MONET 2030: Damage caused by natural disasters

As mandated by the Federal Office for the Environment, the damage caused by floods, debris flows and landslides has been surveyed since 1972, while for rockfall and rockslides it has been surveyed since 2002. The data are taken from a database of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, which has been recording all events of a certain size since 1972. The surveys are primarily based on reports from some 3000 Swiss newspapers and publications and, for events on a larger scale, on information from cantons and insurance companies. To be able to compare events that occurred several years apart, the amount of damage is adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index calculated by the Federal Statistical Office. The data for this indicator are compiled every year by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Swiss flood and landslide damage database

Swiss target 11.5: Throughout Switzerland the aim is to maintain a comparable security level for all natural hazards that is environmentally friendly, economically viable and socially responsible. The operational capacity of its critical infrastructures ensures that Switzerland has the resilience it needs to avoid, as far as possible, serious and geographically widespread failures of critical infrastructure and the goods and services that depend on them, so that in the event of an incident, the extent of the damage is limited.

International target 11.5: By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations.