1. Home
  2. Knowledge Base | PreventionWeb

News and announcements

Explore the latest updates on global disaster risk and resilience, with news stories that cover critical developments, expert insights, and emerging trends.

Whether you're looking for breaking news from the disaster risk reduction (DRR) community or in-depth analysis of efforts to build a safer, more resilient world, this is your page. Dive into a wide range of topics, from climate change impacts to community-based initiatives, technological innovations, and global policies shaping a more resilient future, at global, national or local level.

Submit your news article.

Stay connected to the pulse of DRR and join the global conversation to reduce risk and strengthen resilience—one update at a time.

Meetings and conferences
-
Online
The conference aims to discuss how memories and knowledge of past disasters inform governance and policy and whether reconstruction reduces vulnerability, reproduces inequalities, or creates new risks in the context of climate change.
This book series is aimed at addressing a range of environmental issues through state-of-the-art and/or interdisciplinary approaches. The books in the series can either be monographs or edited volumes based.
Organization type
Academic & Scientific
Vacancy
Home Based
Closing date
The State Steering Committee recommended that a Handbook for Working Groups LSGs should be developed to facilitate effective integration of disaster and climate risks into local development processes.
Effects of extreme temperature exposure on learning thumbnail
Documents and publications

This paper analyzes how sustained exposure to extreme temperatures negatively impacts Cambodian students’ national exam performance, among social science students, females, and rural students, highlighting the need for adaptation in education systems.

Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Update
India’s first-ever emergency animal evacuation shelter

Humane World for Animals India and government partners will build a facility dedicated to disaster preparedness, emergency response and animal protection needs during floods and landslides.

Humane World for Animals (Humane Society International)
Research briefs
Daily weather in glacier models

Running a global glacier model at daily rather than monthly resolution across more than 12,500 glaciers reproduces observed mass loss better and projects a 5 to 10 per cent larger glacier contribution to 21st-century sea-level rise.

ETH Zurich
After the fire: Three years on — what the Maui wildfire reveals about emergency management policy for island communitiesDocuments and publications
After the fire: Three years on — what the Maui wildfire reveals about emergency management policy for island communities
Island Security Policy Institute Maui wildfire emergency management reform: Three years after Lahaina — An independent assessment of framework reform progress and remaining gapsDocuments and publications
Maui wildfire emergency management reform: Three years after Lahaina — An independent assessment of framework reform progress and remaining gaps
Island Security Policy Institute When the ocean comes inland: Tsunami preparedness policy for Pacific island and Hawaii coastal communities — What the warning systems missDocuments and publications
When the ocean comes inland: Tsunami preparedness policy for Pacific island and Hawaii coastal communities — What the warning systems miss
Island Security Policy Institute Sri Lanka: Managing landslide risk and planned relocation in Kegalle DistrictCase studySri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Managing landslide risk and planned relocation in Kegalle District
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Shelter after disasters in AustraliaDocuments and publications
Shelter after disasters in Australia
Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AIDR) Hazard impact information has the greatest effect on how people respond to alertsResearch briefsWhy alerts need hazard impact informationThe Warn Room Bracing for El Niño: impacts, risks and response in the PhilippinesUpdateEl Niño risks in the PhilippinesClimate Adaptation Platform (CAP) Drought resilience: why we need it and how to build itUpdateBuilding drought resilienceUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) India: Monitoring gender and social inclusion in climate-related urban migration in JaipurCase studyIndia
India: Monitoring gender and social inclusion in climate-related urban migration in Jaipur
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Understanding interestbased conflict in disaster recovery collaborations thumbnail
Documents and publications

This study examines conflict in disaster recovery collaborations in Australia, identifying psychological, procedural, and substantive interests as key drivers, and suggests reframing conflict as an opportunity to improve decision-making.

Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AIDR)
A smiling woman in traditional clothing having her blood pressure measured by a healthcare worker.
Research briefs
Countries need structures to turn climate–health goals into impact

Most national climate adaptation plans talk about health – but there are gaps in structures and investment to achieve this crucial strand of climate policy. Policy needs to be translated into action.

London School of Economics and Political Science, the
Warm image of three women from different generations smiling through a doorway, evoking family joy.
Update
Grenada: Protecting vulnerable families from the climate crisis

Grenada’s climate finance project provides low-income households and communities with affordable loans and grants to strengthen homes, prevent landslides and manage drought. Revolving fund builds long-term resilience, especially for vulnerable families.

