Planning and Management Issues and Challenges of Flash Flooding Disasters in Saudi Arabia: The Case of Riyadh City

Abstract

The paper sets out to unravel the issues and challenges in flash flood disaster management inSaudi Arabia, through Riyadh city as an example. The issue of flooding management and planning hasbeen brought to the forefront of government agenda as a result of rising frequencies and intensities of flashfloods in the country. It discussed specific issues, explaining what is lacking and what should be done todeal effectively should such an unfortunate event occur. The main challenging issues found are: 1) Disastermanagement in the Saudi context is still primarily a matter of response and relief operations as it does notinclude any proactive or preventive provisions against the devastating impacts of disasters; 2) Currentmanagement approach of disaster focusses predominantly on disaster containment rather than management;3) Local authorities do not have well-defined disaster management strategies supported by clearly definedaction plans; and 4) Data and mapping technologies (e.g., GIS) are not a priority nor well appreciated as aneffective decision tool in disaster management. Accordingly, the paper proposes adapting a comprehensiveintegrated management approach that adheres to the well-known four disaster management stages, and thatensures public participation, flexibility, transparency, production, accountability and effectiveness. It alsoproposes establishing well-equipped civil disaster and emergency management centres capable of collecting,storing and handling all the data about such events, hence facilitating analysis, modelling and disseminatinginformation to all concerned parties. The local community should also be effectively involved in the wholemanagement process.