Flood impact on income inequality in the Itapocu River basin, Brazil

This study proposes a method to assess the impact of floods on households spatially based on their income levels by conducting flood analysis and income analysis. The method is applied to the Itapocu River basin (IRB) located in Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The flood is assessed by conducting rainfall analysis and hydrological simulation and generating flood inundation maps. The income is evaluated using downloaded 2010 census data and a dasymetric approach. Flood and income information is combined to analyze flood-impacted households by income level and flood return period.

Disasters worldwide tend to affect the poorest more severely and increase inequality. Brazil is one of the countries with high income-inequality rates and has unplanned urbanization issues and an extensive disaster risk profile with little knowledge on how those disasters affect people's welfare. Thus, disasters often hit the poorest hardest, increasing the country's income inequality and poverty rates. The results confirm the initial assumption that flood events in the IRB are more likely to affect the lowest-income households rather than the highest-income levels, thus, increasing the income inequality.