Flood related mortality in North Africa : first outcomes of a new comprehensive database

While flood impacts are traditionally measured through the economic data provided by international insurance companies, recent research has shifted toward documenting disaster-related mortality as a crucial indicator of vulnerability and a tool for assessing prevention efforts. Although this mortality has been extensively studied in Europe, it remains poorly documented in North Africa, a region characterized by significant exposure to hydrometeorological hazards. To address this gap, the FFNA (Flood-related Fatalities in Northern Africa) database provides a georeferenced analysis of fatalities across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia from 1980 to 2022. This tool aims to improve risk assessment by highlighting the critical influence of behavioral factors and mobility on fatal outcomes. Built according to international FFEM standards, the database compiles 4,054 fatalities from diverse sources—including scientific literature, institutional reports, and press archives—all verified on field  through systematic cross-validation. The findings reveal that flood mortality is predominantly male and closely linked to mobility, with more than half of the deaths occurring in traffic-related circumstances. Week-end are more fatal days with 54 % of mortality on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mostly due to road mobility. As a notable difference from Euro-Mediterranean patterns, deaths inside buildings are less frequent, while electrocutions and wadi crossings emerge as distinctive regional features. Spatial analysis indicates that while the majority of fatalities are concentrated in major urban centers, mortality rates are actually higher in sparsely populated areas where people settle along ephemeral riverbeds (wadis) with limited access to warning systems. Temporally, the majority of deaths occur between August and November, with a slight downward trend in annual mortality since 2010 that may reflect improved risk management. Furthermore, an event-based approach shows a decrease in the average number of deaths per event, but an increase in the number of fatal events resulting from growing urbanization in North Africa. Ultimately, this study offers the first harmonized empirical basis for understanding flood mortality in a region where demographic, urban, and hydro-climatic dynamics differ significantly from other Mediterranean areas.