Central European Floods

Case Study 1 River floods in Central Europe (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic)

Two reference events will be investigated. The first one is the 2002 Elbe/Mulde flood, the most costly natural disaster in German history. Previous research will inform WP 1. The emBRACE project will utilize previous research activities in the area of the Vereinigte Mulde in order to observe the long-term recovery processes in the Mulde region and how the resilience of the systems has changed over time. Based on a representative

household survey conducted in 2005 and an archive of about 50 interviews with residents, stakeholders and decision-makers the long-term recovery processes after the 2002 flood will be scrutinized at different levels and by relying on different methods. It is expected that performed activities will include the assessment of individual resilience (task 4.2), the mapping of community resilience (task 4.3) the assessment of policies and

social learning (task 4.4) as well as agent-base modeling (task 4.5). It is expected to do in-depth interviews with residents and decision-makers and to conduct a household survey. The second reference event is the 2010 Neisse flood and how it impacted areas in Germany, Poland and Czech Republic. This reference event allows the observation of real-time recovery processes of individuals and how this relates to the idea of resilience in three different governance settings and socio-demographic-economic contexts. Expected activities will predominantly refer to the assessment of individual resilience (task 4.2) by means of a household survey administered in the region. The case study furthermore contributes to WP 3.

The main case study report was submitted to the EU on 31st March 2015 and is downloadable here: