Emergency planning put to the test

The COVID-19 epidemic and the floods in Wallonia in July 2021 are dramatic events but rich in lessons: These two disasters have put to the test the risk management system that we have established over the last few decades to ensure the protection of society against threats of various kinds: Industrial, environmental, terrorist, etc. COVID-19 caught many European countries unaware that they were safe from epidemic risks. Torrential rains almost completely submerged the Vesdre valley. These two disasters required the authors to take a step back and reflect on the profound transformations they provoked in crisis management and emergency planning in order to open up new lines of research and to launch avenues of reform in this sector, which they have been studying for over ten years. © 2021 Societe Royale des Sciences de Liege. All rights reserved.