Intangible flood damage quantification

Flooding is a natural disaster that may cause tremendous tangible and intangible damage to the national economy. The tangible damage assessment, i.e. the monetary value of all direct and indirect physical damages, has already been studied, while intangible damages have not yet been taken into account. This article, therefore, is the first systematic attempt to assess both tangible and intangible damages. The new proposed 'Anxiety-Productivity and Income Interrelationgship Approach (API)' has been developed to quantify the intangible damage in monetary terms. The Bangkok area has been selected as the research area because several severe flood events have occurred there over the last two decades. The 1983 Bangkok flood caused 6600 million baht in damage, according to estimates by the National Statistical Office (NSO). This article examines the total flood damage (including the intangible damage) at different flood magnitudes. Case studies 'with' and 'without' flood mitigation projects are studied and compared. Furthermore, this article also discusses the improvements over the conventional approach offered by the new API methodology.