Flood Disaster and Flood Control Measurements in Shanghai

Abstract

Shanghai is the economic center of China, but is vulnerable to threats from natural hazards. Along with climate change and fast urbanization, flood is the inevitable deterrent to the city’s development. Flood hazard mitigation is considered as a critical work for the city government to ensure safety, maintain sustainable development, and reduce damages and losses. A comprehensive overview of flood management systems and considerations are of great value. So in this paper, the major causes of flooding in Shanghai are investigated and their characteristics are analyzed. Based on the new strategy of flood management aiming at reducing future impacts of flood disaster, the authors’ considerations about the current flood control measurements in Shanghai are demonstrated, especially at the aspects of flood design standard and the potential threats existing in the engineering system and nonengineering system. Though it is clear that Shanghai has made remarkable achievements in flood management, flood management should be conducted from a strategic perspective of disaster prevention.