The Court of Auditors publishes its report on the recognition of the state of natural disaster

The Advisory Commission on Natural Disasters, tasked by the 2021 "Badu" law with ruling on the application of criteria and the actual conditions for compensating victims, must be established without delay to ensure greater transparency in the decisions made by the interministerial commission responsible for processing claims. The examples analyzed by the Court show that while the vast majority of cases are not contested, some are processed under pressure from stakeholders (political actors, insurance companies), whose influence the review commission must be protected.

In its report, the Court notes that:

• The recognition procedure, which has undergone major changes over the past decade, is now managed in a generally efficient manner and at a limited cost, although it is still sometimes too long for certain more complex phenomena (landslides or flooding due to rising groundwater).
• This procedure remains the subject of persistent misunderstandings among disaster victims and elected officials. It is sometimes subject to pressure to grant recognition even when the criteria are not met, in order to demonstrate the State's concern for the plight of victims, often in the immediate aftermath of a crisis. Two cases examined during the investigation illustrate the risks associated with this procedure: the floods in Cannes in September 2024 and Cyclone Garance in Réunion in January 2025.
• The survey of mayors reveals strong expectations of support from state services for municipalities, which are responsible for submitting requests for recognition and providing the interface with disaster victims.
• This observation reinforces the role of the prefectural level and calls for continued communication and training efforts, particularly for the newly elected officials of March 2026.
• The downstream phase of the procedure, which connects those affected by the claim with their insurers once the claim has been recognized, is a blind spot that is insufficiently monitored by public authorities. The activities of insurance experts, in particular, need to be better regulated, as does adherence to legal compensation deadlines. The procedure must also be protected from political pressure and interference.
• The phenomenon of clay shrinkage and swelling, caused by increasingly severe episodes of drought and rainfall, remains the most poorly covered by the "Cat Nat" scheme. It represents a growing cost for the scheme (average annual compensation amount of €1,35 billion over the last five years), without providing equitable coverage for those affected, raising the question of a separate management system for clay soil shrinkage and swelling from the Cat Nat scheme.

The Court makes five recommendations that advocate stricter control of building regulations, better prevention and the search for less expensive repair techniques.

Read the report

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.