A framework for evaluating the effectiveness of flood emergency management systems in Europe

Society is faced with a range of contemporary threats to everyday life, from natural and technological hazards, to accidents and terrorism. These are embodied within integrated emergency management arrangements, designed to enhance preparedness and response to such incidents, and in turn facilitate a prompt recovery. Such arrangements must be inherently dynamic and evolve as new threats emerge or as existing threats change. An example of the latter is the changing nature of flooding, which is projected to increase in both frequency and severity with climate change. Recognizing this evolving threat, this paper focuses on the evaluation of the effectiveness of domestic Flood Emergency Management Systems (FEMS) as components of integrated emergency management arrangements.

Despite the extensive body of literature documenting success conditions of so-called effective emergency management more broadly, there have only been few attempts to construct a comprehensive evaluation framework to support objective assessment and cross-country comparison. Addressing this gap, this paper formulates an evaluation framework specifically tailored to the study of FEMS in Europe, which is then provisionally applied to the study of FEMS in England (UK), France, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. Important differences are observed in how FEMS have evolved in relation to differing contextual backgrounds (political, cultural, administrative and socio-economic) and exposures to flood hazard. From this provisional assessment, a number of opportunities and constraints to enhancing the effectiveness of FEMS in Europe are discerned. The evaluation framework thus serves as an important stepping stone for further in-depth inquiry, and as a valuable tool for future comparative study.