Understanding Extreme Geohazards: The Science of the Disaster Risk Management Cycle European Science Foundation Conference November 28 to December 1, 2011, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain

Mapping the effects of natural disasters on urban quality of life; 2005-2010 floods in Romania

Maria Ioana Vlad
University of Bucharest, Romania, ioana.vlad@rosa.ro

Disasters are generally violent or unexpected occurrences, often accompanied by considerable loss of life, which cause a society, or part of it, suffering and distress, temporary disruption of normal life, substantial material damage and difficulties for the functioning of society and the economy.

Social vulnerability to disasters is a function of human action and behaviour. It describes the degree to which a socioeconomic system or physical assets are either susceptible or resilient to the impact of natural hazards and environmental changes. It is determined by the interplay of a combination of several factors, including hazard awareness, the condition of human settlements and infrastructure, public policy and administration, the wealth of a given society and organized abilities in all fields of disaster and risk management.

Social impacts, which include psychosocial, sociodemographic, socioeconomic and sociopolitical impacts can develop over a long period of time and can be difficult to assess when they occur. Despite the difficulty in measuring these social impacts, it is nonetheless important to monitor them because they can cause significant problems, which can affect the quality of life level and values.

Quality of life is used as a measure for evaluating people’s well-being, satisfaction and happiness. It represents more than private living standards and refers to all the elements of condition in which people live their life. the concept quality of life is rooted in the thinking about health, physical environment, natural resources, personal development and security.

This paper focuses on assessing quality of life in the romanian south-east urban region during several floods, happened between 2005 and 2010 by applying methods and products conceived for damage assessment. For quality of life assessment process are taking into account data sources integrated in a g.i.s, which include satellite image data, statistical data, geographical data and quality of life variation maps.