Disaster Risk Reduction

Through its core areas of work in disaster management, health, organizational development and the promotion of humanitarian values, the IFRC’s 189 member National Societies are making a significant contribution to reducing the vulnerability of people living in some of the most hazard-prone areas of the world.

There are several aspects to disaster risk reduction:

• Disaster mitigation – Structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of natural hazards; for example, planting mangroves to reduce the risk posed by tidal surges or raising awareness of natural hazards through school-based education projects.
• Early warning – The provision of timely information enabling people to take steps to reduce the impact of hazards. e.g., access to information by local people concerning an approaching typhoon or tropical storm.
• Disaster preparedness – Measures that help ensure a timely and effective ‘first line’ of response supported by National Societies’ volunteers, branches, regional and national capacities, e.g., community action teams backed up by National Society contingency planning and regional and/or international response teams.
• Recovery – Decisions and actions taken after a disaster with a view to restoring or improving the pre-disaster living conditions of the affected community, while facilitating necessary adjustments to reduce disaster risk, e.g., assessing levels of future risk when planning housing projects in the aftermath of a disaster.
• Support to livelihoods – Projects that strengthen or diversify livelihoods that enable individuals or households to develop strategies to reduce risk,

Through these mechanisms, we can reduce vulnerability, increase capacity and ultimately, improve the resilience of people, communities and countries to disaster risks.

For more information,  http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/preparing-for-disaster/risk-reduction/