Over the last decades Guayaquil has grown rapidly. It is the city with the highest population in Ecuador with more than 2.5 million people. Guayaquil is on the west coast of Ecuador and is located at the end of a large estuary and the river Guayas. From an article published in the ‘Nature Climate Change’ (‘Future flood losses in major coastal cities’, 2013) it has become known that Guayaquil is on
e of the most vulnerable cities considering flood exposure in the future. One of the study’s findings is that the most vulnerable cities in the future are not the cities where high risk is present today. Therefore, in the recent past, little action is taken in protecting the city against flood risk. After publishing of the article many questions were raised about flood defense of Guayaquil. Due to the rapid growth of Guayaquil not only sea level rise endangered the city, but no or little measures are taken, considered precipitation. Both problems must be accounted for in an analysis and solution.
