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This report describes and analyzes the Dutch system to prevent and respond to crises and disasters. The Dutch have a long history of mitigating disasters.

While there have been man-made accidents in the past decades in the Netherlands, the negative effects of natural disasters or high numbers of casualties or victims remain rare. Administrative authorities and operational agencies across the many disciplines and territories are relatively familiar with each other’s way of working, which should enhance cooperation in crises. However, budgets are scattered, which makes establishing causal relations between costs and benefits nearly impossible. Efforts to promote efficiency are uncoordinated and the results are often unclear.

Citizens’ trust in the government’s crisis management capacity is relatively high, and surveys indicate that citizens judge the probability of ever getting involved in a major disaster as low to very low. Each crisis and large-scale incident is evaluated and investigated intensely and the civil protection system is subject to constant reform and adaptation. These evaluations suggest that operational response efforts are usually timely and effective. Furthermore, emergency officers appear to be well trained, highly experienced and well-connected, and tend to work around impending reorganizations, recently introduced tools and new protocols.