Multiple Flood Experiences and Social Resilience: Findings from Three Surveys on Households and Companies Exposed to the 2013 Flood in Germany

• Published in: Weather, climate, and society climate, and society, 2020-01, Vol.12 (1), p.63-88
• Main Authors: Kuhlicke, Christian, Masson, Torsten, Kienzler, Sarah, Sieg, Tobias, Thieken, Annegret H., Kreibich, Heidi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Appraisals; Companies; Ecology; Exposure; Flood control; Floods; Households; Literature reviews; Polls & surveys; Post traumatic stress disorder; Resilience; Social resilience; Surveys
• ISSN: 1948-8327; 1948-8335
• DOI: 10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0069.1

Previous studies have explored the consequences of flood events for exposed households and companies by focusing on single flood events. Less is known about the consequences of experiencing repeated flood events for the resilience of households and companies. In this paper, we therefore explore how multiple floods experience affects the resilience of exposed households and companies. Resilience was made operational through individual appraisals of households and companies’ ability to withstand and recover from material as well as health and psychological impacts of the 2013 flood in Germany. The paper is based on three different datasets including more than 2000 households and 300 companies that were affected by the 2013 flood. The surveys revealed that the resilience of households seems to increase, but only with regard to their subjectively appraised ability to withstand impacts on mobile goods and equipment (e.g., cars, TV, and radios). In regard to the ability of households to withstand overall financial consequences of repetitive floods, evidence for nonlinear (quadratic) trends can be found. With regard to psychological and health-related consequences, the findings are mixed but provide tentative evidence for eroding resilience among households. Companies’ resilience increased with respect to material assets but appears to decrease with respect to ability to recover. We conclude by arguing that clear and operational definitions of resilience are required so that evidence-based resilience baselines can be established to assess whether resilience is eroding or improving over time.