Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany

<p>Severe winter storm events are one of central Europe's most damaging natural hazards and are therefore particularly in focus for disaster risk management. One key factor for risk is vulnerability. Risk assessments often assume vulnerability to be constant. This is, however, not always...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: A. Trojand, H. W. Rust, U. Ulbrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2025-07-01
Series:Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Online Access:https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/2331/2025/nhess-25-2331-2025.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849432235487264768
author A. Trojand
H. W. Rust
H. W. Rust
U. Ulbrich
author_facet A. Trojand
H. W. Rust
H. W. Rust
U. Ulbrich
author_sort A. Trojand
collection DOAJ
description <p>Severe winter storm events are one of central Europe's most damaging natural hazards and are therefore particularly in focus for disaster risk management. One key factor for risk is vulnerability. Risk assessments often assume vulnerability to be constant. This is, however, not always a justifiable assumption. This work seeks and quantifies a potential dynamic of vulnerability for residential buildings in Germany. A likely factor affecting the dynamics of vulnerability is the hazard itself <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.1">(<a href="#bib1.bibx1">Aerts et al.</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx1">2018</a>)</span>. As extreme events may destroy the most vulnerable elements, it is likely that the subsequent rebuilding or repair will reduce their vulnerability to following events <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.2">(<a href="#bib1.bibx59">UNISDR</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx59">2017</a>)</span>. Therefore, the intensity of the previous events and the resulting damage can be assumed to be a decisive factor in changing vulnerability. A second important factor is the time period between the previous and current event. If the next event occurs during the reconstruction phase, vulnerability might be higher than when the reconstruction phase is completed <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.3">(<a href="#bib1.bibx7">de Ruiter et al.</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx7">2020</a>)</span>.</p> <p>Here, we analyse the importance of previous storm events for the vulnerability of residential buildings. For this purpose, generalized additive models are implemented to estimate vulnerability as a function of the intensity of the previous event and the time interval between the events. The damage is extracted from a 23-year-long data set of the daily storm and hail losses for insured residential buildings in Germany on the administrative district level provided by the German Insurance Association, and the hazard component is described by the daily maximum wind load calculated from the ERA5 reanalysis. The results show a negative relationship between the previous event's intensity and the current event's damage. As the time since the previous event increases, a significant decrease in an event's associated damage is found. On a daily scale, the first 5 to 10 d are especially crucial for vulnerability reduction.</p>
format Article
id doaj-art-dc3642f9722f4fec9314c754f382b56c
institution Kabale University
issn 1561-8633
1684-9981
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Copernicus Publications
record_format Article
series Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
spelling doaj-art-dc3642f9722f4fec9314c754f382b56c2025-08-20T03:27:25ZengCopernicus PublicationsNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences1561-86331684-99812025-07-01252331235010.5194/nhess-25-2331-2025Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in GermanyA. Trojand0H. W. Rust1H. W. Rust2U. Ulbrich3Institute for Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Carl-Heinrich-Becker Weg 6–10, 12165 Berlin, GermanyInstitute for Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Carl-Heinrich-Becker Weg 6–10, 12165 Berlin, GermanyHans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research, Carl-Heinrich-Becker Weg 6–10, 12165 Berlin, GermanyInstitute for Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Carl-Heinrich-Becker Weg 6–10, 12165 Berlin, Germany<p>Severe winter storm events are one of central Europe's most damaging natural hazards and are therefore particularly in focus for disaster risk management. One key factor for risk is vulnerability. Risk assessments often assume vulnerability to be constant. This is, however, not always a justifiable assumption. This work seeks and quantifies a potential dynamic of vulnerability for residential buildings in Germany. A likely factor affecting the dynamics of vulnerability is the hazard itself <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.1">(<a href="#bib1.bibx1">Aerts et al.</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx1">2018</a>)</span>. As extreme events may destroy the most vulnerable elements, it is likely that the subsequent rebuilding or repair will reduce their vulnerability to following events <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.2">(<a href="#bib1.bibx59">UNISDR</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx59">2017</a>)</span>. Therefore, the intensity of the previous events and the resulting damage can be assumed to be a decisive factor in changing vulnerability. A second important factor is the time period between the previous and current event. If the next event occurs during the reconstruction phase, vulnerability might be higher than when the reconstruction phase is completed <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.3">(<a href="#bib1.bibx7">de Ruiter et al.</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx7">2020</a>)</span>.</p> <p>Here, we analyse the importance of previous storm events for the vulnerability of residential buildings. For this purpose, generalized additive models are implemented to estimate vulnerability as a function of the intensity of the previous event and the time interval between the events. The damage is extracted from a 23-year-long data set of the daily storm and hail losses for insured residential buildings in Germany on the administrative district level provided by the German Insurance Association, and the hazard component is described by the daily maximum wind load calculated from the ERA5 reanalysis. The results show a negative relationship between the previous event's intensity and the current event's damage. As the time since the previous event increases, a significant decrease in an event's associated damage is found. On a daily scale, the first 5 to 10 d are especially crucial for vulnerability reduction.</p>https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/2331/2025/nhess-25-2331-2025.pdf
spellingShingle A. Trojand
H. W. Rust
H. W. Rust
U. Ulbrich
Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
title Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany
title_full Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany
title_fullStr Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany
title_full_unstemmed Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany
title_short Temporal dynamic vulnerability – impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in Germany
title_sort temporal dynamic vulnerability impact of antecedent events on residential building losses to wind storm events in germany
url https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/2331/2025/nhess-25-2331-2025.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT atrojand temporaldynamicvulnerabilityimpactofantecedenteventsonresidentialbuildinglossestowindstormeventsingermany
AT hwrust temporaldynamicvulnerabilityimpactofantecedenteventsonresidentialbuildinglossestowindstormeventsingermany
AT hwrust temporaldynamicvulnerabilityimpactofantecedenteventsonresidentialbuildinglossestowindstormeventsingermany
AT uulbrich temporaldynamicvulnerabilityimpactofantecedenteventsonresidentialbuildinglossestowindstormeventsingermany