PERC Flood event review “Bernd”

Weather system “Bernd” caused immense damage and inconceivable human suffering in several European countries in July 2021, and struck the West of Germany, but also Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands particularly hard. The physical and also psychological recovery will take years if not decades and will require and hopefully stimulate change towards prioritizing resilience at all levels, from the personal to the local and communal administrational levels all the way up to national and international policy. Change is urgently needed – how we think and implement flood risk management and civil protection. The key insights and recommendations outlined in this report are part of a wider series of post-event reviews, using the Post Event Review Capability (PERC) methodology, that the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance has been conducting since 2013. The trends are clear – impacts from disasters are getting worse. After a disaster there is rarely the time to learn what happened and what could be done better in the future. However, the recovery period is also a key window of opportunity to take action to reduce future risk. The public PERC methodology helps meet this urgent need. PERCs generate actionable recommendations for reducing future damage right when they are needed most. This publication has been prepared by Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (Zurich), the German Red Cross (GRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), ISET-International and the London School of Economics (LSE).