Flood Risk Communication

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Flood Risk Communication Ethnic Communities
Carole RobertsonRegional Incidents Emergency
Planning ManagerEnvironment Agency
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Flood Awareness

• Environment Agency responsible for public flood
  awareness since 1998, Bye report .
• Southern Region, about 40 of at risk population
  signed up to Floodline after 2000 flooding.
• Made good progress nationally, but..
• CCA made Flood warning a duty for us

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The issue

• We used an undifferentiated approach, one size
  fits all (hopefully?)
• Formal letters, in English, rather tekkie and
  directing people to a web site.
• Told people they were at risk but not why
• Flood warnings on terrestrial TV weather
  forecasts.
• Our research constantly identified hard to
  reach groups. But why were they hard to reach?

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The research problem

• Lots of research on risk communication
• Some research looking at how to improve
  communications with hard to reach groups
• Almost nothing specifically looking at ethnic
  minorities
• No best practice examples

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Factors affecting ethnic minority groups.

• Generally houses in the floodplain tend to be
  cheaper due to the associated risk.
• Many people moved into this cheaper housing when
  they arrived here.
• Therefore may find a high concentration of ethnic
  residents living in the flood plain and so
  disproportionately at risk
• Traditionally often have 3 generations under one
  roof, which also increases risk.

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Factors affecting ethnic minority groups.

• English may not be their first language, standard
  English texts/ internet may not be accessible.
• Older people may be illiterate in their mother
  tongue.
• Women more likely to have literacy problems AND
  more likely to be at home in a traditional
  role.
• Dislike of using the telephone eg Floodline
• Many ethnic communities make little use of
  terrestrial TV or English speaking radio
  stations.

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Risk perception

• Their perception of flood risk generally related
  to the risks in their home countries
• Positive affect- the belief that there is little
  or no risk flood risk in the UK
• Loss of community memory and lack of well
  understood signals.
• For us flooding is dead bodies, dead bodies and
  dead animals passing your house, here it is just
  water running down the road

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Ethnic communities

• Many of these ethnic groups have a strong
  community structure, often focussed around a
  religious/cultural centre
• These communities often have a clearly defined
  hierarchy, with community leaders being a focal
  point
• People in these communities will look to their
  leaders for advice and guidance on the issues
  that they should focus on and the actions they
  should take

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The Florispre Approach

• Use the existing strong community structures
• Secure the support from the community leaders.
• Their understanding of risk will strongly
  influence their communities
• We developed flood awareness material in
  consultation with many of these community leaders
• This ensured their support and helped to guide us
  in developing material that will be effective

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The Florispre Approach

• Developed a Flood Awareness booklet that
  highlights the history of flood risk in the area.
• Offers simple advice on what to do before, during
  and after a flood in one book.
• Designed to be simple, clear and concise and
  contains pictures of how to lay sandbags and
  block up sinks etc.
• Available in English, Punjabi, Traditional
  Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Polish. These
  languages are the most common in Southern region.

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The Florispre Approach

• A multilingual Flood Awareness DVD in English,
  Punjabi, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Hindi,
  Urdu, Bengali and Polish
• Features scenes of past flood events across the
  UK
• Again, simple and concise and helps to reach
  those who have difficulties reading, even in
  their mother tongue.
• Display panels for flood awareness events

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What we have developed
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Disseminating the results

• We also had to change the communications routes
• Community leaders and community events
• At cultural festivals, for example the Maidstone
  Mela
• In local schools
• The local Racial Equality Commissions
• Through local business leaders
• Through regional and local resilience fora
• Through local press

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Disseminating the results - the Maidstone Mela
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Disseminating the results - the Maidstone Mela
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And.?

• We continue to take the flood awareness message
  out into local communities.
• We participate in community events and festivals
• We are committed to building effective,
  long-lasting relationships with the communities
  and their leaders
• Our aim is to establish trust and respect for our
  message and for our organisation as the messenger.

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Any questions?