Zurich publishes new research on future flood resiliency, past successful measures

Zurich Insurance Group has published two new research papers as part of its global flood resilience program, focusing both on successful measures used recently, and the future impact severe flooding may have.

One report, which was produced as part of a multi-year collaboration with the Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, focuses on how mass urbanization and climate change may worsen the impact of floods.

The report, “Enhancing community flood resilience: a way forward,” suggests that in the past two decades, nearly 87% of aid funding went toward emergency response, reconstruction and rehabilitation, and only 13% toward reducing and managing risks.

In addition, for every US$100 spent on development aid, only 40 cents has been invested in defending that aid from the impact of disaster, Zurich notes.

“There is a need for a radical rethink on the approach to mitigating and preparing for floods,” Mike Kerner, CEO of general insurance with Zurich commented in statement.

“We need to focus more on pre-event mitigation, as opposed to focusing almost solely on recovery. Because we know that ‘after a flood’ is really just ‘before the next flood.’” he added.

“The key to enhancing flood resilience lies in increasing our understanding of the full breadth and scale of the risks and how to best protect against them.”

The report also includes a proposal for a new framework to measure communities’ ability to withstand floods and best improve resilience. Zurich is testing the framework by collecting data in countries prone to flooding including Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, and Peru, it notes.

The second report is a retrospective of last year’s massive flooding in central Europe, particularly Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

That report highlights some successful measures that were used to increase flood protection, such as increasing the height of a dam in Germany. It also looks at risk reduction measures along the Isar River, helping protect Munich and Landshut from serious flood damage.

Both reports are available through Zurich’s website.