International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 1, No. 4, Pp. 169-174, Oct. 2011.

Manuscript
Received:
27, June, 2011
Revised:
9, Aug., 2011
Accepted:
25, Aug., 2011
Published:
30, Oct., 2011
Keywords
Information
Management
System,
ArcGIS,
loss
evaluation,
flood control,
Taihu Basin
AbstractLoss evaluation system of
flood hazard is a very important
non-engineering measure in recent years.
Based on the digital topographic map, the
information management system for loss
evaluating is established by employing VB
based on ArcGIS and SQL server and
applied in one area of Taihu Basin, where is
vulnerable to flood hazard. With the statistic
of each town, various types of land use and
different submerged water depth, flood
disaster loss is evaluated by this system. It
has reasons to believe that the system is
useful to provide scientific basis for
mastering flood and making decisions on
flood prevention and disaster reduction.
1. Introduction
Taihu Basin is situated in the south of Yangtze River
delta, lying between 11908-12155 east longitude and
3005-3208 north latitude. As shown in Fig. 1, the whole
area is surrounded by Yangtze River in the north, Hangzhou
Bay in the south and East China Sea in the east. This region
has a temperate humid climate. The mean annual
temperature fluctuates between 15C and 17C, while the
annual precipitation is 1177mm and decreases gradually
from southwest to northeast and every summer, the plum
rain will bring abundant rainfall to the region [1]-[2].
This area is one of the regions with the rapid economic
growth speed in China. However, flood disaster is the most
serious natural disaster in this region which restricts the
development of national economy. It is caused by several
reasons such as the heavy rain in summer, low flood plain
gradient, cyclonic storm surges, low standard of flood
control engineering and so on [3].
Over the recent 60 years, Taihu Basin has witnessed
severe flood such as in 1954, 1991 and 1999, and regional

This work was supported by the National Keynote Research Program of
Technology (No.2008BAJ08B14) and the Kwang-Hua Fund for College of
Civil Engineering, Tongji University
Guihui Zhong, Shuguang Liu(), Cuiping Kuang and Hongliang Gou
are with Tongji University, Hydraulic Engineering Faculty
(liusg-liu@tongji.edu.cn).
Maohui Zheng are with Shanghai Institute of Disaster Prevention and
Relief,Tongji University (z-m-h@tongji.edu.cn).
Haoyun Wu and Hejuan Lin are with Taihu Basin Authority Faculty
(hy-wu@tba.gov.cn)
flood hazard occurs almost every year. These floods
seriously affect agricultural production and infrastructure
development and cause immense suffering to local people.
So far, the flood loss has been assessed by some
measures. Correia assessed the economic loss for flood
management [4]; Gerardo applied the historical data for to
improve the flood risk estimation [5]; Forte used GIS and
remote sensing method for loss estimation in the
super-Ruffana-Nociglia Graben [6]; Tawatchai presented a
methodology of loss evaluation for the southwest region of
Bangladesh [7]; Zhao applied GIS approach to assess the
flood loss in the middle part of Inner Mongolia [8]; Md.
Monirul Islam used remote sensing data to assess the flood
hazard [9].
While, little work has been done in Taihu Basin, for
long-term planning, it is essential to establish an
information management system to evaluate the flood loss
based on probabilistic floods. The objective of this study is
to present a methodology for information system
development based on ArcGIS in the platform of VB and
SQL server. The technological route, database frame, and
functions of the system are introduced in this paper in the
purpose of providing the use for reference for the
establishment of loss evaluation system in other regions
vulnerable to flood disasters.

