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The frequencies of flood by county and city in Taiwan Island during 1998 to 2008. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155166.g001
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Floods are known to cause serious environmental damage and health impacts. Studies on flood-related diseases have been primarily on individual events, and limited evidence could be drawn on potential health impacts from floods using large population data. This study used reimbursement records of one million people of the Taiwan National Health Insu...
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Due to unplanned growth, large extension and limited resources, most megacities in the developing world are vulnerable to hydrological hazards and infectious diseases caused by waterborne pathogens. Here we aim to elucidate the extent of the relation between the spatial heterogeneity of physical and socio-economic factors associated with hydrologic...
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... Incidents of Malaria and Dengue are on the rise, due to conducive, breeding environment and its widespread presence. Water contamination related gastrointestinal issues, diseases of the eyes and skins have been commonly reported in the post flood periods [117]. For a city as big as Karachi one the issues remain solid waste management. ...
Developing countries with hard pressed economies and a rapidly growing population have a myriad of issues to face. Karachi is one of the largest cities of Pakistan and is rapidly growing. The city has been hit by floods in the year 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, recently. Since the early 1990s Karachi has seen a rapid spike in development and in the process many natural streams have been built over. This has led reduced space for rainwater runoff and has created problems for urban flood managers. To ascertain this, topographic records of 1940s and 1980s and Landsat imagery of 2000, 2008, 2015 and 2020 were used to map historical urban extent. Sentinel—1, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery was used to extract flooded areas during 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 floods. In the year 2020, 64.3 km ² of area was flooded which was the highest. There has been a growth of 286% in urban area observed between 1980 and 2000. The city was built with several natural flood water carrying streams, north and west of it. It was found that that out of 3600 km of these streams, 870 km of streams have either been blocked or removed and a 100% in core urban area. DEM of difference (DOD) prepared by subtracting 1945 DEM from SRTM DEM indicated that most of embankments along these streams were in the areas that show erosion in DOD surface, thus explaining the expansion of built areas along historical stream channels. Forcing floods to enter these built areas.
... Ambient temperature further enhances microbial growth. 36 Moreover, massive flood-associated destruction disrupts clean water supply, washing areas, and sanitation facilities, hence causing a water outage, and further predisposing individuals to greater risk. 37 Often flooding results in trauma compromising skin's continuity, leaving individuals susceptible to developing infections. ...
... 39 Several studies report an association between scabies and natural disasters like flooding. 2,36 Following the 2010 flooding in Pakistan, scabies was among the most common causes of morbidity in Baluchistan accounting for 2,070 cases between 29 th July and 11 th August. 40 Similarly, reports from the 2013 flooding in Pakistan revealed scabies accounting for the highest proportion of consultations in the affected regions of Punjab with 2,708 consultations between 6 th to 16 th August 41 and 9,943 between 12 th and 21 st August 2013. ...
... 43 Literature also reports increased consultations for lower limb cellulitis in flood-affected areas, which may be due to lower limb trauma disrupting the physical skin barrier. 36 Multiple studies report skin infections following natural disasters like flooding. 36,44 During the 2010 flooding in Pakistan, 40,100 skin infections were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) between 31 st July and 12 th August, making it a more significant cause of morbidity than watery diarrhea, which accounted for 34,373 cases. ...
Introduction and aim. Industrialization and elevated greenhouse gas emissions pose significant threats to the environment, raising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and leading to climate change. Climate change may impact human health either directly via increasing extreme weather frequency and altering disease patterns or indirectly via social institutions and disrupted global supply chain resulting in consequences like undernutrition Material and methods. This review conducted a comprehensive literature search on PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library, from inception to September 2022, using relevant keywords. Analysis of the literature. Massive flooding in South Asia is leading to a surge in water-related diseases. Cholera outbreaks have occurred in countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh following floods, and waterborne diseases like typhoid, rota virus, hepatitis A, and leptospirosis are prevalent in flood-affected regions. Additionally, Cryptosporidium, Campylobacter, Shigella, and Polio outbreaks are reported. Water-scarce diseases, including scabies, impetigo, and cellulitis, are also on the rise in flood-affected areas. Water-based diseases, such as dracunculiasis, schistosomiasis, and Leishmaniasis, pose significant risks. Vector-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue, and Leishmaniasis, are becoming more prevalent due to flooded areas providing breeding grounds for disease vectors like mosquitoes and sandflies. These diseases are now more common in flood-af fected regions, affecting millions of people. Conclusion. Urgent measures are needed, including early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, drainage maintenance, and stricter land-use regulations, to reduce the impact of these natural disasters. International cooperation and immediate action at national and global levels are essential to mitigate the health crises caused by flooding and other natural disasters.
