National disaster risk assessments in Europe. How comparable are they and why?

Abstract

In the late 2000s, a process started that was designed to approximate the national disaster risk assessments in the European Union. Member states are currently obliged to prepare their assessments every three years. The European Commission will summarize the results, which should not only lead to a better overview of common risks but also direct future joint activities and investments. To date, two rounds of this new practice have been implemented and summarised. The present study investigates how and why this largely informal integrative practice was born, how it is facilitated, and how successful it has been vis-à-vis the expectations, especially achieving a relative comparability of the national risk assessments.