Many countries in Asia and the Pacific are exposed to flood risks from typhoons, flash floods, riverine flooding, storm surges and coastal flooding. Flood risk compromises sustainable economic growth and prosperity, which will be further impacted by rapid urbanization and climate change.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) promotes and adopts an integrated and risk-based framework for flood management. Integrated flood risk management (IFRM) is a framework that promotes sustainable, long-term flood resilience by combining social, economic, financial, environmental, and institutional solutions, as well as those involving engineering, disaster preparedness, insurance, and emergency response.
The overarching concept is to manage the risk posed by floods to an acceptable and affordable level, rather than control the physical waters or fully protect communities against floods of all magnitudes.