With its anticipated direct and indirect impacts, extreme drought poses a challenge for civil protection in Switzerland. Although the probability of multi-year droughts in Europe is still low, drought situations are expected to become more frequent and severe. Compared to neighbouring countries, Switzerland has little experience dealing with drought; severe droughts have not occurred in Switzerland for many decades, partly due to the relative abundance of water in the Alps. A recent analysis of the capability of the Swiss civil protection service to cope with climate-related natural hazards such as drought recommends the implementation of joint exercises with partner organizations of the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP).
To this end, the FOCP, the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL’s Extremes Research Program, and the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich will facilitate a tabletop exercise, ‘Drought,’ in November 2024. Four teams comprised of members of the FOCP’s partner organizations (management, police, fire brigade, health, technical, and civil protection service) will be exposed to hypothetical but realistic multi-year drought scenarios, with consequences becoming progressively worse as the exercise develops. Allocated to the Swiss cantons of Aargau, Basel-Stadt, Grison, and Valais, each team must decide how to deploy their available resources to manage the consequences of extreme drought effectively. The central element of this exercise is the subsequent analysis of structures, processes, and resources and how to improve them given future drought. As slow-onset disasters affect wide-ranging areas, drought events also challenge insurance companies providing funds for recovery to their clients. Along with the need to understand how drought's cascading effects affect natural and social systems, insurers also have a key interest in encouraging insurance users to better prepare for and adapt to the changing climate and its impacts, including drought.