Swiss flood and landslide damage database

Major damage on a barn caused by a debris flow of Schwendibach, Grindelwald (Photo: Eva Gertsch, belop gmbh, Sarnen)

Development of damage 1972-2011 (taking inflation into account)

In Switzerland storms cause damage amounting to approximately 344 million CHF every year (average for the years 1972-2010, taking inflation into account). Since 1972 the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL has been systematically collecting (based on newspapers) and analysed this damage on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN. Damage originating from naturally triggered floods, debris flows, landslides and (since 2002) rockfalls have been considered. Not considered was damage from avalanches, snow pressure, earthquake, lithening, hail, windstorm and drought. The corresponding weather conditions were also noted in the database. In this way, a database with currently more than 19'000 entries has been generated.

The Figure shows that all events since 1972 have caused damage amounting to more than 13,000 million CHF (taking inflation into account) in total. These costs are dominated by a few major events. The event of the 21^th/22^th of August 2005, with damage amounting to nearly 3,000 million CHF in total, was the most costly flood in Switzerland since 1972.

The database can be analysed in terms of location, extent, causes and the temporal and spatial distribution of the storm events. The results are published yearly in the Journal "Wasser Energie Luft".

The damage data are provided to official institutions on request as a broad information basis for hazard assessment.

Recent Publications

• Andres, N., Badoux, A., Hilker, N., Hegg, C. (2012): Unwetterschäden in der Schweiz im Jahre 2011. Wasser Energie Luft, 104. Jg., Heft 1, 41-49.
• Hilker, N., Badoux, A., Hegg, C. (2011): Unwetterschäden in der Schweiz im Jahre 2010. Wasser Energie Luft, 103. Jg., Heft 1, 1-6.
• Hilker, N., Badoux, A., Hegg, C. (2010): Unwetterschäden in der Schweiz im Jahre 2009. Wasser Energie Luft, 102. Jg., Heft 1: 1-6.
• Hilker, N., Hegg, C., Badoux, A. (2009): Hochwasserschäden 2007 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Ereignisses vom 8./9. August. In: Bezzola, G.R., Ruf, W. (Ed.) (2009): Ereignisanalyse Hochwasser August 2007. Analyse der Meteo- und Abflussvorhersagen; vertiefte Analyse der Hochwasserregulierung der Jurarandgewässer. Umwelt-Wissen Nr. 0927, Bundesamt für Umwelt, Bern: 29-37.
• Hilker, N., Badoux, A., Hegg, C. (2009): The Swiss flood and landslide damage database 1972-2007. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 9: 913-925.

Links

• Journal "Wasser Energie Luft"
• Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

Participants

• Christoph Hegg
• Norina Andres
• Alexandre Badoux
  

Contact

• Christoph Hegg