3.4 INCREASED PUBLIC FLOOD RISK AWARENESS THE DUTCH PUBLIC COU...

7.3.4  Increased  Public  Flood  Risk  Awareness  

The Dutch public could be better informed by the industry themselves about the risks they face and

what damages they are, or are not, covered for. The very low level of flood risk awareness amongst the

Dutch public does not make this an easy task for the government or insurance companies. Consumer

willingness to purchase (WTP) survey of homeowner living in a river delta area of the Netherlands

conducted by Botzen (2010) found that in the sample questioned most Dutch people rated the

probability of flooding as ‘low’ or ‘very low’. It was also ranked low alongside other common risks such

as house fire. His results suggest that a significant proportion of the Dutch believe that there is low

probability of a flood occurring and would choose not to buy flood insurance. However his research

found that fewer households would neglect flood risk if the probability of flooding increased with climate

change. He suggests that the withdrawal of the WTS state flood compensation scheme could increase

the uptake of domestic flood insurance (Botzen, 2010). It should be noted that awareness can, however,

be achieved with other policy tools without the high cost to Dutch society of introducing a full flood

insurance system be it private, public or, most likely, a combination.