The Commonwealth
Update
PNG: Impacts of El Niño on non-traditional food crops

The podcast explains how the dry conditions have forced people to rely on non-traditional food crops for food.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Community-based flood management in Djibouti: A practical manual for local preparedness and respons thumbnail
Documents and publications

This manual provides practical guidance for strengthening community-based flood risk management in Djibouti. It aims to help local communities reduce their vulnerability to flooding and strengthen their capacity to prepare, respond and recover from flood.

The Climate Risk & Early Warning Systems Initiative (CREWS)
Vacancy
Closing date
The consultant will be Samuel Hall's technical lead on anticipatory action and PSP/ITK in the programme's final year.
Update
Geneva hosts first global UN event on risk communication

On this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR, UNESCO and IFRC explored how reliable information, resilient media and local knowledge help communities understand risks and prepare for disasters.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Sweden disaster risk data system assessment and roadmapDocuments and publications
Sweden disaster risk data system assessment and roadmap
Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the (GFDRR)
Seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry façades from images using macroelement-based modeling thumbnail
Documents and publications

This study presents an image-based framework for rapid seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry façades using computer vision, photogrammetry, and semantic segmentation to automate 3D modeling and vulnerability analysis from multi-view RGB images.

Nature Communications (Nature)
Update
Shock-Responsive Inclusive Market Systems initiative in Malawi, Zambia

An initiative by World Vision and VisionFund with catalytic support from The Coca-Cola Foundation, SIMS responds to growing climate pressures by helping protect local enterprises, markets and economic opportunity in Malawi and Zambia.

World Vision International
Vision Fund
 From fragmentation to coordination? Governing urban heat risks in Greater Sydney  thumbnail
Documents and publications

This paper examines the formation of the Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce and the co-design of Greater Sydney’s inaugural Heat Smart City Plan as a case through which to interrogate broader challenges in urban climate governance.

Urban Studies (Sage)
Urban Studies is the leading international journal for urban scholarship.
Organization type
Academic & Scientific
Update
Australia: App puts bushfire preparedness into action

Most natural-hazard apps tell people what is happening during an emergency. Fewer than one in five help them prepare beforehand.

University of Tasmania
Update
France's summer wildfires could cost insurers up to 563 mln euros

Wildfires that swept through France this summer resulted in around 22,500 insurance claims, with total losses estimated at up to 563 million euros ($634 million), the federation of insurers said on Friday.

France 24
A family sits together in a traditional African village, embracing cultural heritage.
Rosemary Daniella Ihinegbu Henrietta Chigemezu Ihinegbu
Nigeria has built a real policy foundation for disaster risk reduction. But, the lived experience of women and children during the 2022 and 2024 floods shows that having policies on paper is not the same as protection reaching the people who need it most.
Update
Nepal floods and the need for regional action on Himalayan risk

Regional cooperation is critical, but it cannot replace national decisions on where and how risk is managed. The first decision is to look at valleys and corridors as a whole, not at hazards one by one.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
Update
Much of the insurance industry is fudging the numbers

Insurers are taking on more risk than they should. If – or when – a major disaster hits, the catastrophe will have far-reaching consequences.

Guardian, the (UK)
The 2026 seismic hazard model for Finland thumbnail
Documents and publications

This study presents seismic hazard maps for Finland, northern Europe, based on the earthquake catalog FENCAT updated until the end of 2021 and a 2025 three-level hierarchical zoning model.

Natural Hazards (Springer)
Past-to-future drought across hydrographic microregions in Northeast Brazil: SPI-based diagnostics and bivariate (duration–severity) risk under CMIP6 scenarios thumbnail
Documents and publications

This study used observed precipitation and QDM-corrected CMIP6 simulations to examine future meteorological drought in Brazil, across 82 hydrographic microregions under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5.

