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

Preparedness

The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from the impacts of likely, imminent or current disasters.

Preparedness action is carried out within the context of disaster risk management and aims to build the capacities needed to efficiently manage all types of emergencies.

This theme covers aspects related to preparedness, contingency planning, disaster response plans, prevention, anticipatory action.

What’s the difference between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk management (DRM)?

Latest Preparedness additions in the Knowledge Base

Uploaded on
Mobile phone base station on a rooftop.
Blog
Emirhan Duman
Why disaster risk management needs an offline-first communication layer
This author's message to disaster risk management professionals is simple: treat communication as lifeline infrastructure and plan for redundancy, just as we do for water, power and shelter.
Update
Fiji stages its first full-scale night-time airport crash simulation

Firefighters, military personnel, police officers and medics mobilised to a simulated aircraft crash on 26 June 2026, as Fiji Airports Limited conducted its first-ever large-scale night-time airport emergency exercise.

Pacific Community
A dynamic multilevel behavioural framework for emergency preparedness thumbnail
Documents and publications
A dynamic multilevel behavioural framework for emergency preparedness

Using a pandemic as central illustrative example of an emergency this paper merges the emergency management cycle with the socio-ecological model and offers a behavioural framework that captures the complex temporal and social dimensions of preparedness.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (Elsevier)
Dice on a map with kids in the background
Update
Addressing social vulnerabilities exacerbated by climate change

Cuba is strengthening DRR through anticipatory action, risk-informed planning and inclusive Cooperation Frameworks that address climate hazards and social vulnerabilities.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
World Food Programme (WFP)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Woman carries a bowl of bananas on her head in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Update
Dominican Republic: U-Reporters help Hurricane Melissa response

UNICEF activated U-Report as a tool for mass communication to raise awareness and share life-saving information with young people.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Early warning systems and anticipatory action: the fiscal case for pre-disaster financing thumbnail
Documents and publications
Early warning systems and anticipatory action: the fiscal case for pre-disaster financing

The guide, previously published in 2023, expanded its coverage to include an analysis of anticipatory action and early warning systems and the fiscal case for pre-disaster financing.

Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP)
Malta: Rapid emergency response and readiness assessment thumbnail
Documents and publications
Malta: Rapid emergency response and readiness assessment

The objective of this report is to support Malta in strengthening its resilience to disasters and other crises by providing a rapid assessment of emergency preparedness and response (EP and R) structures and capabilities.

Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the (GFDRR)
World Bank, the
Update
McKinsey Global Institute: Climate planning has prioritized floods. Heat demands equal attention

The world continues to underinvest in heat adaptation and climate resilience more broadly. Companies that lead on adaptation can not only protect their bottom lines but also contribute to a more stable and resilient economy.

Fortune
Uploaded on