Fig. 1. Study area

The Information Management System Based on GIS
for Evaluating Loss of Flood Hazard
Guihui Zhong, Shuguang Liu, Cuiping Kuang, Maohui Zheng, Hongliang Gou, Haoyun Wu, &
Hejuan Lin
East China Sea
Taihu Lake
Taipu River
Huangpu River
Y
a
n
g
tze
R
iv
e
r
Hangzhou Bay
East China Sea
Taihu Lake
Taipu River
Huangpu River
Y
a
n
g
tze
R
iv
e
r
Hangzhou Bay
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 1, No. 4, Pp. 169-174, Oct. 2011.
International Journal Publishers Group (IJPG)

170
2. Database Construction
A. Data Collection
Construction of flood map information is a
multifunctional, comprehensive and dynamic system. As a
result, the system must consider economy, population and
so on. In general, data sources can be divided into 5 main
parts, and the detail is in Table 1.
(1) DEM data
DEM data is the basis for the estimation of submerged
situation. In plain area, high precision data should be
applied. In the study, the DEM is utilized with the contours
of 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 3m, 3.5m, 4m, 4.5m and 5m [10].
(2) Geographical background data
The original data concludes 17 maps which completely
covers the study area. The digital map involves so many
layers, some of which does not have necessary connection
with the loss evaluation. Through ArcMap, geographical
name, transportation, water system, boundary information
and other useful data are selected.
(3) Social-economic data
It is the basis of for disaster loss evaluation. Based on
the yearbooks, the social economic data is collected,
including GDP, second industrial output, productive value
of tertiary industry, population, total area, area of different
types of land, property of the residents and so on.
(4) Engineering data and rescue information
154 sluices and the main river embankments are
collected. Whats more, the rescue materials such as
medical organizations, headquarters, and temporary
settlements and so on are also included in the database in
the purpose of disaster reduction.

B. Database Structure
Based on the analysis of the comprehensive data source
used to build the system, the combination of spatial and
attribute database and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is
applied. Spatial database comprises two parts, basic layer
database and applied layer database, the detail is in Fig. 2.
Attribute database is mainly comprised of society
economy, land type, historical data, engineering data, loss
statics and hydrological data, the detail is in Fig. 3.

3. Simulation of Submerged Area
Numerical model is applied to calculate the flood and he
submerged situation is simulated. After data transformation,
water depth, velocity and flood duration can be queried in
the system. The numerical models are as follows:
A. Continuity Equation
( ) ( )
1 1
0
qq
qq qq
, ,
,
q
( ( c + c +
c

+ + =
c c c
d u G d v G
t G G G G
(Equ. 1)
B. Momentum Equation
( )
2 2 2 2
1/ 3
1

qq qq
qq

qq
q q
,
c
c c c
+ + +
c c c c
c
+
=
c +
G
u u u v u uv
t G G G G
G
v n u v
fv P gu
H d G G G
(Equ. 2)
( )
2 2 2 2
1/3
1
qq
qq qq

q
qq qq
q
q ,
c
c c c
+ + +
c c c c
c
+
+ =
c +
G
v u v v v uv
t G G G G
G
u n u v
fu P gv
H d G G G
(Equ. 3)
Administrative District
Point Layer
Spatial Database
Water depth
Flow field
Flood Duration
Land Use
Line Layer
River System
Transportation
Embankment
Region Layer
Boundary data
Medical institute
Headquarter
Settlement
Hydraulic engineering
Submerged Situation
Fig.2 Structure of Spatial Database of the System
Zhong et al: The Information Management System Based on GIS for Evaluating Loss of Flood Hazard.
International Journal Publishers Group (IJPG)

171

In the formula, G
**
and G
++
is the coefficient used to
transform curvilinear to rectangular co-ordinates, , is the
free surface elevation above the reference plane; d is the
depth below the reference plane; H=d+, is the total water
depth; u and v are the depth averaged velocity of water in *
and + direction respectively; is the water density; P

and
P
q
are the pressure gradient in * and + direction respectively;
f is the Coriolis parameter; n is the Manns coefficient; c is
mass concentration; .
d
is the first order decay process and S
is the source and sink terms.
4. Loss Evaluation
In the social economic database of the system, the data
of total land area, population, area of farmland, GDP and so
on are applied to evaluate the damage caused by flood. The
progress of loss evaluation is shown in Fig. 4. First the
submerged grid is calculated according to the flood situation,
second, the value of FDR is calculated based on water depth,
flood duration and land use, which will be described in
detail as follows. Last, formulas are applied to compute the
economic loss of flood hazard, including Flood victims,
Submerged farmland and so. Finally, the report of loss
evaluation will be given in the form of excel.
A. Economic prediction of current year
As the lack of social economic data of when flood
happens, the prediction method of averaged growth rate is
employed [11].
( )
1 0
1
t
t
P P o
+
+ (Equ. 4)
In the formula, t is time; N is growth rate; P
t+1
is the data
unknown; P
0
is the given data.

