Natural Disasters over France a 35 Years Assessment
Posted: 18 Jul 2015 Last revised: 23 Sep 2018
Date Written: September 13, 2018
Abstract
Using an exhaustive administrative database, we assess the impact of extreme weather events over French cities during the last three decades. We identify numerous non catastrophic disasters, thereby improving coverage wrt. the existing literature. Counting residents of cities stricken by a disaster, we find that in the long run, there were 23 residents affected every month per thousand population. This risk factor has been falling by 4 fewer people with every pass- ing decade.
France has thus improved its preparedness to natural disasters even though the seaboard regions fare worse than the northern region, most likely because of heightened urban pressure in risky areas by the seaside. Tropical territories are more at risk than the temperate European mainland, from a different mix of events. The full economic cost of natural disasters is estimated at 65 d per capita, 21d of which is uninsured; it is a small fraction of property in- surance premiums. Residents from safer areas currently subsidize those living in riskier areas. To be more effective, preventive investments should be directed at the main cities.
Keywords: Natural Disaster, Resilience, Risk Management, Climate Change, Economic Cost, Insurance, Development
JEL Classification: Q54, D81, G22, O20
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation