摘要：One of the key priorities for disaster risk reduction is to ensuredecision makers, stakeholders, and the public understand their exposure todisaster risk, so that they can take protective action. Flood maps are apotentially valuable tool for facilitating this understanding of flood risk,but previous research has found that they vary considerably in availabilityand quality. Using an evaluation framework comprising nine criteria groundedin existing scholarship, this study assessed the quality of flood mapsavailable to the public in Canadian communities located in designated floodrisk areas. It found that flood maps in most municipalities (62%) arelow quality (meeting less than 50% of the criteria) and the highest scorewas 78% (seven of nine criteria met). The findings suggest that a more concertedeffort to produce high-quality, publicly accessible flood maps is required tosupport Canada's international commitment to disaster risk reduction. Furtherquestions surround possible weighting of quality assessment criteria, whetherand how individuals seek out flood maps, and how flood risk information couldbe better communicated using modern technology.
