France : Resilience Day : SOS Loire Vivante – ERN publishes a video on the anti-floods developments in Brives-Charensac

France : National Resilience Day will be held on 13 October 2025. Its aim is to raise public awareness and promote safe behaviour in the event of natural disasters (fires, floods, etc.).
The effects of climate change are already showing us that extreme events are increasing in number and intensity, as evidenced by the recurrence of severe floods and devastating fires in recent years.

Being alerted in time and learning the right actions to take are essential for saving lives. Preparing our environment and making it resilient to these hazards has become essential for long-term action.

> National Resilience Day (government)

Fortunately, nature already offers us many solutions. With regard to flood risk, for example, the infiltration of water directly into the soil, natural flood expansion areas with log jams, and open spaces along watercourses can reduce the impact of flooding in urbanised areas. The key is to integrate the functioning of the river with its floodplain.

In Brives-Charensac, this method was tested over 30 years ago. During the recent floods in October 2024, it once again proved its worth.
Following the devastating and deadly floods of 1980, a dam project was devised to protect Brives-Charensac from flooding. SOS Loire Vivante – ERN was  strongly opposed the flooding of the Haute-Loire Gorges and the loss of its rich biodiversity, proposing instead to give space back to the river upstream and in Brives-Charensac over several kilometres.

Discover the developments carried out in the 1990s in a drone video

> video 3,5 min in French available on our YouTube channel

> Listen again to the webinar organised in December 2024 retracing the history of these developments and the evolution of the alert system with Yvan Cordier, Prefect of Haute Loire, Jean-Paul Bringer, Deputy Mayor of Brives-Charensac, Michel Cantal-Dupart, Urban Planner and Architect, and Tatiana Gontier, DDT 43 Head of the Risk Prevention Office.