risk management, risk governance, risk perception

The recent paradigm shift toward multilevel flood risk management (FRM) has raised fundamental discussions about the potential of different entities to undertake specific FRM measures, as well as about the multiple effects of their efforts on other governance levels. Among the key questions being addressed are those related to the balance and possible inverse proportions between governmental efforts and motivation for individual action. In this paper, we use the results of a flood perception survey among individuals in two flood-prone Czech municipalities to reveal the discrepancies between the expectations of responsibility sharing and the actual willingness for individual flood risk reduction. While the results indicate strong expectations of the responsibilities of the governmental bodies for FRM, the respondents also expressed low confidence in completed FRM measures and strong self-reliance during floods and recovery. The willingness for individual FRM action is mostly limited to private insurance, whereas further long-term instruments are not favoured. The analysis also revealed differences between the two study areas, which indicates that, despite the current country-wide FRM policies based on the EU Floods Directive, the contextual factors and differential perception of scales of FRM measures and catchment complexity influence expectations of responsibility sharing