Intercommunal trauma centre for psychosocial assistance in response to floods in Schleiden, Germany

July 2021 flooding in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate caused 184 fatalities; climate change substantially increased the likelihood of the record rainfall that caused it (Tradowsky et al., 2023). Floods also cause psychosocial harm: across Europe from 1998 to 2017, an estimated 20 million people were affected by flooding, with 9-53% reporting lasting mental-health impacts, at an estimated societal cost of EUR 0.2-1.23 billion (Jackson and Devadason, 2019).

Reduce the psychosocial impact of flooding on citizens and emergency-service workers in the Schleiden region and strengthen community resilience.

Schleiden town authorities, the Euskirchen district and charitable/aid organisations set up a psychosocial crisis coordination centre within days of the July 2021 floods, covering the communities of Kall, Hellenthal and Schleiden. In the first 14 days, about 1,500 conversations took place via a hotline, outreach social work at food-distribution points and in-person consultations. Two weeks after the floods, a medium-term advisory and coordination centre was established (initially planned for 2 months, extendable to 6), followed by longer-term specialist counselling and trauma therapy through the Schleiden Valley Aid Centre, stated to continue until the end of 2024.

The main funder, Aktion Deutschland Hilft (Germany's disaster-relief coalition), provided EUR 920,000 for the centre, covering mainly staffing costs and outreach events such as family days for affected children. An ongoing evaluation by the Medical Competence Centre Hamburg aims to assess the intervention's effectiveness, but results were not yet available in the source text.

Success factors identified: supportive political leadership enabling fast access to funding; consultation with partner organisations within two days of the disaster; an experienced multi-disciplinary specialist team; frequent inter-agency networking; and strong volunteer-led outreach to identify people in need.