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Floods are a known natural hazard in Germany, but the amount of precipitation and ensuing high death toll and damages after the events especially from 14 to 15 July 2021 came as a surprise. Almost immediately questions about failure in the early warning chains and the effectiveness of the German response emerged, also internationally. This article presents lessons to learn and argues against a blame culture. The findings are based on comparisons with findings from previous research projects carried out in the Rhein-Erft Kreis and the city of Cologne, as well as on discussions with operational relief forces after the 2021 events. The main disaster aspects of the 2021 flood are related to issuing and understanding warnings, a lack of information and data exchange, unfolding upon a situation of an ongoing pandemic and aggravated further by critical infrastructure failure. Increasing frequencies of flash floods and other extremes due to climate change are just one side of the transformation and challenge, Germany and neighbouring countries are facing. The vulnerability paradox also heavily contributes to it; German society became increasingly vulnerable to failure due to an increased dependency on its infrastructure and emergency system, and the ensuing expectations of the public for a perfect system.
Bridging Gaps in Minimum Humanitarian Standards and Shelter Planning by Critical Infrastructures
(2021)
Current agendas such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction or the Sustain-able Development Goals are demanding more integration of disaster risk management into otherthematic fields and relevant sectors. However, certain thematic fields such as shelter planning andcritical infrastructure have not been integrated yet. This article provides an analysis of minimumhumanitarian standards contained in the well-known Sphere handbook. Gaps are identified forseveral critical infrastructure services. Moreover, guidance on how to derive infrastructure or lifelineneeds has been found missing. This article analyses the missing service supply and infrastructureidentification items and procedures. The main innovation is a more integrative perspective on infras-tructure that can improve existing minimum humanitarian standards. It can guide the provision ofinfrastructure services to various types for different hazard scenarios, hence make humanitarian aidand shelter planning more sustainable in terms of avoiding infrastructure or lifeline shortages.