1Freddy Vinet, 1Victoria Bigot, 2Olga Petrucci, 3Katerina Papagiannaki, 4Maria Carmen Llasat, 2Luigi Aceto, 3Vassiliki Kotroni , 4Montserrat Llasat-Botija, 2Angela Aurora Pasqua, 1Laurent Boissier, 5Joan Rosselló, 2019, Mapping flood-related mortality in the Mediterranean basin. Results from the MEFF DB, 12th HyMeX workshop, Split, Croatia, 20 - 24 May 2019,
URL: http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/399957

Recent events in Baleares Island (13 fatalities in October 2018 the 9th) and in southern France (15 fatalities in October 2018, 15th) show that flood related mortality still is of great concern in the Mediterranean countries facing to flash floods. The knowledge of the circumstances and the profiles of flood related fatalities is relevant : i) to measure the impacts of floods, ii) to assess prevention policies and iii) to improve prevention measures. The building of the MEditerranean Flood Fatalities (MEFF) database had been a first step to address flood related mortality in the Mediterranean basin (Petrucci et al., 2018). This Database put together flood fatalities knowledge for five Mediterranean regions/countries: Catalonia (Spain), Balearic Islands (Spain), southern France, Greece, Italy. The period covered goes from 1980 to 2018. Previous research showed the general features of flood related mortality through statistical analysis. But the raw data show strong discrepancies between regions/countries and periods regarding the number of fatalities and the profile of dead people. This presentation introduces a new step by including data in a GIS. Maps of mortality by countries and regions are presented at NUTS3 administrative unit level and then through a grid map. The mapping of a flood mortality index (number of death/year/Millions of inhabitants) shows a negative mortality gradient between the western basin and the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea. Southern France seems to be the most hit region unless statistical series are not long enough. Mortality maps are then compared with potential drivers such as rainfall intensity (hazard) or population density in flood prone zone to explain geographical discrepancies in mortality index.

Data from https://intranet.cnr.it/people/