Flood protection and management: quo vadimus?

In the last decade, there have been many destructive floods in various parts of the world. Despite the extensive investment in flood control works, neither flood occurrences nor damages are decreasing. A possible consequence of climate change is an increased frequency of extreme meteorological events that may cause floods. Discussion is offered of some recent large floods in the world and of the experiences in combating floods in Japan. Floods change over time as societies change. There is no single universal remedy against floods and site-specific local efforts are necessary. It is essential to undertake damage mitigation measures together with physical control measures for flood management in an integrated approach, using a mixture of structural and non-structural means. A more disaster conscious society needs to be built with better preparedness and safe-fail (safe in failure) rather than, unrealistic, fail-safe (safe from failure) design of flood defences.