Hodnotenie povodňového rizika rómskych osád v SR

Flood risk assessment of Roma settlements in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

Roma communities concentrated in settlements on the outskirts or outside the village are, due to their poverty, the most vulnerable population group to flood hazards. Their poverty is determined by low social status, social and physical exclusion, cultural and linguistic barriers, level of education and discrimination. The aim of the paper is to assess the flood risk of Roma communities based on readily available data on their flood hazard and vulnerability. When assessing the flood hazard of Roma settlements, we rely on data on the occurrence of flood situations in villages with Roma settlements. In terms of data availability, the vulnerability assessment is based on data on the total number of inhabitants in Roma settlements and the nature of dwellings in Roma settlements. The flood risk of Roma settlements is expressed by the flood risk index, which is determined as the product of the normalised values of the flood hazard index and the vulnerability index. The achieved results show that out of the total number of 551 municipalities with Roma settlements, a significant level of flood risk is identified in Roma settlements occurring in 178 municipalities, i.e. in 32 % of the municipalities.