Between 19, nearly 2.8 billion people were affected by floods worldwide, and 539,811 people lost their lives. In addition, research indicates that flooding can lead to mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. It may cause physical wounds, traumas or drowning, as well as mold-induced respiratory problems, gastrointestinal diseases, leptospirosis, skin infections, carbon monoxide poisoning, and electrocutions. In the spring 2019, flooding occurred in more than 250 Quebec municipalities, largely the same as in 2017.įlooding is also linked to several health issues. In 2017, floods were estimated to have caused more than 376 million $CAD in damages to municipalities located in southern Quebec. Over the course of the twentieth century, more than 2 billion $CAD in damages have been caused by floods in this province, with the Saguenay River flood of 1996 alone accounting for around 1 billion $CAD. For instance, 80% of waterfront municipalities in the Province of Quebec (Canada) are exposed to flooding. Of these, flooding is already the most common and destructive of climate-related disaster in many countries, including Canada. Finally, our results showed that little has changed in Quebeckers’ adoption of adaptive behaviors, highlighting the need for awareness raising in order to limit the impacts that climate change will have on the population.Ĭlimate change will lead to a further increase in the number and intensity of catastrophic weather events such as heat waves, floods, and droughts. Thus, this study provides a better understanding of flood adaptation in Quebec over the past 4 years and confirms that the five adaptive behavior indices developed in 2015 are appropriate tools for monitoring changes in flood adaptation in the province. Moreover, the results indicated an increase in self-reported physical and mental health issues related to past flooding events, as well as a larger proportion of people having consulted a health professional because of these problems. They also showed that, overall, Quebeckers’ flood-related adaptive behaviors have not changed considerably since 2015, with adaptation scores being similar in 2019 for four of the five flood indices. The results of the study demonstrated the measurement invariance of the five indices across two different samples of people over time, ensuring that the differences (or absence of differences) observed in flood-related adaptive behaviors between 20 were real and not due to measurement errors. Two independent samples of 1951 (2015) and 974 (2019) individuals completed a questionnaire on their adoption (or non-adoption) of flood adaptation behaviors, their perception of the mental and physical impacts of flooding, and their knowledge of the fact that they lived in a flood-prone area. The present study was conducted 4 years later and is a follow-up to the 2015 one. Therefore, in 2015, to better monitor the level of adaptation to flooding of Quebec residents living in or near a flood-prone area, the Quebec Observatory of Adaptation to Climate Change developed five indices of adaptation to flooding, according to the chronology of events. Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and intensity of floods in the province of Quebec, Canada.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |