The long-term health impacts of repeated flood events: A Review

Abstract

Global flood events over the last thirty years have affected over 2.8 billion people and claimed an astounding 200,000 lives. Flood victims experience long-lasting effects on their physical and mental well-being that last for an uncertain amount of time after the incident. Secondary stressors that are indirectly related to the flood event have the capacity to worsen and prolong the health effects on impacted individuals and communities, even after the initial aftermath. These secondary stressors include social stressors like extended isolation from flooding and economic difficulties like income loss. Notably, there is a significant research vacuum regarding the effects of recurrent flooding and how it affects people's vulnerability to these secondary stressors. This thorough analysis explores research on periodic flooding, highlighting the secondary stressors that result from these occurrences. It also examines the study populations' awareness, readiness, and resilience in order to estimate the possible effects of secondary stressors on these communities. The review's conclusions highlight the substantial effects that secondary stressors in the economic, social, and psychological domains have on communities in both developed and developing countries, both rural and urban. Even though the majority of communities are fundamentally aware of the risk of flooding, many residents do not take this risk seriously, which leads to a lack of proactive measures. Research has indicated that there is greater community resilience in developing country urban and rural areas as well as in developed country rural areas. Subsequent investigations ought to thoroughly examine the various secondary stressors that impact communities and investigate tactics to mitigate their effects, with the ultimate goal of augmenting community resilience.