Tenth GeoDIALOG on the Ahr flood disaster

How can the geoinformation industry help with the prevention and management of flood disasters? This question was the focus of the tenth geo-dialogue of the geobusiness region bonn in 2022. In particular, the focus was on dealing with the events on the River Ahr in the previous year.

Geodialog participants sit on chairs next to each other.

For the tenth time, the City of Bonn's Economic Development Agency and the Bonn/Rhine-Sieg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) hosted the GeoDIALOG. 45 guests from business, administration and science accepted the invitation to "The 9Th Coworking Space". This year's topic was: "Floods and inundation. Prevention and management through geoinformation".

Prospects for the 2021 flood

In his welcoming address, Dr. Ulrich Ziegenhagen, Deputy Director of the Bonn Economic Development Agency, showed how the geospatial sector contributes solutions to pressing issues such as climate change and its effects in the form of floods and droughts. Prof. Dr. Wimmers from the Bonn/Rhine-Sieg Chamber of Industry and Commerce pointed out the strong impact of the 2021 flood disaster and the high level of concern among all companies in the region.

In the first of three keynote speeches, Dr. Thomas Roggenkamp from the University of Bonn first recapped the events surrounding the days in mid-July last year. He then placed the flood in its historical dimensions. He made particular reference to historical floods on the Ahr in 1804 and 1910, concluding that historical floods should be incorporated into hazard analyses and maps in order to learn from past events for future floods.

The second presentation was given by Michael Schäfer and Mike Hintze from the Ahrweiler district administration as a duo. Both gave a vivid account of how information was compiled in the situation center immediately after the start of the disaster and the important role played by the self-developed digital situation map. This was subsequently developed into a (re)construction map and is still in use today.

Richard Figura, main shareholder of CISS TDI GmbH, described how he and his colleagues were personally affected by the floods in the third keynote speech. The company pragmatically and quickly developed a digital citizen portal for the town of Sinzig, which was used to disseminate information that was essential for citizens in the exceptional situation. His appeal: Closer networking between research, administration and business will help to mitigate the effects of future flood events.

The participants already took the first steps towards this networking in the discussion that followed the presentations. Everyone agreed that flood prevention in particular needed to be improved. In addition to better construction planning, this also includes raising public awareness, for example through school projects and information events. Initial ideas for these were developed directly during the joint discussion.