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Themes & Issues

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) work "concerns everyone, from villagers to heads of state, from bankers and lawyers to farmers and foresters, from meteorologists to media chiefs." (Living with Risk: A Global Review of Disaster Reduction Initiatives 2004. Geneva: UNISDR, 2004). DRR-related themes and issues are wide and cross-cutting.

  • Capacity Development capability utilization, capacity assessment; capacity development response; individual, community and institutional learning, development planning, training and development; institutional strengthening and development; functional capacities; technical capacities
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  • Civil Society/NGOs civic action, collective community action, community-based organization (CBO) action, grassroots action, integrative DRR, non-governmental organization (NGO), Private voluntary organization (PVO)
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  • Climate Change adaptation benefits, adaptation costs, adaptation measures, adaptive capacity, climate change adaptation, climate resilience, climate-proofing, climate risk management
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  • Community-based DRR CBDRR, community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM), community vulnerability assessment, community disaster response preparedness, community risk mitigation, local capacity assessment, local risk mapping
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  • Complex Emergency multiple hazard crisis, humanitarian crisis, conflict
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  • Critical Infrastructure communications systems and/or networks, health facilities, 'lifelines', power and energy, emergency evacuation shelters, financial infrastructure, schools, elements of transportation systems, waste disposal, water supplies
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  • Disaster Risk Management disaster mitigation, disaster preparedness, disaster prevention, disaster risk reduction plan, preparedness and contingency planning, prospective disaster risk management
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  • Early Warning alert and warning dissemination; 'end-to-end warning system'; monitoring, analysis and forecasting of the hazards; people-centred early warning system
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  • Economics of DRR disaster damage and loss assessment, disaster risk reduction funding, financial effects of disasters, poverty and disaster risk, socio-economic impacts of disasters
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  • Education & School Safety disaster prevention education and curricula, education continuity, safe schools, school disaster management
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  • Environment deforestation, ecosystems and environmental management, environmental degradation, environmental impact assessment, Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM), land-use
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  • Food Security & Agriculture agricultural micro loans and finance, agricultural risk management, climate smart agriculture, crop distribution, diversified cropping system, food storage capacity, rural land-use planning, livestock management
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  • Gender gender mainstreaming, gendered vulnerability, gender-sensitive disaster risk management
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  • GIS & Mapping geographic information systems, hazard exposure mapping, vulnerability mapping, risk mapping
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  • Governance accountability, empowerment, coordination, disaster risk reduction policy and legislation, National Platform for disaster risk reduction, Regional Platforms for disaster risk reduction
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  • Health & Health Facilities capacity of health practitioners, climate change effects on health, environmental impact on health, health and disaster risk, health facilities and services, health facility preparedness, health: gender, mental health, public health, health: water and sanitation, psychosocial support, safe hospitals, trauma prevention
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  • Indigenous Knowledge indigenous early warning system, local adaptation for implementation, local knowledge, local skills, local technical knowledge, local knowledge systems, traditional knowledge, transferable indigenous knowledge; related: coastal zones, food security and agricultural practice, housing, mountain ecosystems, river basin management, water management
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  • Information Management disaster data and information exchange standards; disaster databases and information management; disaster risk information portals; disaster risk reduction knowledge management, networks and communities of practice; information and communication technology (ICT); information planning; information sharing and exchange
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  • Insurance & Risk Transfer disaster insurance, contingency funding, micro-insurance, post-disaster loans, risk financing, risk insurance, risk sharing, pooling, weather index insurance
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  • Media advocacy and public awareness raising, disaster risk reporting, public information on disaster risk reduction, risk communication
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  • Public-private Partnerships business partnerships for disaster risk reduction, civil action and public-private partnership, corporate social responsibility, government and private sector partnership, private sector
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  • Recovery build back better, early recovery and shelter with a long-term view, humanitarian planning for long-term risk reduction, long-term recovery and reconstruction, psycho-social issues for long term recovery rehabilitation, post-disaster needs assessment
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  • Risk Identification & Assessment hazard assessment, risk assessment; risk analysis process: exposure, vulnerability of physical, social, health, economic and environmental dimensions; vulnerability assessment
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  • Social Impacts & Resilience coping capacity, cultural impacts, loss absorption, loss acceptance, loss of livelihood, psychological impacts and resilience, psychological support, social vulnerability
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  • Space Technology satellite disaster imagery
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  • Structural Safety building codes, building standards, building materials, construction, retrofitting
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  • Urban Risk & Planning resilient cities, urban planning, urban management
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  • Vulnerable Populations at-risk populations, including: children, orphans, disabled, elderly, homeless, hospitalized people, illegal immigrants, illiterate, medically or chemically dependent, impoverished populations, migrants, Person With Disabilities (PWDs), speakers of non-local languages
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  • Water sustainable water resource management, including: drinking water, freshwater, irrigation, preventive protection of drink water supplies, sanitation
Disaster Risk Reduction
Themes & Issues
Themes & Issues

A schema for the categorization of DRR knowledge and action

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Disaster Risk Reduction Terminology
UNISDR terminology on DRR

Look up terms from the official UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction in English, or view the document for terminology languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

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Networks & Communities

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