1. Home
  2. Knowledge Base | PreventionWeb
  3. Themes

Structural safety

Any physical construction to reduce or avoid possible impacts of hazards, or the application of engineering techniques or technology to achieve hazard resistance and resilience in structures or systems. Disaster mitigation, such as retrofitting and implementing building codes is a key disaster risk management activity.

ISO 22372 sets the first international reference point for safer, more reliable and risk-informed infrastructure.

Latest Structural safety additions in the Knowledge Base

Uploaded on
Assessing vulnerability of rural buildings to tornadoes and their relationships with building attributes and surrounding land uses thumbnail
Documents and publications
Assessing vulnerability of rural buildings to tornadoes and their relationships with building attributes and surrounding land uses

This study presents an empirical assessment of rural building vulnerability to tornadoes in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, China, with a particular focus on how building attributes and surrounding land‑use patterns shape disaster risk.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (Elsevier)
Cover
Educational materials
Rahat: Educational booklet

This education booklet was produced in the context of the RAHAT project which focuses on extreme heat vulnerability in informal housing in Jodhpur, western India, where climate change is intensifying temperature extremes.

University of Cambridge
Cover
Documents and publications
The invisible threat: why indoor heat can be more dangerous than outside temperatures

The brief examines how women-led housing adaptations can reduce dangerous indoor heat exposure in informal homes in India.

University of Cambridge
Why do some countries build safer Economic constraints, disaster learning, and the two-stage housing quality ladder thumbnail
Documents and publications
Why do some countries build safer? Economic constraints, disaster learning, and the two-stage housing quality ladder

This paper addresses the question in the title using a novel data set on housing robustness in 150 countries and proposes a "two-stage housing quality ladder" framework.

World Bank, the
Training course
Online
Resilience engineering and leadership in crisis specialization
Develop an understanding of resilience engineering, leadership, and the interdependent relationships between socio-economic systems.
  • University of Colorado Boulder
Update
Germany's coastal regions brace for change, fearing rising sea levels

Rising sea levels are increasing flood risks along Germany’s North and Baltic Sea coasts, prompting debates over stronger coastal defenses versus potential retreat from vulnerable low-lying areas.

PhysOrg, Omicron Technology Ltd
Update
Proportion of new homes built in flood areas rises to one in nine

One in nine (11%) new homes in England constructed between 2022 and 2024 have been built in areas of medium or high risk of flooding, according to analysis from insurer, Aviva.

Aviva
Heat stress and urban resilience: alternative cooling strategies to combat extreme heat in the urban environment thumbnail
Documents and publications
Heat stress and urban resilience: alternative cooling strategies to combat extreme heat in the urban environment

Solar-powered open-air cooling shelters can strengthen urban resilience to extreme heat by providing low-energy, outage-resilient relief, as shown through a pilot initiative in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood.

University of Pennsylvania
Uploaded on