B. Flood Disaster Rate
Flood disaster rate (FDR) represents the degree of loss
caused by flood. It is a coefficient difficult to determine as it
depends on lots of parameters such as depth of flooding,
duration of flooding, velocity, land types and so on. As a
result, considering the characteristic of the study area, three
major parameters, namely water depth and duration of flood
are chosen for loss evaluation. Also, the industrial types
must be taken into account.

Fig.4 Progress of loss evaluation

Generally speaking, FDR is usually determined by the
analysis of the historical flood and flood duration. Through
the study of disaster loss and the corresponding property,
the regression equation could be established and FDR can
be obtained. Based on the disaster damage in 1999, the
value of FDR is in Table 1.
The relationship of Flood duration, water depth and
FDR is shown in Fig. 5. As shown in this figure, the FDR
increases as the water depth and flood duration rises, while,
the FDR will keep a constant as last.
Submerged Grid
FDR()
Water Depth
Land Use
Economic Loss
Submerged
Property
Submerged
Area
L
1
=A
S
/A
L
P
L
2
=A
S
/A
L
A
F
L
3
=V
A
A
S
/A
L
L
4
=V
I
A
S
/A
L
Flood Duration
Flood Disaster Rate
Society Economy
GDP
Attribute Database
Primary industrial product
Industrial product
Tertiary industrial product
Output value
Area
Type name
Household, Population
Financial revenue
Area of land unit
Location
Date
Historical Data
Disaster loss
Land Use
Water depth
Submerged area
Velocity & direction
Submerged Situation
Fig.3 Structure of Attribute Database of the System
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 1, No. 4, Pp. 169-174, Oct. 2011.
International Journal Publishers Group (IJPG)

172
TABLE 1:
FLOOD DISASTER RATE OF TAIHU BASIN
Water depth
Agriculture Industry
Tertiary industry
Property
<0.5m 0.15 0.01 0.02 0.02
0.5~1.0m 0.25 0.03 0.08 0.04
>1.0m 0.50 0.06 0.15 0.03
Fig. 5 Flood Duration and FDR

C. Loss evaluation of flood hazard
According to the numerical simulation, the submerged
area and the economic condition of the regions are summed
up to analyze the flood disaster loss. Take towns as land unit,
the flood loss is analyzed as follows:
(1) Flood victims
1
/
S L
L A A P = (Equ. 5)
In the formula, L
1
is the number of people affected by
flood; A
S
is the area of submerged region; A
L
is the land
area and P is the population.
(2) Submerged farmland
2
/
S L F
L A A A = (Equ. 6)
In the formula, L
2
is the area of submerged farmland, A
F
is the cultivated area.
(3) Agricultural loss
3
/
S L
L A A | = (Equ. 7)
In the formula, L
3
is the agricultural loss; S is loss
coefficient; V
A
is gross agricultural output value.
(4) Industrial loss
4
/
I S L
L V A A | = (Equ. 8)
In the formula, L
4
is the industrial loss; V
I
is total
industrial output value.
(5) Loss of tertiary industry
5
/
T S L
L V A A | = (Equ. 9)
In the formula, L
5
is the loss of tertiary industry; V
T
is
the gross output value of tertiary industry.
(6) Property loss of residents
6 1 P
L L V | = (Equ. 10)
In the formula, L
6
is the property loss of the residents
suffered by flood; V
P
is per capita income.
5. Main functions of the system
A. Management of spatial database
The different types of spatial data such as river system,
transportation, and land application are classified in
Geodatabase. The function of browse, selection, query,
addition and modification are provided in this system.
B. Management of attribute database
All the attribute data such as GDP, population, area is
stored in the SQL server 2000. By sending SQL sentences,
association between attribute and spatial database is
established. And as the human activities and social
development, some relative information must be modified
in this system.
C. Loss evaluation
According to the social-economic data and submerged
conditions, including the direction and location of dike burst,
flood frequency and so on, the module calls relevant
SQL-query sentences and applied program modules to
calculate and analyze the disaster loss. Figure 6 shows the
loss statistics consisting economic loss, affected people,
submerged area under a certain engineering situation. The
system allows the user to choose a certain submerged area,
and then the table including the information above will be
shown automatically.

