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Details of Award

NERC Reference : NE/S003177/1

[Malaysia] Flood Impacts across Scales- informing models of flood exposure and vulnerability via an integrated multi-scale approach

Grant Award

Principal Investigator:
Mr N Reynard, NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019), Hydro-climate Risks
Co-Investigator:
Professor H Dixon, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Directors and Science Coordinators
Co-Investigator:
Dr VA Bell, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Hydro-climate Risks
Co-Investigator:
Dr AL Kay, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Hydro-climate Risks
Co-Investigator:
Dr VDJ Keller, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Water Resources (Wallingford)
Co-Investigator:
Dr SJ Cole, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Hydro-climate Risks
Co-Investigator:
Miss H Houghton-Carr, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Water Resources (Wallingford)
Science Area:
Freshwater
Terrestrial
Overall Classification:
Unknown
ENRIs:
Environmental Risks and Hazards
Global Change
Science Topics:
Climatic Effects (Water Eng.)
Hydraulics (Water Eng)
Water Engineering
Catchment effects
Communication of uncertainty
Flood modelling
Floods
Land use
Poverty alleviation
Risk management
Uncertainty estimation
Warning systems
Regional & Extreme Weather
Development economics
Transition economies
Lesser developed economies
Hydrological cycle
Rainfall events
Runoff modelling
Hydrologic scaling
Catchment management
Hydrological Processes
Flood risk
Geography and climate change adaptation
Environmental Geography
Abstract:
Flooding is a threat to communities in both Malaysia and the UK. Computer modelling is a widely used approach to working out which areas are vulnerable to flooding. This allows government agencies, NGOs and communities to work out how to invest time and resources to protect areas at risk. Understanding of the causes of flooding has increased rapidly in recent years. We now have good data on environmental factors like rain and temperature which can influence where floods will happen. There are now good models of climate change. If we work out where flooding is going to happen, computer models can now be used to work out how flood waters will move around cities and which buildings will flood. One problem that still remains is to include the complexities of real life in these models. We currently assume that the same flood will always lead to the same consequences. This makes models quicker to run, but we know it's not how flooding works. If floods occur just before harvests they can destroy entire crops, but if they occur when fields are empty the costs can be very low. If one flood follows another in quick succession, facilities like hospitals and power stations could remain damaged from the first flood, meaning that the second one has much greater impact on people's lives. With research into how communities are affected by flooding, which takes into account the timing of floods as well as how closely associated they are in time, a genuinely new approach to flood risk could be developed. Malaysia is a very good place to develop these models. Its economy is developing quickly, so new approaches have the opportunity to be tested in a changing environment. Similarly, climate in Malaysia includes monsoons, which are a good test of model ability for environmental modellers. From a development perspective, Malaysia is a success story which is rapidly transitioning towards developed status, but still has large numbers of people at risk and in large areas, development can be set back by severe floods. Lastly, following severe floods in 2014, there is a renewed interest in developing innovative flood risk approaches in Malaysia. Our approach to developing a new flood model in Malaysia would make use of the different experts in our group. Bringing together experts from the UK and Malaysia, both of which have invested significantly in flood research in the last decade, would allow us to combine skills from experts with different specialities. Our economists will use economic modelling to understand how different sectors of the economy might change in future and how they might be exposed to flooding. Our group's environmental scientists will use existing computer models of rivers to show where river levels are likely to become high enough to generate flooding. Our flooding engineers will apply new hydraulics models to show how flood waters move once they have left the rivers. Experts in combining computer model outputs will combine each of these into a new model of flood risks. This new model will be used to find the effects of scenarios (factors we can't control such as climate change and increasing urbanisation) and strategies (factors we can control such as new flood defences and warning systems) which will help to evaluate some of these strategies for their effectiveness and value for money. This will allow future flood planning to be better targeted within Malaysia. We hope that Malaysia will act as a good case study for this research and that it would be taken up by other countries in South East Asia and around the world.
Period of Award:
1 Jan 2019 - 30 Nov 2019
Value:
£495,213
Authorised funds only
NERC Reference:
NE/S003177/1
Grant Stage:
Completed
Scheme:
Directed - International
Grant Status:
Closed
Programme:
SE Asia Hazards

This grant award has a total value of £495,213  

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FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)

DI - Other CostsIndirect - Indirect CostsDI - StaffDA - Estate CostsDI - T&S
£116,530£111,332£172,761£55,573£39,019

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