... While the NDWI showed relatively good results in this study and is commonly used for the delineation of water [17,22,40], it has been argued that the modified version of this index (i.e., MNDWI) is more stable and reliable. The MNDWI was originally developed for application in urban areas [26,28], and by including the MIR band this water index algorithm is less sensitive to high concentrations of sediments [47] and also provides positive values with a higher magnitude as water absorbs more MIR than NIR light [28]. This is also evident in Lake Vembanad, which experiences poor water quality with high concentrations of total suspended matter [10]. ...
Water is an essential natural resource, but increasingly water also forms a threat to the human population, with floods being the most common natural disaster worldwide. Earth Observation has the potential for developing cost-effective methods to monitor risk, with free and open data available at the global scale. In this study, we present the application of remote sensing observations to map flooded areas, using the Vembanad-Kol-Wetland system in the southwest of India as a case study. In August 2018, this region experienced an extremely heavy monsoon season, which caused once-in-a-century floods that led to nearly 500 deaths and the displacement of over a million people. We review the use of existing algorithms to map flooded areas in the Lake Vembanad region using the spectral reflectances of the green, red and near-infrared bands from the MSI sensor on board Sentinel-2. Although the MSI sensor has no cloud-penetrating capability, we show that the Modified Normalised Difference Water Index and the Automated Water Extraction Index can be used to generate flood maps from multi-spectral visible remote sensing observations to complement commonly used SAR-based techniques to enhance temporal coverage (from 12 to 5 days). We also show that local knowledge of paddy cultivation practices can be used to map the manoeuvring of water levels and exclude inundated paddy fields to improve the accuracy of flood maps in the study region. The flood mapping addressed here has the potential to become part of a solution package based on multi-spectral visible remote sensing with capabilities to simultaneously monitor water quality and risk of human pathogens in the environment, providing additional important services during natural disasters.
... Escherichia coli (E. coli) and cholera were the culprits behind nearly 17,000 cases of diarrhea during the deluge of 2004 [11,12]. Likewise, a spate of leptospirosis outbreaks has been chronicled in the wake of floods and typhoons across diverse geographical landscapes, including India, Thailand, Tanzania, and Taiwan [10,13]. ...
... Additionally, skin infections, urticaria, and eczema have been reported in the aftermath of floods and hurricanes. Ocular afflictions, such as conjunctivitis and trachoma, can also manifest due to the scarcity of safe washing water, spawning sight-threatening morbidities [12]. ...
Natural disasters, characterized by their ferocity and unpredictability, can cause a lot of damage to people's lives. These effects can last for many years and affect entire communities. After these huge events, the healthcare system faces numerous challenges. Smart planning and timely, clear actions are important to reduce and eventually overcome the bad effects of the events. It's particularly important to acknowledge the status of the healthcare system in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). These countries have a tough time because their economies are often limited, with limited finances and resources. Hence, natural disasters can damage their healthcare system more. This review looks closely at how various natural disasters have caused big problems for LMICs and their healthcare systems. We carefully look at what happens after these disasters and how they worsen existing problems in these economies. The review also highlights how communities work hard to improve after these events. By showing how natural disasters affect healthcare systems in LMICs, this paper tries to make more people aware of these issues. It encourages everyone to work together to strengthen these important systems against nature's strong forces.
... These disasters expose the population to epidemics (Gao et al., 2016;Huang et al., 2016), as some households lack sanitary facilities and prefer to defecate in the open air. Added to this is unmanaged garbage. ...
In many parts of the world today, soil erosion is the major obstacle to mankind's future well-being. Combined with flooding, soil erosion is responsible for almost half of all deaths from natural disasters over the last 50 years, and almost a third of all economic losses worldwide. To prevent the Bubolese population from these disasters, it is necessary to identify the causes of recurrent flooding and erosion in the Municipality of Mususa in the City of Butembo and to propose solutions for the efficient prevention of these phenomena. Thanks to an approach based on a combination of several methods, notably documentation, fieldwork and the use of 'open street map' satellite data and the reference RGC database in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), flood-prone areas were identified and located around the Kimemi River. Whereas eroded areas are located along the Wayimiria River. Hence, after fieldwork, flooding in the Municipality of Mususa is the result of precipitation and inappropriate urbanization. Strategies to combat this phenomenon include (a) public awareness campaigns and (b) the use of tanks to store rainwater. In addition, erosion is caused by the regular mining of sand in the riverbed by the riverside population, and also partly by the nature of the soil. For this reason, the use of plants such as bamboo and public awareness campaigns would be the best solutions to these problems. Considering the urgency and gravity of the situation, the political and administrative authorities must get involved to stop these disasters, because prevention is better than cure.
... Alderman et al. (2012) conducted a systematic review of the relationship between floods and health using published articles (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) and found an increased risk of the outbreak of diseases such as hepatitis E, gastrointestinal disease, and leptospirosis after floods. Evidence of various types of diseases, such as dysentery in China (Ni et al. 2014), flood-related leptospirosis in Brazil (Londe et al. 2016), flood-related diseases of the eyes, skin, and gastrointestinal tract in Taiwan (Huang et al. 2016), and floodrelated infectious diseases in China (Gao et al. 2016), highlighted the same results regarding the adverse effects of floods. A non-communicable diseases -allergic symptoms, particularly upper respiratory tract -was also found related to flood caused by hurricane in Houston (Oluyomi et al, 2021). ...
... Other previous studies which used clinical records to estimate the health impact on infectious diseases can usually only compare areas with and without floods or before and after the flood in flooded areas. The most comprehensive epidemiological study on flood-related diseases in Taiwan is conducted by Huang et al. (2016). Their results, however, do not control the trend in non-flooded areas. ...
... The NHI benefit scheme contains a comprehensive benefit package, which includes outpatient and inpatient care, dental services, prescription drugs, and traditional In this study, flood-related physiological diseases include vector-borne diseases, water-borne diseases, rodent-borne diseases, flood-related eye and skin diseases, and flood-related gastrointestinal tract diseases (Huang et al. 2016). Disaster-related mental illnesses analyzed in this study include anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. ...
... Flooding intensifies the mixing of stormwater with wastewater and the redistribution of pollutants ( [6]; [4]). In addition, contaminated floodwater poses an immediate health risk through waterrelated diseases [7]; [6]; [8]; [9]; [4]). Furthermore, floodwater contamination decreases aesthetic value compromising recreational activities, tourism attractiveness, property values, and drinking water management and treatment [10]; [4]). ...
Urban water management rules have long been oriented towards the rapid disposal of rainwater and wastewater through combined or separate drainage networks. This type of urban water management has shown its limits in both developed and undeveloped countries, notably because of its inexorable degradation over time and the cost of its rehabilitation and adaptation to the increase in demand due to urban growth. Sanitation data from the Office Nationale de l’Assainissement du Sénégal. Rainfall data are processed and analyzed to describe the current situation and how variable and high rainfall affects the neighborhood. Approximately 70-92% of the Dakar region's inhabitants have on-site sanitation facilities and sufficient income makes it difficult to manage their wastewater without exposing the environment or the health of citizens. The volumes of domestic wastewater flowed into the environment, in addition to poorly evacuated rainwater, show that the current sanitation system in the Dakar region is largely outdated, and insufficient for an effective drainage of rainwater and wastewater. Increasingly, frequent flash floods of polluted storm water from large amounts of domestic sewage are occurring, resulting in damage to human health. Exceptionally high rainfall is in correlation with high daily rainfall, therefore in recent years daily rainfall higher than 100 mm have been recorded in connection with above-average annual rainfall. That increase in rainfall disrupts the drainage of wastewater in the region of Dakar. A pragmatic and voluntary policy based on the principles of ecohydrology to recreate natural areas will be the only way for Dakar to efficiently manage storm water and wastewater. It can bring Dakar in 2030 into the international group of sustainable green cities.
... The use of these techniques in the present study allowed the identification of risk areas, which are relative proximity to river areas that may be a consequence of heavy rains that caused flooding by the Ipanema River and Camoxinga River in March 2020, where the city's sewage is also dumped in these water bodies (Brasil 2020c). The flooding phenomenon associated with precarious sanitary sewage facilitates the spread of parasites, especially those associated with zoonotic vectors and reservoirs (Brown & Murray 2013;Huang et al. 2016;Okaka & Odhiambo 2018). Besides that, rain provides essential moisture for the development of eggs into infective larval stages and contributes to their dispersal and larval migration throughout the environment (Oyebamiji et al. 2018). ...