Fig. 6 Loss statistics with a return period of 100 years

D. Thematic map creation
The module will create relevant thematic maps for some
certain layers according to users need. Generally speaking,
the maps are very popular in the loss assessment of flood
hazard. [12] The themes in the module are water depth,
velocity field, duration of flood, flood loss. Also, some
other basic layers such as flood control engineering, rescue
sites and so on will be added to form a complete thematic
map. Figure 7 shows the maps including water depth,
velocity field and flood duration under a certain engineering
condition. As shown in these figures, the submerge
conditions are presented vividly.
Flood duration
F
D
R
Zhong et al: The Information Management System Based on GIS for Evaluating Loss of Flood Hazard.
International Journal Publishers Group (IJPG)

173

(1) water depth

(2) velocity field

(3) flood duration
Fig. 7 Thematic map

E. Report creation
Based on the flood loss evaluation, the module creates
loss assessment report for the inundated towns and cities.
And the data is calculated and analyzed to create relevant
report for the local administrator for policies decision.
These report created in the form of excel are outputted to
the system printer, and all the data is stored in the system
database.
For example, the report of a certain flood situatoin is
shown in shown in Fig. 8. As the figure shown, there two
towns that suffered by flood disater, which are Jia shan and
Wu jiang respectively. The total area, design flood,
submerged area, submerged property, FDR and economic
loss are listed in the report. In this situation, the submerged
area of Jia shan is 242 km
2
, submerged property is 60,000
RMB, the FDR is 0.55, thus, the economic loss of the town
is approximately 330,000 RMB. While, the economic loss
of the city Wu jiang is a little lighter, which is only 30,000
RMB in all.
This report is very important as it can provide
comprehensive information of the flood disaster, which will
supply useful suggestions to the decision makers.

(1)

(2)
Fig. 8 Report of flood loss

F. Three-Dimension Simulation of Flood Evolution
The 3-D modeling of the Huangpu River Basin is set up
utilizing the DEM data and remote sensing data of the
region [13]. Based on digital terrain analysis and
SceneControl of ArcEngine, the system simulates flood
evolution dynamically with user-defined time step. Figure 9
shows the submerged condition 24 hours after the flood.

Fig. 9 3D Simulation of Flood Evolution
6. Conclusions
(1) Through the loss assessment above, regions such as
Pingwang, Fenhu are the areas vulnerable to flood disaster
with a serious economic loss. And the results are agreed
with the fact of the flood disaster occurred in history.
(2) Based on GIS and second development with VB, the
flood loss can be analyzed and assessed more precisely. And
the system also helps the researchers to save time and
improve work efficiency greatly.
(3) As an important non-engineering measure, the
system is useful for local government to offer support
means for decision-making. It will provide a scientific
method for flood management and disaster reduction and it
can also offer a guideline for the establishment of
evacuation routines. Whats more, it will be helpful for
insurance agents to formulate premium policy according to
different areas.
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 1, No. 4, Pp. 169-174, Oct. 2011.
International Journal Publishers Group (IJPG)

