FLOOD DISASTERS - INSURANCE ASPECTS INCLUDING THE 1997 ODRA FLOODS

摘要

In the future we must reckon with more - and larger - flood events and catastrophes. For this reason it is important to take appropriate steps without delay. On one hand, the efforts that are being taken to combat climate change must be stepped up, while on the other hand we must pay more attention to flood protection and loss minimisation or prevention in the ways described above. There are many well-known technical, organisational, and financial measures designed to reduce the flood hazard and many of them are available for use. Long-term and short-term precautions play just as large a part in this as catastrophe aid and measures taken after loss events. One thing is certain, however: flood is a subject that involves everyone, which means that everyone has to work together in combating it. The authorities, the field of science, and the insurance industry have clearly defined roles. The insurers must join together in formulating their requirements and designing them in such a way that politicians can use them to derive clearly recognisable policy options (e.g. land use restrictions). The Odra floods in the summer of 1997 have set important developments in motion. In spite of the many promising ideas being formulated, we must always remember that in the end we have to live with floods and that there is no possibility of one hundred percent safety. We must never lose sight of the flood risk even if we are tempted to do so by a series of years without any losses. In principle, the insurability of floods is already a given fact. This applies primarily in the case of flash floods, but it can also apply to river floods if the principle of solidarity and the risk partnership among the state, the victims, and the insurance industry function properly.