This report forms part of deliverables under the technical assistance Economic Analysis of Prevention and Preparedness in European Union Member States and Countries under EU Civil Protection Mechanism. This activity is funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) through the Annual Work Program of 2020. This report corresponds to the output “Report on the retrospective analysis of the cost and benefits of selected investments aimed at building resilience in the Participating States”.

This report was prepared under the guidance and supervision of Christoph Pusch (Practice Manager, Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land, Europe and Central Asia) and Gallina Vincelette (Country Director for the European Union Countries).

The report was prepared under leadership of Alanna Simpson (Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist), Samantha Cook (Senior Financial Sector Specialist) and Zuzana Stanton-Geddes (Disaster Risk Management Specialist). Drafting of the report was coordinated by Solene Dengler (Disaster Risk Management Analyst), and expert inputs were provided by Shaikh Eskander (Senior Environmental Economist), Stuart Fraser (Senior Disaster Risk Management Consultant), Mattia Amadio (Disaster Risk Management Consultant), Daniel Johnson (Heatwave Expert), Zahraa Saiyed (Senior Earthquake Engineer), Josh Macabuag (Senior Disaster Risk Engineer), and Maryia Markhvida (Senior Disaster Risk Management Consultant). Research and analytics support came from Tianyu Zhang (Data Analyst) and Jayne Hoagbin (Research Assistant), with modelling from Domingos Viegas (Professor and Senior Wildfire Expert, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra), Miguel Almeida (Wildfire Expert), the Global Earthquake Model Foundation, and JBA Risk Management. The report was edited by Anne Himmelfarb and designed by Ariane Kascha.

The report benefitted from comments and guidance received from Reinhard Mechler (Acting Program Director, Risk and Resilience Department, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) and Adam Rose (Research Professor, University of Southern California); Justine Morven Sylvester (Land and Urban Analyst) and from peer review comments from received from Julie Rozenberg, Artessa Saldivar-Sali, and Jun Rentschler.

The team would like to express its gratitude for the cooperation and guidance of the representatives of the European Commission and all the stakeholders consulted during the report’s preparation.