Preliminary Analysis of the Relations Between Flood Damage and Demographic Attributes Such as Education Years and Gender

Abstract

　Floods are sometimes regarded as contributors to poverty in economically developing countries. Possible flood disaster reduction effects on poverty have been discussed. Vulnerability might also affect flood damage severity because of demographic differences such as years of education and gender, but few reports describe such research especially of gender. This article presents clarification of the relations among demographic attributes, such as years of education and gender, and flood damage in flood-prone developing countries. We specifically examined years of education and gender, and statistically analysed their association with three flood damage indicators: inundation depth, inundation duration and income loss. The results indicate two main trends in the study areas: the ratio of income loss is higher in rural areas; and the ratio of income loss tends to be smaller for rural men and for men and women residing in large cities with more years of education and income.