UK study found that people's perception is that heatwaves have become less common whereas flooding is a bigger issue:

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27786642

Hence tying messages related to climate adaptation to flooding is likely more efficient than linking them with heatwaves.

An additional interpretation of this perception is provided by the Emergency Events Database EM-DAT
maintained since 1988 by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).

The main objective of the database is to serve the purposes of humanitarian action at national and international levels. It is an initiative aimed to rationalise decision making for disaster preparedness, as well as providing an objective base for vulnerability assessment and priority setting.
EM-DAT contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of over 18,000 mass disasters in the world from 1900 to present. The database is compiled from various sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, insurance companies, research institutes and press agencies.

If you have a look here:

imgur.com/a/KdyTV#11

the number of natural disasters reported 1990-2012 is larger for flood than for fire.

and also the number of people reported affected (square root) by flood is larger than fire.

imgur.com/a/KdyTV#16

Hi Antonio,

Thank you, CRED website looks like a very interesting resource!

I scrolled through their "Annual Disaster Statistical Review" of 2012, and e.g. the section "How different was 2012" (on page 28) provided quite interesting perspectives: stabilisation of numbers of reported disasters, very uneven distribution of damages to disaster events etc (3 worst events in 2012 caused 54% of the total damage).

Re. perceptions: although in 2012 one of the droughts was in the "big three" in terms of economic impact, (at least for now, in the industrialised nations) avoiding human victims is easier than in case of floods.

A single tanker truck can bring drinking water for a week for quite a number of people, but will struggle in emptying even a single badly flooded basement...

Matti