Recent changes in flood preparedness of private households and businesses in Germany

Kreibich, Heidi; Seifert, Isabel; Thieken, Annegret H.; Lindquist, Eric; Wagner, Klaus; Merz, Bruno

doi:10.1007/s10113-010-0119-3

Cited by 147 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The correlation coefficients range from r = 0.52 for structural measures up to r = 0.67 for avoidance measures. These findings are in line with previous studies, which also observed that (flood) hazard experience is an important influential factor on precautionary behaviour (Weinstein, 1989;Kreibich et al, , 2011bBubeck et al, 2012c). Thieken et al (2007) for instance, report correlation coefficients ranging from 0.28 to 0.30 between flood experience and mitigation behaviour.…”

Section: Survey Description Samples and Methodssupporting

confidence: 92%

Long-term development and effectiveness of private flood mitigation measures: an analysis for the German part of the river Rhine

Bubeck

Botzen

Kreibich

et al. 2012

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

139

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Abstract. Flood mitigation measures implemented by private households have become an important component of contemporary integrated flood risk management in Germany and many other countries. Despite the growing responsibility of private households to contribute to flood damage reduction by means of private flood mitigation measures, knowledge on the long-term development of such measures, which indicates changes in vulnerability over time, and their effectiveness, is still scarce. To gain further insights into the longterm development, current implementation level and effectiveness of private flood mitigation measures, empirical data from 752 flood-prone households along the German part of the Rhine are presented. It is found that four types of flood mitigation measures developed gradually over time among flood-prone households, with severe floods being important triggers for an accelerated implementation. At present, still a large share of respondents has not implemented a single flood mitigation measure, despite the high exposure of the surveyed households to floods. The records of household's flood damage to contents and structure during two consecutive flood events with similar hazard characteristics in 1993 and 1995 show that an improved preparedness of the population led to substantially reduced damage during the latter event. Regarding the efficiency of contemporary integrated flood risk management, it is concluded that additional policies are required in order to further increase the level of preparedness of the flood-prone population. This especially concerns households in areas that are less frequently affected by flood events.

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Section: Survey Description Samples and Methodssupporting

confidence: 92%

Long-term development and effectiveness of private flood mitigation measures: an analysis for the German part of the river Rhine

Bubeck

Botzen

Kreibich

et al. 2012

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

139

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“…Studies have suggested that people who experienced flooding show greater awareness about climate change (Spence et al 2011) and are better prepared for future flooding events (Kreibich et al 2011). However, the effect of personal experiences with extreme events on climate awareness and action is contingent on personal beliefs about the salience of climate change (Akerlof et al 2013).…”

Section: Factors Shaping Individual Adaption To Climate Change Adaptamentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative importance of subjective and structural factors for individual adaptation to climate change by forest owners in Sweden

et al. 2017

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A growing body of literature argues that subjective factors can more accurately explain individual adaptation to climate change than objective measurers of adaptive capacity. Recent studies have shown that personal belief in climate change and affect are much better in explaining climate awareness and action than income, education or gender. This study focuses on the process of individual adaptation to climate change. It assesses and compares the influence of cognitive, experiential and structural factors on individuals' views and intentions regarding climate change adaptation. Data from this study comes from a survey with 836 forest owners in Sweden. Ordinal and binary logistic regression was used to test hypotheses about the different factors. Results show that cognitive factors-namely personal level of trust in climate science, belief in the salience of climate change and risk assessment-are the only statistically significant factors that can directly explain individuals' intention to adapt to climate change and their sense of urgency. Findings also suggest that structural or socio-demographic factors do not have a statistically significant influence on adaptation decision-making among Swedish forest owners. The study also offers valuable insights for communication interventions to promote adaptation. Findings strongly suggest that communication interventions should focus more strongly on building trust and addressing stakeholders' individual needs and experiences.

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“…Several studies have shown that flood experience and knowledge about the flood hazard (among other factors) are closely connected to the implementation of precautionary measures (e.g., [23,35,[43][44][45]). Therefore, flood experience and preparedness, in the form of private precautionary measures, are considered together in this section.…”

Section: Preparednessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with Pluvial Floods by Private Households

Rözer

Müller

Bubeck

et al. 2016

Water

Self Cite

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Pluvial floods have caused severe damage to urban areas in recent years. With a projected increase in extreme precipitation as well as an ongoing urbanization, pluvial flood damage is expected to increase in the future. Therefore, further insights, especially on the adverse consequences of pluvial floods and their mitigation, are needed. To gain more knowledge, empirical damage data from three different pluvial flood events in Germany were collected through computer-aided telephone interviews. Pluvial flood awareness as well as flood experience were found to be low before the respective flood events. The level of private precaution increased considerably after all events, but is mainly focused on measures that are easy to implement. Lower inundation depths, smaller potential losses as compared with fluvial floods, as well as the fact that pluvial flooding may occur everywhere, are expected to cause a shift in damage mitigation from precaution to emergency response. However, an effective implementation of emergency measures was constrained by a low dissemination of early warnings in the study areas. Further improvements of early warning systems including dissemination as well as a rise in pluvial flood preparedness are important to reduce future pluvial flood damage.

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Recent changes in flood preparedness of private households and businesses in Germany

Cited by 147 publications

References 34 publications

Long-term development and effectiveness of private flood mitigation measures: an analysis for the German part of the river Rhine

Long-term development and effectiveness of private flood mitigation measures: an analysis for the German part of the river Rhine

The relative importance of subjective and structural factors for individual adaptation to climate change by forest owners in Sweden

Coping with Pluvial Floods by Private Households

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