The history of flood protection in Switzerland dates back to the 18th century, more 100 years before the Federation of sovereign cantons were replaced by the Swiss Federation in 1848. Flood protection became a collaborative endeavor and many rivers were channelized, large surfaces drained and river beds relocated. It was basically the flood event of 1987 which provoked a paradigm change from the protection against hazards at all costs to the Integrated Risk Management. The three key elements of the Integrated Risk Management are 1) risk analysis, 2) risk assessment 3) integrated planning of protection measures. The risk analysis is based on the hazard maps. In the last 20 years these maps have been elaborated for hydrologic, avalanche, fall, and slide-hazard processes and cover > 95% of all residential areas.
The Swiss real estate insurance system (which includes flood events) is unique. In 23 out of 26 provinces real estate insurance is mandatory and 98% of all real estate is insured. It is based on the principle of double solidarity: solidarity amongst the policyholders as the policy is independent from the hazard level and the solidarity amongst the insurance companies as they are pooling the risk.