Due to the floods and the resulting disastrous situation in west and central Europe in July 2021, 186 people died in Germany only. Flash floods caused major damages in the affected regions, especially in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. Significant challenges arose in maintaining the function of critical infrastructures. The research project “RESIK: Resilience and Evacuation Planning for Socio-Economic Infrastructures in a Medico-Social Context” analyses procedures of evacuation and the related challenges as well as ways to increase the resilience of healthcare facilities.

The new DRU Working Paper examines the evacuation of the St.-Antonius-Hospital in Eschweiler, North Rhine-Westphalia, on the basis of the AVDASA analysis model developed by the DRU. Data was collected via a comprehensive media analysis as well as eight expert interviews. As part of the analysis, a detailed reconstitution of the events and decisions was carried out. Applying the AVDASA model, it could be identified that actors were working with different perspectives on the situation, which represented a major challenge for the handling of the events. Central subjects of the analysis were the decisions and actions based on the subjective and situational perception as well as the consequential inconsistencies and challenges. Based on these, this paper presents lessons to learn and summary boxes for each chapter, which allow for better readability.

The DRU Working Paper Nr. 25 can be downloaded in German:

Voss, Martin; Rüger, Anja; Bock, Nicolas; Dittmer, Cordula; Merkes, Sara T. (2022): Die Evakuierung des St. Antonius-Hospitals Eschweiler während der Flutereignisse im Juli 2021. KFS Working Paper Nr. 25. Berlin: Katastrophenforschungsstelle. Download. DOI: 10.17169/refubium-35269