Natural Hazards (Springer)
Anticipatory action: design, implementation and evaluation thumbnail
Documents and publications

This scoping review synthesises recurring dilemmas across design, implementation, evaluation, and future direction of anticipatory action (AA)

npj Natural Hazards (Nature)
Case study
Location: Costa Rica
This case study documents the 2022 Costa Rica cyberattack and distils transferable lessons for other developing countries.
  • World Bank, the
São Tomé and Príncipe country climate and development report: Building resilience in a boutique biosphere country thumbnail
Documents and publications

This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) shows that ambitious climate action can protect people and livelihoods while unlocking new engines of inclusive growth.

World Bank, the
Research briefs
Australia: How to prepare entire cities for extreme heat

In Australia, days are growing longer and summer is fast approaching. But a very strong El Niño could make this summer a sweltering one. New research examined how the Greater Sydney region is preparing for surging temperatures and more frequent heatwaves.

Conversation Media Group, the
Indigenous Australians women during ceremonial dance in Laura Quinkan Dance Festival Cape York, Australia
Opportunities
Invitation to photograpers: Visualizing indigenous DRI solutions

CDRI invites photographers to capture indigenous and traditional practices that have made communities resilient to natural hazards and to share the story of their resilience characteristics and impact.

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)
Documents review
Opportunities
Review open: Working Group II contribution Seventh Assessment Report

Registration is now open for experts to review the First Order Draft of the Working Group II contribution to IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
New Zealand: Our Atmosphere and Climate 2026 thumbnail
Documents and publications

This report presents an evidence-based assessment of New Zealand’s atmosphere and climate, highlighting record-high greenhouse gases and temperatures, increased weather extremes, and the urgent need for adaptation and resilience.

Ministry for the Environment, (New Zealand)
Update
Brings wildfire information, analysis and risk insights

The platform combines NASA fire observations with official reports where available. Users can follow locations through email alerts, explore background articles and contribute photographs or videos for review before publication.

Watch Fire
A sunrise casts its light over the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of West Los Angeles, in the aftermath of the 2025 wildfires.
Update
USA: Building wildfire-resilient homes costs less than expectations

Integrating wildfire resilience into new construction is practical and economical, according to the report’s findings.

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
The cost of wildfire-resilient construction in Colorado thumbnail
Documents and publications

This report assesses wildfire-resilient construction costs in Colorado, finding that adopting CWRC Class 1 or IBHS Essential standards increases costs minimally, while higher-tier pathways add moderate premiums focused on exterior components like decks.

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
Computer screens showing maps and data
Update
When crises disappear from view: The growing humanitarian data drought

Compounding risks to global food system—ongoing conflicts, the most severe El Niño in decades, global trade disruptions—humanitarian data are disappearing. Budget cuts, shrinking development assistance, and competing priorities erode key streams of data.

International Food Policy Research Institute
Long-range flood outlook for strategic preparedness  thumbnail
Documents and publications

This report assesses feasibility of long-range flood outlooks for Australia using co-design with end users and BJP model to quantify and map flood likelihood, finding S2S forecasts enhance preparedness by identifying elevated risk weeks to months ahead.

Natural Hazards Research Australia
Well-being losses from coastal hazards thumbnail
Documents and publications

This paper develops the Coastal Well-Being Loss Measurement Framework to capture nine domains of well-being losses from climatic hazards in Asia-Pacific coastal regions, highlighting the need for inclusive measurement beyond economic damage.

Asian Development Bank (ADB)
A serene aerial view of marshland and winding creeks on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Update
NL: Salt marshes are powerful allies to a climate-resilient coastline

An experiment found that salt marshes withstand extreme waves with minimal erosion, reducing wave energy and supporting coastal protection. Conserving and restoring marshes could strengthen dikes, cut costs and protect biodiversity amid climate change.

Deltares
Severely damaged by hurricane Ian mobile homes in Florida residential area
Update
Engineers blow homes apart to learn how to save them

Engineers are testing manufactured homes in extreme winds to identify affordable ways to prevent hurricane and tornado damage. Stronger anchoring systems could improve safety for millions of residents if adopted in national building standards.

Grist Magazine
Discover the vibrant coastline of American Samoa with lush forests and turquoise waters in this stunning aerial view.
Update
Hawai‘i’s PDC and Samoa to strengthen resilience

As El Niño-driven drought and extreme weather threaten Pacific Island communities, Hawai‘i and Samoa partner on a disaster preparedness assessment to share knowledge and strengthen risk reduction, emergency readiness and resilience across the region.

Pacific Disaster Center