Dienstleistungsportal Bayern

Natural events such as floods and mudflows, landslides and avalanches are natural processes in the Alpine region. Human use of the mountains increases the potential for damage as settlement pressure increases and infrastructure expands. The natural processes in the mountains are mostly of high intensity and have an enormous destructive power. For more than 100 years, technical structures have been used at great expense to improve the degree of protection for endangered areas and successfully prevent or at least reduce damage. Each structure is built according to the recognized rules of technology. However, there can be no absolute safety - there can always be events for which the protective measures are not sufficient. The most effective precautionary method of protecting against natural hazards is to keep the endangered areas free of uses that are susceptible to damage, for example, as part of urban land use planning. We should accept that we cannot control nature at will and try to deal with it and adapt our behavior. Information on alpine natural hazards can be found on the Internet (see the "Links to further information" section).

The Free State of Bavaria, represented by the water management offices, is responsible for structural torrent protection measures. For avalanche protection measures, the responsibility lies with the municipality, the road construction authority, the forestry administration or the water management administration, depending on the protection objective.