Floods are one of the most common hazards worldwide. Each year they cause considerable damage to people’s lives and properties and can have severe environmental consequences. Floods are natural phenomena but through the right measures we can reduce their likelihood and limit their impacts. As to achieve that the European Commission proposed the Directive 2007/60/EC in year 2006. It requires Member States to assess if all water courses and coast lines are at risk from flooding, to map the flood extent and assets and humans at risk in these areas and to take measures to reduce this flood risk. As a Member-state the Republic of Bulgaria is following the statements and procedures of the Directive. Criteria and methods for determination and classification of areas with potential significant flood risk are developed to be implemented for each basin management region in the country. This presentation is result of a project and scientific paper, published for international seminar, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, November, 2013. In this presentation we present an automated model for implementation of the developed unified criteria for flood risk assessment in Bulgaria. We provide an overview of the geographic information systems (GIS) functionality for gathering data form a variety of sources, its integration into a single information environment and the possibilities for modeling and dissemination of this data. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the advantages of collaborative GIS platforms for providing valuable information in case of a disaster.

1. SIXTH BULGARIAN‐AUSTRIAN SEMINAR
Automated model for implementation of unified
criteria for flood risk classification in Bulgaria
Lyubomir Filipov,
Antoniya Gerdzheva, Adelina Naydenova
SIXTH BULGARIAN‐AUSTRIAN SEMINAR
Practice and Research in Flood Risk Management
Sofia, 7‐8 November 2013

2. Introduction
Floods...
 Most common disaster worldwide - 139
million people affected by disasters in 2012
(source: World Disasters Report 2013);
 Damages to people lives, properties and to
the environment;
 A higher flood risk is expected in the future
decades;
 Proper measures could limit their number and
impact;
Source: http://iam.frombulgaria.info

3. Main goals and tasks
Aim of the report – presentation of an automated model for flood
risk assessment in Bulgaria;
Main tasks:
Review of the current European acquis and the equivalent legislation
in Bulgaria;
An overview of the geographic information system (GIS) functionality
for flood risk determination;
An overview of the possibilities for modeling and dissemination of
data.

4. European acquis and equivalent legislation in
Bulgaria
Directive 2007/60/EC
The Directive and the Bulgaria legislation
Methodology for detemination of areas with
potential significant flood risk (APSFR)
Project: „Assisting River Basin Directorate with center Plovdiv
Town in Defining Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk
(APSFR) in East Aegean Sea River Basin Directorate”

5. Study area
East Aegean River Basin District (EARBD) with center Plovdiv
one of the 4 river basin districts within the territory of the Republic
of Bulgaria;
situated in the central part of southern Bulgaria;
area of 35 227 km2;

6. APSFR determination process and the place of
the automated model
Analysis of the available data from EASRBD;
Development of a geo-database with information for the
significant past and potential future flood events;
Determination of APSFRs;
Application of unified criteria for flood risk classification
for determination of PAPSFRs;
Determination of the final APSFRs after detailing its borders;
Development of a final geo-database;
Presentation of the final data in a table, necessary for the
preparation of a report;
Preparation of maps of each APSFR;

7. Unified criteria for classification of the risk
According to the methodology – 4 categories:
Human health – Affected inhabitants (victims); Affected critical
infrastructure elements or affected buildings of public significance
(hospitals, schools, etc.); Wells and pumping stations for public drinking
water supply.
Economic activity – Motorways, class І and ІІ, railways, bridges,
airports, transmission grids and other linear infrastructure; Affected
agricultural areas; Summarized economic value of damages (for past
floods);

8. Unified criteria for classification of the risk
According to the methodology – 4 categories:
Environment - Sewage systems of settlements – discharge of
municipal sewerage systems or urban waste water treatment plants;
Affected protected areas: drinking water, areas under the Protected
Areas Act, Natura 2000; Industrial Pollution Control (IPPC) and
prevention of chemical accidents SEVESO (Council
Directive 96/82/EC)
enterprises, Pollutant release and transfer
registers (PRTR) of EEA,
MoEW;
Cultural heritage - Cultural and historical monuments of UNESCO and
such of national significance;

9. Work procedures for the model development

10. Maps and results

11. Other applications of GIS for flood risk
management
GIS and flood risk management:
- data integration from variety of sources;
- rich analytical functionality;
- rich visualization of results;

12. Other applications of GIS for flood risk
management
Application of collaborative GIS platform:
- Taking into consideration the feedback of the public
for the decision making process;
- Improving decision by incorporating local knowledge into
existing knowledge base;
- Getting legitimacy for decisions – not to present or impose
decisions;
Example of Ushahidi collaborative GIS platform with options to
gather data from web, mobile apps, twitter, sms, email or phone.

13. Conclusions
Advantages of the model:
● Reduces the possibilities of errors;
● Makes the process of determination of APSFR faster and easier;
● Applicable for all river basin districts;
● Opportunities for further dissemination of the results and other
relative to floods data trough the usage of collaborative GIS
platforms.

14. Thank you
Contacts:
 Lyubomir Filipov: lubomirfilipov@gmail.com
 Antoniya Gerdzheva: antonia.gerdjeva@gmail.com
 Adelina Naydenova: a.d.naydenova@gmail.com