Reducing the Vulnerability of Societies to Water Related Risks at the Basin Scale (Proceedings of the third International Symposium on Integrated Water Resources Management, Bochum, Germany, September 2006). IAHS Publ. 317, 2007, 354–361.

Is hydrology reducing vulnerabilities?

ANDREAS SCHUMANN & BASTIAN KLEIN

Institute of Hydrology, Water Resources Management and Environmental Engineering, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany

andreas.schumann@rub.de

Abstract Risks depend on hazards and vulnerabilities against them. Hydrology is very much focused on the characterization of hazards. The susceptibility to these hazards strongly depends on the understanding and assessment of hydrological phenomena. Here hydrologists are challenged to provide the necessary information to the public. However, hydrology often fails to communicate with stakeholders and affected people about hazards. One problem of these communications is the insufficient consideration of the differences between aleatoric and epistemic uncertainties. In this contribution these differences are discussed. Some examples of ways to reduce epistemic uncertainties are presented.

Key words design floods operational flood management; flood risks; flood statistics; uncertainties; vulnerability