1 INTRODUCTION NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE SYSTEMS ARE MADE-UP OF A N...

2.1  Introduction  

National flood insurance systems are made-up of a number of components that work together to deliver

flood insurance particular to the country it serves. There is, however, variation in how these systems

work and the types of the flood insurance delivered. For example, the type of property that is covered or

whether flood insurance is mandatory or optional differs greatly from country to country. To be able to

make cross country comparisons based on these differences it is necessary to be able to breakdown

flood insurance systems into general components. For the purpose of this thesis a system component is

considered to be any system element and related attributes that are involved in delivering flood

insurance. This, however is not sufficient. In order to make policy recommendations regarding the

introduction of private flood insurance to the Netherlands, it is also necessary to gain an understanding

how these components contribute to the system’s effectiveness.The first research question of this thesis

is therefore posed as follows:

SQ1: What are the main components of effective national flood insurance systems?