Assessing the Costs of Natural Hazards: State of the Art and the Way Forward

The costs of natural hazards around the world are rising. While the number of events reported in the last 10 years has decreased slightly, the number of affected people and their related costs is increasing, indicating also an augmented exposure and vulnerability of humankind to natural hazards. In this chapter, a review of existing methods for cost assessment is carried out for each natural hazard (floods, droughts, coastal hazards and Alpine hazards) and cost category (direct costs, business interruption costs, indirect costs, intangible costs and risk mitigation costs). The chapter aims to synthesise the overall findings and conclusions based on various reviews. It presents the main findings concerning current best practices, based on the literature review and expert workshops. The chapter presents overall knowledge gaps and recommendations for practice and research, and addresses the way forward by depicting a vision on integrated cost assessment and risk management.