174
(4) As the rapid development of economic of the area,
the social-economic data is changeable. As a result, the
latest data is essential for the precise loss evaluation. And
more factors such as vegetation, waste land, etc. should be
considered.
References
[1] Wang Lachun, Jiang Nan, Zhou Yinkang, The evaluated
loss model of flooding and waterlogging in Taihu basin,
(2003) Science of Surveying and Mapping, vol. 28(6),
pp.35-38. (in Chinese)
[2] Wu Haoyun, Flood hazard and Countermeasures of Taihu
Basin,(1999) Disater Reduction in China, vol. 9(1),
pp.15-18. (in Chinese)
[3] Wu Haoyun, Jiang Nan, Yu Gaoyu, The System Based on
GIS for Evaluating Losses of Flood Disaster in Taihu Lake
Catchment, (2001) Journal of Lake Sciences, vol. 13 (2), pp.
127-134.(in Chinese)
[4] F. N. Correia, M. Fordham, Da Graca Saraiva, Flood harad
assessment and management, (1998) Water Resources
Management, vol. 12 (3), pp. 209-227.
[5] Gerardo Benito, Michel Lang, Mariano Barriendos, Use of
Systematic, Palaeoflood and Historical Data for the
Improvement of Flood Risk Estimation, (2004) Natural
Hazards, vol. 31, pp. 623-643.
[6] F. Forte, R. O. Strobl, L Pennetta, A Methodology using
GIS, Aerial Photos and Remote Sensing for Loss Estimation
and Flood Vulnerability Analysis in the Super
sano-Ruffano-Nociglia Graben, Southern Italy, (2006)
Environ. Geol. vol. 50, pp. 581-594.
[7] Tawatchai Tingsanchali, Mohammed Fazlul Karim, Flood
Hazard and risk analysis in the southwest region of
Bangladesh, (2005) Hydrological Processes, vol. 19, pp.
2055-2069.
[8] Zhao Xia, Wang Ping, Gong Qing, Huang Shifeng, A
GIS-based approach to flood risk zonation area, (2000) Acta
Geographica Sinica, vol. 55 (1), pp. 15-24.(in Chinese)
[9] Md. Monirul Islam, Kimiteru Sado, Development Priority
Map for Flood Countermeasures by Remote Sensing Data
with Geographic Information System,(2002) Journal of
Hydrologic Engineering, vol.7(5), pp. 346-355.
[10] Hongliang Gou, Shuguang Liu, Guihui Zhong. Research of
Flood Risk Map Information Management System Based on
ArcGIS,(2010) Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International
Conference on Advanced Management Science, Chengdu, pp.
235-238.(in Chinese)
[11] Wang Lachun, Jiang Nan, Zhou Yinkang, The evaluated
loss model of flooding and waterlogging in Taihu Basin,
(2003) Science of Surveying and Mapping, vol. 28 (2), pp.
35-38. (in Chinese)
[12] Shanker Kumar Sinnakaudan, Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Mohd.
Sanusi S.Ahmad, Flood Risk Mapping for Pari River
Incorporatin Sediment Transport, (2003) Environment
Modelling & Software, vol. 18, pp. 119-130.
[13] C. C Zheng, D. D Liu, and G. T. Liang, ArcGIS - based 3D
Visualization of Dongping Lake Flood Drowning, (2008)
Journal of Zhengzhou University Engineering Science, vol.
29, pp. 88-90.

Guihui Zhong was born in Liaoning,
China, in 1971. He received the B.Sc.
degree from Hohai University in 1996 and
the M.Sc. degree in 2010 from Tongji
University. She worked in Research Center
for Fluvial and Coastal disasters Disaster
Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto
University from August 2009 to August
2010 as a visiting scholar. Now she is the
lecturer of Hydraulic Engineering Department of Tongji
University. Her current research interests include flood simulation,
hydraulic engineering, and coastal engineering.
Shuguang Liu was born in Jiangsu, China,
in 1962. He received the M.Sc. degree in
Hydraulic Engineering from Hohai
University in 1989. He received Ph.D in
Geography from Moscow State University
in 1998. He worked in Tongji University
from 1999 to 2001 as a Post-doctorial
Researcher. Now he is the professor of
Hydraulic Engineering Department and the
director of the Institute of Harbor, Waterway and Coastal
Engineering of Tongji University. He has hold and participated
more than 20 research projects supported by national government
and published more than 40 papers in recent years. His current
research interests include water resources, flood hazard control,
Geoscience, resources and environment, hydraulic engineering,
coastal engineering.
Hongliang Gou was born in Liaoning,
China, in 1985. He received the B.Sc. and
M.Sc. degrees from Tongji University in
2008 and 2001 respectively. His research
interests include flood simulation,
management of flood hazard, water
resources.