Wastewater released into the environment without proper treatment contributes to the high prevalence of parasitic infections. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of parasites in sewage waters in both rainy and dry seasons in the city of Santana do Ipanema, Brazil. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out between the months of June, July (rainy season) and October (dry season) of 2021. A total of 50 streets were selected by a sample calculation in the Epi Info™ program. From each street, two wastewater samples were collected in both climatic periods. In the laboratory, the water samples were submitted to the Bailenger method with some adaptations and analyzed under an optic microscope. In the rainy season, we detected Strongyloides stercoralis (87.6%; 134), Strongylus spp. (4.6%; 7), hookworms (2.0%; 3) and Iodamoeba butschlii (62.5%; 5), and in the dry season, it was detected S. stercoralis (55.0%; 71), Metastrongylids (19.4%; 25), hookworms (12.4%; 16) and I. butschlii (76.5%; 13). The spatial analysis has shown that most hotspots were associated with S. stercoralis, mainly during periods of intense rainfall and close to river areas. Thus, the city population is subject to infections, especially by helminths regardless of seasonality.
HIGHLIGHTS
S. stercoralis was the most frequent helminth in both weather periods.;
High concentrations of hookworms, Metastrongylids and I. butschlii were observed during the dry season.;
A precise technique for collecting water directly from open sewers has been described.;
The Bailenger method with the adaptations reported here became a cheap and efficient technique for parasite detection in sewage water.;
... The quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) is an important tool for estimating microorganism-related health hazards (Haas et al. 1999;WHO 2016) and for developing water safety plans (Petterson and Ashbolt 2016). However, information on specific pathogen content in a particular location is required in order to employ this approach. ...
Indonesia, particularly in the urban area, is prone to extreme events, especially floods. In addition, the duration, frequency, and intensity of such disasters are projected to increase due to the climate change. However, in Indonesia, little is known about the effects of those climate disasters on human health. Given the population’s extremely limited adaptive capacity, this is a critical information gap. We estimated the risk probability of waterborne diseases caused by flood utilizing the quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA) approach. We used the RCP 4.5 climate scenario of daily precipitation data of MRI-CGCM 3, MIROC5, HadGEM to determine the future projection of waterborne disease under the flood 50-year return period scenario in 2030. In two of the main cities in Indonesia, Medan and Surabaya, we looked at norovirus as a worst-case scenario waterborne disease. We found that the mean probability of the health risk during the extreme event in the future is 0.079 (increased by 22%) and 0.12 (increased by 35%) in Medan and Surabaya, respectively. The total number of infected people will have at least a twofold increase in Medan and Surabaya. It is critical to address the growing risk of norovirus in the face of climate change and to find local context-relevant adaptation measures by conducting a workshop with local stakeholders in each city. The most relevant and urgent actions listed during the workshop were raising awareness in hygiene and behavior during the flood, increasing green space, and providing leak-proof communal septic tanks.KeywordsClimate changeWaterborne diseasesQMRAClimate scenarioClimate adaptation
... These led to the aggravation of the existing health service needs in the community and increased the risk of potential disease outbreaks. Likewise, reporting of outpatient visit rates for the eye, skin, and gastrointestinal tract diseases were highest post floods in Taiwan [29], and reporting of gastrointestinal diseases in India during floods also showed a similar trend [30]. ...
Torrential rainfall following the monsoon season occurs annually in Pakistan; adversely affecting health services delivery and population health. The qualitative study was undertaken in five flood-prone districts to examine district health system performance during floods in Pakistan; the first of its kind study to gather an in-depth assessment of district health system capacity in maintaining healthcare services during floods. Key informant interviews were conducted with 37 district stakeholders and 42 frontline health care providers. Nine focus group discussions were also conducted with 56 Lady Health workers. World Health Organization health systems’ six building blocks framework was utilized to assess the performance of district health systems. The findings showed increased reporting of diseases, and domestic and sexual violence against females. The damaged roads and unavailability of transportation during floods affected outreach services in the communities. There was inadequate availability of funds resulted in critical gaps in the supply chain for essential medicines and supplies, impeding outreach services. In addition, a shortage of female medical staff was reported, alongside poor attention to the training of staff in disaster response. Furthermore, Management Information Systems reporting varied across provinces with a mechanism of daily reporting of acute illnesses instituted. In general, district health systems lacked gender-sensitive responses in responding to flood emergencies. This study identified multiple health system constraints that result in poor district health system capacity in delivering essential health care services during floods. There is a need to improve district health systems' capacity in effectively responding to healthcare service needs during floods.
