**4. Discussion**

The SWOT analysis methodology allows us to create a matrix summarizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and to evaluate these aspects. One advantage of this procedure is that it is possible to search for links between the identified items, and these links can then be used in the managemen<sup>t</sup> strategies for the risks arising from the weaknesses and threats. The achieved results of the SWOT analysis indicate a small advantage of the positive approach and environment.

On the basis of the performed investigation, it can be said that planning documentation for managing water-related crises has been prepared in the Czech Republic. The individual plans contain selected measures that react to possible crisis scenarios. The possible impacts on society in the Czech Republic are reflected in the plans. The necessity of supporting the strengths and opportunities is evident from the performed SWOT analysis. The foundation is the analysis of the risks that ensue from this study and that are also one of the assessed characteristics of the strengths. When preparing the multicriteria analysis, which formed the basis of the creation of the score, attention was drawn to the imprecise resolution of the individual crisis situations and their considerable overlap. This applied to the examined crises of:


From the perspective of Opportunities, an emphasis was placed on the use of experience from the resolution of previous crises in the Czech Republic. The performed assessment was the source material for the update and innovation of the approach of the crisis managemen<sup>t</sup> bodies on the level of the state administration and local governments. Another characteristic that was assessed is the implementation of exercises with a focus on solution possibilities and proper communication during water-related crises. The crisis plans were updated following the extreme floods in the Czech Republic in 1997 and 2002. Subsequently, however, a social position began to predominate that there is sufficient experience with floods and preventive flood measures were adopted and it is not necessary to spend much time and effort on this area. There is an exception, with regard to changes in climate conditions, to the approach to the preparation of the possible crisis situation— large-scale disruptions of the supply of drinking water. In recent years, attention has been focused during exercises on the issue of a nuclear accident and the long-term interruption of the power supply.

When evaluating the Weaknesses, there is evidently a higher assessment of the characteristic of the higher demands on the solution:


The large-scale organization of crisis measures in sites with a high concentration of persons and health and social facilities is highly demanding and complicated for all types of events. Thus, it is important for the authorities and population on a communal level to have sufficient information on the planned measures and to also contribute to the acceptance of the preventative measures.

The results of the SWOT analysis for the area of Threats show the highest score for the characteristic of the threat of secondary impacts for crisis situations, e.g., the interruption of the power supply, traffic restrictions, disruptions of internal security, disruption of water treatment plants, epidemiological complications, etc. The minimization of the possibility of domino effects is a basic goal of crisis managemen<sup>t</sup> and must also be resolved during water-related crises.

Safety is one of the basic characteristics of quality of life, for individuals as well as society as a whole. It is clear that society has a collective as well as individual dimension. The article focuses predominantly on the collective sphere of safety and the assessment of societal preparedness and resilience to water-related crises in the Czech Republic. However, the individual dimension of safety must also be taken into account. It is crucial to allow citizens to access information about possible risks and threats [38,39], and it is also important to ensure that the appropriate governmen<sup>t</sup> bodies actively disseminate this information.

The society's preparedness for crises associated with a lack of drinking water or floods is based on two basic dimensions. On one hand, these are measures implemented by crisis managemen<sup>t</sup> bodies and the resources and know-how available to the emergency system and its components. The second dimension consists of the education of the populace, whereas people know the principles on how to act in the event of such emergencies and can react in a timely and appropriate way. Collective and individual preparedness are prerequisites for the successful handling of crises and for minimizing death, property damage and damage to the environment.

The society's resistance to water-related crises is part of the wider concept of the society's safety and quality of life. Within this concept, it is necessary to distinguish between problems that are specifically related to safety—the protection of lives and health— or whether they are rather related to ensuring satisfactory living conditions, within the wider scope of human security. In some cases—notably, in well-developed countries—the impact may be primarily attributed to the latter, i.e., to maintaining a certain quality of life.

Safety can never be guaranteed completely and perfectly, and this naturally also applies to water-related crises. Aiming for complete safety and imagining that one can completely eliminate or prevent serious threats is dangerous and incorrect. The notion of societal vulnerability may be used to describe the level of safety of a society; this maps, categorizes and measures the amount of vulnerability.

The results of the presented study provide a new perspective on a case study covering the preparedness and resilience of society to water-related crises in the Czech Republic.

With the use of the SWOT analysis, it was shown that water-related crises for which a type plan has been prepared as part of the crisis planning on the basis of a risk analysis point to a slightly positive score—a value of +0.60. The identified positives and negatives, and also the identified vulnerabilities, are the best ways to identify safety policy priorities. It is clear that the handling of water-related crises needs to be carried out via the implementation of preventive as well as reactive tools. Safety problems in general, and hence also waterrelated crises, cannot be handled exclusively via safety measures. Measures represent only concrete reactions to specific threats, but do not usually tackle the core (source) of the threat. Aside from strengthening safety capabilities, it is necessary to create a safe space and in general a safe environment by, e.g., proper zoning, landscape protection, and the protection of river basins.
