Flood myth

Dynamics (music)

Computer security

Archaeology

Pedagogy

Risk assessment

Computer science

Risk analysis (engineering)

Business

Environmental planning

Psychology

Geography

Environmental resource management

Environmental science

Flood risk management

Nature Climate Change

The behaviour of individuals, businesses, and government entities before, during, and immediately after a disaster can dramatically affect the impact and recovery time. However, existing risk-assessment methods rarely include this critical factor. In this Perspective, we show why this is a concern, and demonstrate that although initial efforts have inevitably represented human behaviour in limited terms, innovations in flood-risk assessment that integrate societal behaviour and behavioural adaptation dynamics into such quantifications may lead to more accurate characterization of risks and improved assessment of the effectiveness of risk-management strategies and investments. Such multidisciplinary approaches can inform flood-risk management policy development.

Integrating human behaviour dynamics into flood disaster risk assessment