Management von Naturgefahren auf kommunaler Ebene. Ergebnisse einer Umfrage in Österreich mit Fokus auf kleinräumige Starkregen-Ereignisse

The level of the municipalities plays an important role in Austrian crisis and disaster management owing to the diversity of their areas of responsibility. As the level directly affected, they are responsible not only for intervening in an emergency but also for implementing preventive measures. This is especially true for heavy rainfall events, which, because of their small-scale occurrence, require the intervention of the municipal level, at least in the initial phase. Owing to their ubiquitous occurrence, they are also a particularly suitable example for examining the implementation of municipal disaster, crisis and natural hazard management and its future challenges. Based on a quantitative survey of Austrian municipalities, these issues were examined in more detail. Analysis of the data has shown that the risk awareness among Austrian municipalities regarding torrential rain events is already very high. The interventions that have been taken are currently still often limited to incremental actions to directly combat the consequences of heavy rain events. Deficits could be identified, especially in communicative strategies as well as in strategic and mitigating initiatives. Financial as well as human resources and the lack of know-how were identified as key challenges for the future. Using statistical analyses it could be shown that closer inter-municipal cooperation, support in building up the know-how of the municipal administration, as well as financial incentives for the preparation of strategic plans, are essential for future municipal crisis and disaster management.