Calpe Town Council, through the Department of Environment, and the Institute of Water and Environmental Sciences of the University of Alicante have signed a collaboration agreement by which Calpe Town Council will participate in the Aquasoc R&D project (‘Tools for the prevention and management of the social impacts of floods in coastal areas’) within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific Research (Ministry of Science and Innovation).
The main objective of the AQUASOC project is to identify the social impacts derived from flooding episodes, as well as to establish the necessary social capacities to face this type of natural disasters.
Based on the results obtained in the research process, an open access software tool is designed to allow key actors, such as the technical and political staff of Calpe Town Council, to identify priority areas of action for the prevention and mitigation of the social impacts of flooding.
Soon, the validation and knowledge transfer phase will start, organising a round of meetings where the results will be presented and guidance on the use of the AQUASOC tool will be provided.
The project is led by the team of University of Alicante professors Guadalupe Ortiz and Antonio Aledo. With a duration of three years and funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of €101,640.00, this project will address the analysis of adaptive capacities and social impacts of flood disasters in three Spanish case studies (Tenerife, Huelva and Alicante) and two international ones (Louisiana and Recife).