Potential of Documentary Evidence to Study Fatalities of Hydrological and Meteorological Events in the Czech Republic

0509021 - ÚVGZ 2020 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Brázdil, Rudolf - Chromá, Kateřina - Řehoř, J. - Zahradníček, Pavel - Dolák, Lukáš - Řezníčková, Ladislava - Dobrovolný, Petr
Potential of Documentary Evidence to Study Fatalities of Hydrological and Meteorological Events in the Czech Republic.
Water. Roč. 11, č. 10 (2019), s. 1-25. E-ISSN 2073-4441
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_019/0000797
Research Infrastructure: CzeCOS II - 90061
Institutional support: RVO:86652079
Keywords : fatality * fatality features * documentary data * hydrological and meteorological event * czech republic
OECD category: Water resources
Impact factor: 2.544, year: 2019
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/10/2014

This paper presents the potential of documentary evidence for enhancing the study of fatalities taking place in the course of hydrological and meteorological events (HMEs). Chronicles, “books of memory”, weather diaries, newspapers (media), parliamentary proposals, epigraphic evidence, systematic meteorological/hydrological observations, and professional papers provide a broad base for gathering such information in the Czech Republic, especially since 1901. The spatiotemporal variability of 269 fatalities in the Czech Republic arising out of 103 HMEs (flood, flash flood, windstorm, convective storm, lightning, frost, snow/glaze-ice calamity, heat, and other events) in the 1981–2018 period is presented, with particular attention to closer characterisation of fatalities (gender, age, cause of death, place, type of death, and behaviour). Examples of three outstanding events with the highest numbers of fatalities (severe frosts in the extremely cold winter of 1928/1929, a flash flood on 9 June 1970, and a rain flood in July 1997) are described in detail. Discussion of results includes the problem of data uncertainty, factors influencing the numbers of fatalities, and the broader context. Since floods are responsible for the highest proportion of HME-related deaths, places with fatalities are located mainly around rivers and drowning appears as the main cause of death. In the further classification of fatalities, males and adults clearly prevail, while indirect victims and hazardous behaviour are strongly represented.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0299834