Type: Research

Indigenous knowledge, community resilience, and health emergency preparedness

In this Commentary, the authors reflect on the commonalities of Indigenous actions across multiple settings, recently synthesized at a COVID Observatories workshop at the Keystone Foundation in Kotagiri, India (March 19–21, 2023). The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate change emergency are among the greatest socioenvironmental crises of our time. These crises have exacerbated health inequalities, …

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Communicating storm surge risks via risk communication websites: a novel approach

Websites related to storm surge risks mostly follow an instructive approach, often combining flood risk maps with historical information on floods, and instructions on how to behave in case of an approaching emergency, such as a dike break. Sometimes, these websites are enriched with additional media materials (photos in particular). However, while accurately representing flood …

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A Concept for Creating Mobile Games for Enhanced Disaster Preparedness in Cooperation with Local Communities

This paper shows how educational games for enhanced disaster preparedness can be created in cooperation / collaboration with local communities. The specific case presented discusses how students from the local university (here: La Plata National University in La Plata, Argentina) created such games as part of a university programming course. The games were subsequently used …

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Data sharing for Disaster Risk Reduction in different contexts

1. Data Ecosystems and Disaster Risk Reduction in Cross-border Regions: Visioning from 2020 Roya Valley Flood Disaster. 2. The Impact of conflicts on Data Sharing for Disaster Risk Reduction French Red Cross – Mercedes Aguerre – Mercedes.aguerre@croix-rouge.fr Université Paris-Dauphine PSL Anouck Adrot Anouck.adrot@dauphine.psl.eu          

Learning from the past in moving to the future: Invest in communication and response to weather early warnings to reduce death and damage

As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, governments and civil society organizations are making large investments in early warning systems (EWS) with the aim to avoid death and destruction from hydro-meteorological events. Early warning systems have four components: (1) risk knowledge, (2) monitoring and warning, (3) warning dissemination and communication, …

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Chatbots in humanitarian contexts: Learning from practitioner experiences

In recent years, chatbots have offered humanitarian operations the possibility to automate personalised engagement and support, inform tailored programme design and gather and share information at a large scale. However, adopting a chatbot is never straightforward, and there are many considerations that should go into doing so responsibly and effectively. With some humanitarian organisations having experimented with chatbots …

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Advancing operational flood forecasting, early warning and risk management with new emerging science: Gaps, opportunities and barriers in Kenya

This paper outlines the opportunities and challenges to improve end-to-end flood early warning systems, considering the scientific, technical and institutional/governance dimensions. Kenya and the wider East African region suffer from significant flood risk, as illustrated by major losses of lives, livelihoods and assets in the most recent years. This is likely to increase in future …

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Extreme Heat Research Webinars

Extreme heat is deadly, on the rise globally, and its toll can be reduced. Despite the growing adverse impacts, there is a lack of global awareness, risk analysis, and action to combat heat risks. The Global Disaster Preparedness Center of the American Red Cross, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and the Global Heat …

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Anticipatory action to manage climate risks: Lessons from the Red Cross Red Crescent in Southern Africa, Bangladesh, and beyond

Anticipatory action (AA) is a growing area of climate and disaster risk management that emphasizes the use of climate services and risk analyses to predict where crises might strike and enable action to prevent or mitigate impacts before disasters occur. Based on interviews with stakeholders involved in Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) AA programs in …

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Examining relationships between extreme heat and migration/ displacement and human mobility in Zacapa, Guatemala

This research is carried out by Dr. Edgar Miguel López Álvarez, MD1, Prof. Gabriel Andre Azurdia Mijangos2, Luis R. Torres-Hostos, PhD3, Anna Erwin, PhD4, Rubén A. Mazariegos, PhD5 with funding support from the Global Disaster Preparedness Center. This research examines the relationships between extreme heat and migration/ displacement/ human mobility, using a mixed quantitative and …

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