Assessment of the vulnerability of industrial parks to flood in South Korea

© 2016, The Author(s). Since recently, the potential of torrential downpour is increased and the flood damage shows increasing trend, in this study, the method to assess the flood vulnerability was established for the industrial parks, which is the driving power of the economic growth in Korea, and the results were analyzed. The vulnerability of each industrial parks was analyzed using three indicators: climate exposure, sensitivity and the adaptation ability, and the indicator value was calculated by selecting the proxy variable by each indicator. Among the primarily indicators, the final indicators were selected through the site investigation and in-depth interview. The vulnerability assessment was performed not only for the present but for the future (2020s, 2050s and 2100s). In the analysis results, Ulsan Mipo National Industrial Park was the most vulnerable for the present but in 2020s, Gwangyang National Industrial Park and Myeongji-Noksan National Industrial Park in 2050s and 2100s were assessed as most vulnerable. In the results of flooding vulnerability assessment, south coast industrial parks are the most vulnerable region during baseline and future. In addition, such industrial parks mostly built in the early phase of industrialization and they have advantage in import and export but were represented to be highly vulnerable due to aged infrastructures. In the industrial parks, as the enterprises are concentrated, it is easy to exchange the information and logistics, but the damage of natural disasters due to flooding can be aggravated due to the characteristics of the concentration. Actually, there are some cases that the industrial parks and the enterprises received the flooing damage in the highly vulnerable area by the torrential downpour. In this study, the vulnerability assessment was performed for the flooding damage by the torrential downpour for the industrial parks and the potential that the this study can be used as a useful decision-making tool in deciding the priority of adaptation ability was confirmed.