Lessons learnt RL

One pilot project in Denmark, Roskilde, focused on improving flood recovery learning from a recent flood event. The following lessons learnt referred only to this pilot project but it is also applies to other areas and countries which need to improve flood recovery. In addition, the pilot projects which focused on preparedness and emergency planning actions also support recovery.

Learn from the past flood events. In the Jyllinge Nordmarke, Roskilde municipality in Denmark, communities are still recovering after a flood event that took place in 2013, because there were no protection and preparedness measures in place at the time. Authorities and communities did not know what to do, who to contact and volunteers did not know how to help. The Danes therefore selected this community to learn from the past and be prepared in case of a future flood event.

Integrate new knowledge in new guidelines and spread the word. The pilot project in Roskilde clarified a lot of unknowns during the recovery phase of the 2013 flood. The experiences of citizens and local organisations affected by the flood recovery process resulted into new knowledge which was integrated into guidelines for communities, insurance companies and citizens. These guidelines include clear steps on what to do to prepare before a flood event, who to contact and what to do during a recovery process after a flood event. These guidelines will increase resilience for especially the municipalities but also for the other authorities, organizations and citizens. Likewise, other communities will also be made part of this new knowledge to ensure they too will be better prepared for future events.

Increase flood risk awareness beyond FRAMES. Because floods do not happen regularly in Denmark, flood risk awareness and preparedness is low if not absent and emergency management plans for floods are insufficient. Moreover, there is still a lack of coordination between different actors and a lack of clear understanding of who is performing which tasks. The FRAMES pilot clearly shows the necessity for such plans and thus increased flood risk awareness of stakeholders. The lessons learned from FRAMES have been translated into guidelines to increase the awareness of citizens and local organisations. However, people forget quickly, so an awareness raising campaign should be initiated beyond the lifespan of FRAMES.

Increase the capacity of communities to support recovery. The capacity of wider communities increases when raising awareness and providing them with information. Communities become self-sufficient and they are able to identify flood sources in their areas and lobby for actions to the responsible agencies. Therefore, communities are better prepared to take their own immediate responses to flooding. In the Roskilde pilot, citizens of Jyllinge Nordmark became more aware of flood risk and they have been engaged by the local authorities (municipality and emergency services) to deal with this challenge. FRAMES pilot projects that took preparedness and emergency management actions also support recovery in the long term. So for instance in the Medway catchment UK), communities can take immediate response to flooding by having equipment and material available to close the affected roads.