ABSTRACT
The past decade has been a very significant period in relation to floods around the world, for several reasons. 1 Firstly, some of the most extensive, damaging and costly floods have occurred in developed, wealthy countries: for example, in 1993 in the Mississippi basin (including its major tributaries, the Missouri and Red River) and on the Rhine and its tributaries; in 1998 and 2000 in England; in 1990 in Australia, where an area twice the size of Texas was under water; and in parts of eastern and central Europe in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and worst of all in 2002. While these countries have never been exempt from floods, the severity of these disasters seemed to shock not only the victims, but also governments, planners and insurers. It was as if wealth, infrastructure and order were being unfairly challenged by nature, in societies that considered themselves immune or robust, unlike the less developed countries (LDCs).
