Federation: Defusing Disaster, Reducing the Risk: calamity is unnatural

Disaster is unnatural and risk reduction measures diminish the odds of it occurring by doing everything possible before the event to protect life, limit damage and strengthen a vulnerable community’s ability to bounce back quickly from adversity. The solutions may lie in simple things like educating children on what to do in emergencies, or planting trees on unstable hillsides to stop those releasing landslides. The more complex include early warning systems, coastal protection, earthquake-safe construction and urban planning.

Whatever they are, thousands of lives and billions of dollars could be saved every year if a fraction of the cost of disaster response was spent minimizing the impact of hazards. Studies have shown that every dollar invested in risk reduction can save between two and ten dollars in disaster response and recovery cost.

Part call to action, part showcase of Federation DRR work, this new 12-page publication is now available for download as a pdf from Reliefweb.