Henstra; Daniel Scott

doi:10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

Volume 12 Issue 6

Dec. 2021

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Liton Chakraborty, Jason Thistlethwaite, Andrea Minano, Daniel Henstra, Daniel Scott. Leveraging Hazard, Exposure, and Social Vulnerability Data to Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(6): 821-838. doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

Citation:

Liton Chakraborty, Jason Thistlethwaite, Andrea Minano, Daniel Henstra, Daniel Scott. Leveraging Hazard, Exposure, and Social Vulnerability Data to Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(6): 821-838. doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

Citation:

Liton Chakraborty, Jason Thistlethwaite, Andrea Minano, Daniel Henstra, Daniel Scott. Leveraging Hazard, Exposure, and Social Vulnerability Data to Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(6): 821-838. doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

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Leveraging Hazard, Exposure, and Social Vulnerability Data to Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada

doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

1. Public Safety Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0P8, Canada;
2. Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2A 0E9, Canada;
3. School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada;
4. Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

Funds:

Social vulnerability analysis as presented in this article was conducted at the South-Western Ontario Research Data Centre (SWORDC) – a part of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN). The services and activities of SWORDC are made possible by the financial or in-kind support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, and the University of Waterloo. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the CRDCN or its partners. Flood hazard data © JBA Risk Management 2018. Residential housing stock data © DMTI Spatial Inc. 2018.

Available Online: 2021-12-27

Abstract

Abstract

This study integrates novel data on 100-year flood hazard extents, exposure of residential properties, and place-based social vulnerability to comprehensively assess and compare flood risk between Indigenous communities living on 985 reserve lands and other Canadian communities across 3701 census subdivisions. National-scale exposure of residential properties to fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flooding was estimated at the 100-year return period. A social vulnerability index (SVI) was developed and included 49 variables from the national census that represent demographic, social, economic, cultural, and infrastructure/community indicators of vulnerability. Geographic information system-based bivariate choropleth mapping of the composite SVI scores and of flood exposure of residential properties and population was completed to assess the spatial variation of flood risk. We found that about 81% of the 985 Indigenous land reserves had some flood exposure that impacted either population or residential properties. Our analysis indicates that residential property-level flood exposure is similar between non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities, but socioeconomic vulnerability is higher on reserve lands, which confirms that the overall risk of Indigenous communities is higher. Findings suggest the need for more local verification of flood risk in Indigenous communities to address uncertainty in national scale analysis.
- Canada,
- Flood risk assessment,
- Indigenous communities,
- Social vulnerability

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References(65)

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