MEDIS - Methods for the Evaluation of Direct and Indirect Flood Losses
Background and Goals
Estimating economic damage is a critical component of flood prevention, e.g. in decisions on flood protection measures based on a cost/benefit analysis. Improved, scientifically sound methods of estimating damage should therefore provide an important basis for cost-efficient flood management.
Objectives:
The project will develop improved, transferable methods of estimating direct and indirect economic consequences of flooding for all economic sectors, primarily based on new damage data from flood events in 2002, 2005 and 2006 in the Elbe and Danube basins. The methods will be validated using official data from past flood events, tested for transferability and applied as part of a sensitivity analysis on the Lockwitz stream in Dresden.
To improve and harmonise the assessment of damage, representatives from public authorities, insurers, engineering companies and academic institutions will be involved and an expert survey based on the Delphi method will be carried out. Based on this, guidelines for standardised assessment of flood damage will be drawn up and a flood damage database for Germany (HOWAS 21) will be developed.
HOWAS 21 created a sound data basis for research into flood damage. This data is used to gain a better understanding of the occurrence of flood damage and to assess the effectiveness of preventive measures.
HOWAS 21 is a property-specific flood damage database for Germany. In addition to the monetary damage incurred for residential buildings, furnishings, businesses and other premises, HOWAS 21 contains data on the impact of an event on a property, on the damaged property itself and on damage minimisation. Every case of damage is also assigned to an overall flood event and to a data acquisition campaign (metadata). The attributes in HOWAS 21 are based on checklists specified for each sector by a multi-stage expert survey. At the beginning of September 2008, as part of the usage concept, it was partially approved for the private property damages it currently contains. The full release was at the beginning of 2009. The database was developed in cooperation with the Helmholtz EOS networking platform for natural disasters (NaDiNe), and HOWAS 21 is available online through their web platform.
The results of the project will thus be effective on three levels:
- Academic: Improved, transferable methods of estimating damage
- Water management practice: Recommendations in the form of manuals
- Local: Support for flood prevention in Dresden and other communities
Content time
toResearch area/region
Country
- Germany
Region of implementation (all German federal states)
- Baden-Württemberg
- Bavaria
- Brandenburg
- Hamburg
- Mecklenburg Western Pomerania
- Lower Saxony
- Saxony
- Saxony-Anhalt
- Schleswig-Holstein
Natural spatial classification
- Alp and North Bavarian hills
- Erz Mountains, Thuringian Forest and Bavarian Forest
- North-East German lowland
- North-West German lowland
- South-Eeastern basin and hills
Steps in the process of adaptation to climate change
Step 1: Understand and describe climate change
Approach and results
Analysis of past flood events and resulting damages
Step 3: Develop and compare measures
Measures and/or strategies
Development of improved and transferable methods for estimating direct and indirect damage due to flooding for all economic sectors. Improvement and harmonisation of damage assessment through development of guidelines for standardised recording of flood damages and a flood damage database for Germany. Strengthening risk awareness and private flood prevention through public information about flood prevention.
To strengthen the awareness of risk and private flood prevention, a web-based brochure to provide residents with information about flood prevention was also produced in conjunction with the URBAS project and in collaboration with the NaDiNe natural disaster networking platform. This information is aimed at communities that want to notify their residents about the possibilities and potential for private flood prevention. They are supported in producing qualified and cost-effective information materials. A total of 14 modules are provided, with information on different topics from the areas of vulnerability, prevention, warnings and response measures. The innovative feature of the web-based brochure is the fact that the communities can contribute their own information. This enables the information materials produced to be adapted to the local situation (e.g. with risk maps for the relevant community) and targeted directly at the affected residents. The communities can print out the resulting brochure or individual information sheets to be distributed or published on their homepage. Cooperation with the German Water Management, Waste Water and Waste Association (DWA) and the insurance business will ensure that the guidelines and brochure receive wide distribution.
Step 4: Plan and implement measures
Costs of the measures
Damage estimation (damage in private households, direct and indirect damage to transport infrastructure, damage in agriculture and forestry, direct and indirect damage in businesses, macro-economic effects) for cost-efficient flood management (e.g. based on cost/benefit analyses)
Participants
Funding / Financing
BMBF-funded programme "Risk Management of Extreme Flooding Events" (RIMAX)
Project management
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Cooperation/Partners
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin);
Bauhaus University Weimar, Damage Analysis Center at the Institute of Constructive Civil Engineering;
Justus Liebig University Gießen, Institute of Farm and Agribusiness Management;
ARCADIS Consult GmbH
- Cooperation partners:
Environment Office of the City of Dresden ;
Deutsche Rückversicherung AG, Technology and Service dept.;
Saxony's Water Resources Agency
Contact
GFZ - GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam
Telegrafenberg
D-14473 Potsdam
