Government support, social capital and adaptation to urban flooding by residents in the Pearl River Delta area, China

Increasingly extreme weather events have resulted in massive socio-economic losses and spark great interest in minimizing the impact of such events in the context of climate change. This paper analyses data from a large-scale household survey conducted in 20 cities in the Pearl River Delta area of China to examine how government support and social capital influence urban residents' adaptations to mitigate the effects of urban flooding. The results show that more than 90% of residents would take engineering or non-engineering measures to protect their private assets against flooding. The most popular measures are moving away their valuable goods and reducing travel during flooding. Government support, such as releasing early warning information, post-disaster services, technical assistance, financial assistance and physical support could significantly improve residents' adoption of adaptation measures. Social capital, operationalized as having a local Hukou (citizenship) in the area where one works, is closely associated with adaptation capacity, whereas a blood relative network has no evident influence on their adaptation behaviours. In addition, household and local community characteristic have positive influence on residents' adaptations. In summary, government support and community activities are most significant factors influencing residents' adaptation to mitigate the impacts of urban flooding but are in great demand in the Pearl River Delta areas.