An Open source GIS-based tool for economic loss estimation due to flood events

Two complementary GIS-based functions are designed and implemented to assess the expected degree of loss due to the occurrence of flood events. Each function processes institutional thematic layers and allows decision makers first to quantify the physical and the economic exposure of the elements at risk in a given study region and then to assess the expected degree of economic loss in relation to the flood water depth chosen for the analysis. The functions are implemented using QGIS with GRASS Python API extension and the workflow is exposed as a QGIS plug-in. The GUI is built over QT multi-platform framework and, therefore, the results are consistently integrated into the QGIS system.