Having accurate information about the situation helps to warn the public about natural hazards in time

Floods, debris flows, rock fall and avalanches: Switzerland is, as a densely populated alpine country, particularly exposed to natural hazards. In order for the federal, cantonal and municipal authorities responsible for public safety to be able to issue warnings about natural hazards and quickly implement measures, they need to be able to access measurement data and forecasts fast and simply. GIN – the Common Natural Hazard Infor­mation Platform provides experts with this information on a central Internet portal. GIN is a joint product of the Federal Office for the Environ­ment (FOEN), MeteoSwiss, the Swiss Seismological Service SED and SLF, which also programmed the Web application.

Hundreds of indicators, ranging from wind speeds to water levels and snow depths at more than 700 automatic measuring stations are updated every minute. All the recorded data and forecasts can be combined with each other. For example, experts can analyse in spring the current run-offs, the snow quantities and the precipitation forecasts that are depicted all together in a map. SLF has recently improved the portal to make it more user-friendly and take into account practical experience in the field. Matthias Gerber, head of the development team at SLF, adds: “A further step will be the development of a mobile app during the next three years. Since so many of the things that affect natural hazards happen outside, experts must also have access to the portal when they are out of the office.”