Post-Event Review Capability

The award winning Post-Event Review Capability (PERC) methodology was created by Zurich Insurance to provide research and independent reviews of large flood events. It seeks to answer questions related to aspects of flood resilience, flood risk management and catastrophe intervention. It looks at what went well, as well as opportunities for improvement, and results in a set of recommendations for the future.

Use this page to learn about the PERC methodology, read full PERC reports or find specific recommendations.

Zurich focused its initial PERCs on floods because floods affect more people globally than any other natural hazard. However, the methodology can be applied to review and learn from other hazard events. We have recently applied it to study the growing peril of wildfires by reviewing the 2017-18 California fires, as well as fires in Tasmania, Australia in 2018-19.

2020 and 2021 saw a number of severe floods around the world. A series of cold fronts and two cyclones caused severe flooding in Tabasco, Mexico; intense rain led to widespread flooding in Senegal; Bangladesh saw an extreme monsoon season coming on the heels of Cyclone Amphan which left nearly a third of the country underwater; and heavy rainfall led to devastating flooding across western Europe. Each of these disasters was distinct in the way they manifested, but they provide insights into what worked well and what can be learned to reduce future risk.

Materials from the Bangladesh, Mexico, Senegal and western Europe PERCs are available below.