Lessons Learnt From Typhoons Fitow and In-Fa: Implications for Improving Urban Flood Resilience in Asian Coastal Cities

Abstract Frequent typhoons are significantly affecting the coastal cities via intensive rainstorms, tidal surges and strong wind. Natural factors such as climate change and global sea-level rise come alongside anthropogenic factors such as rapid urbanisation and land use/land cover change leading to detrimental consequences such as urban floods. This short communication offers various lessons learnt by Ningbo municipality from two strong typhoons that hit the city directly, namely “Fitow” in 2013 and “In-Fa” in 2021. On the one hand, the usage of “Big Data” and “Social Media” for bettering “Preparation” and “Prevention” reduced flood impacts significantly. On the other hand, the implementation of “Flood Insurance” speed up the “Recovery” processes. The successful “Preparation”, “Response” and “Recovery” helped Ningbo to enhance its flood resilience, and thus substantial impacts of injuries, household damages and associated economic loss were avoided. These three key terms should be heeded in typhoon/flood governance in which various stakeholders are involved with, and be incorporated into the city’s long-term strategic development plans to merge with the climate actions towards 2030s and beyond. This will be vitally important in reducing climatic hazards and improving coastal flood resilience under the future climatic uncertainties in Asian coastal cities. (196 words)