Uncertainties in Flood Disaster Management

Flood disasters caused by extreme hydrologic events have long been a major threat to human well-being. Our struggles against disasters have been documented in historical records since Biblical times. Today, the potential losses due to a major flood disaster are tremendous. As the methods to counter such disasters increase, the public tolerance for such disasters decrease. In spite of great achievements by scientists, flood disaster management is still not an exact science and involves a great deal of uncertainty. There are several types of uncertainty, including socio-economic, health, and technology induced risk. Due to space limitation, this paper is limited to a discussion of the technology-induced-uncertainty of flood disaster management.