Quickly Assess the Direct Loss of Houses Caused by a Typhoon-Rainstorm-Storm Surge–Flood Chain: Case of Haikou City

Abstract

With changing climate, coastal areas are facing increasingly threats from the typhoon–rainstorm–storm surge-flood (TRSSF) chain. However, among various exposures of the TRSSF chain, it is still a great challenge to quickly assess the direct losses of houses, due to the complex mechanisms underlying building damage. The objective of this article is therefore to explore a simple method of quickly assessing the house losses caused by the TRSSF chain, based on a small amount of data. To achieve this goal, a method of multi factors regression and a spatial information network were proposed. The results in Haikou City show that the loss rate of house assets is significantly lower than that of indoor property. Spatially, the areas with higher loss rates are generally distributed along the Nandu River. The direct economic losses associated with houses in the return periods of 10, 20, 50, and 100 years range from 1.3 to 2 billion RMB. Our findings highlight the significance and possibility of quickly assessing the direct house losses caused by TRSSF chain using a small amount of data. It indicates that the house losses are not only determined by TRSSF intensity, but also closely related to socio-economic, topography and house location.