Awareness, education and communication for compound natural hazards

This report examines how communities can be better engaged before, during and after compound natural hazards. Based on an 18-month study in Australia, it reviews global literature and draws on fieldwork in three communities affected by overlapping or closely sequenced hazards. The report explores how communication needs change when people are preparing for one hazard while responding to or recovering from another.

The key takeaway is that compound hazards require a shift from single-hazard, agency-specific communication towards all-hazard, all-agency engagement. The report finds that top-down communication is less effective in these contexts, where vulnerability and exposure are intensified. It calls for approaches based on local knowledge, two-way communication, listening, reciprocity and relationship-building, and presents a co-constructed framework to guide better community engagement for preparedness, response and recovery.