Abstract: Using flood disaster historical data and social economic data in China for the period 1984-2012, the characteristics of disaster exposure were analyzed from the scope of disaster exposure, population exposure, economy exposure and crop exposure, and those of disaster vulnerability were analyzed from two aspects of population vulnerability and economy vulnerability. The results show that from 1984 to 2012, the average scope of disaster exposure, population exposure, economy exposure and crop exposure was respectively 93700 km², 126 person/km², RMB 1.49 million/km² and 153 million hm². The level of exposure significantly increased overall, the areas with the highest exposure were mainly distributed in the coastal provinces (municipalities). Significant increase trend was found for population vulnerability, but economy vulnerability had a gradually-decreasing trend. The highest level of disaster vulnerability were mainly distributed in Hunan, Anhui, Chongqing, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces (municipalities) along the coast in the middle reach of Yangtze River, and Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin are areas with the lowest level of disaster vulnerability. High vulnerable areas of flood disaster are also the most prone areas of flood disaster in China, which no doubt become high risk areas of flood disaster. Therefore, as far as the design and implementation of strategies and policies for adaptation and disaster risk management are concerned, more attention should be paid to these regions to reduce the vulnerability and exposure, and to improve the resilience towards the adverse effects of flood disaster, so as to promote the sustainable development of society and economy.

Key words: exposure, vulnerability, flood disaster, temporal and spatial variation