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.
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