Germany ranks highly in Marsh’s newly launched Flood Risk Index

Germany ranks highly among G20 countries on two key metrics in Marsh McLennan’s newly launched Flood Risk Index that aims to help organisations and governments better assess their exposure and vulnerability to more frequent and severe flooding. The Flood Risk Index sets out the potential impact of flooding on populations and economic assets in 188 countries. It analyses flood risk on a country-by-country basis based on three key metrics. The first is the type of hazard – river or coastal flooding. The second is exposure to flood risk, or the total people and assets in harm’s way. And the third is vulnerability to flood damage, or the susceptibility of people and assets to harm. According to the index, Germany has the highest hazard scores for river and coastal flood among G20 countries. It is followed by Argentina, China, France and then Russia. The top five G20 countries with the largest shares of population and economic assets exposed to flooding are China, India, Argentina, Russia and Germany. The five G20 countries where people and economic assets are most vulnerable to harm once flooding occurs are Indonesia, Brazil, India, Russia and Mexico, according to the index. Marsh McLennan explains that more than 2.2 billion people are exposed to flooding globally. Since 1980, over 4,500 flood disasters resulted in more than $1trn in damages, accounting for 40% of natural catastrophe losses globally, it adds. According to the Marsh McLennan Flood Risk Index, the world’s largest economies are all severely threatened by flood risk. In the US, about 11 million people and $3trn in asset value are exposed to the risk. Only Japan at $3.7trn, and China at $7.5trn, have higher economic exposure, it reveals. Rob Bailey, director of climate and sustainability at Marsh McLennan and co-author of the index, said: “Recent disasters in the US, Germany and China show that floods are pervasive and routinely underestimated. As climate change, economic and demographic trends, and a chronic shortfall in investment in resilience combine to drive risk higher, it is time for governments and businesses to rethink their approach to flood risk.” He said the index will help organisations gain a greater understanding of where their people, assets and supply chains are most at risk, and then take steps to mitigate the worst potential impacts of flood. Marsh McLennan explained that its new index allows users to compare scores for hazard, exposure and vulnerability between two countries, or between one country and the global average. Users can also gain insight from geospatial datasets made available by multiple research institutions and international organisations to visually assess the potential impacts of river and coastal flooding on urban and rural areas. The index accompanies Marsh McLennan’s Rethinking Flood, a four-part series examining the implications of flood risk for corporations, governments, and society. It follows the recent report, Sunk Costs: The Socioeconomic Impacts of Flooding.

Germany ranks highly in Marsh’s newly launched Flood Risk Index

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