Why does disaster risk reduction matter in humanitarian settings?
It complements emergency response with a focus on reducing exposure and vulnerability.
The world is experiencing an unprecedented moment of fragility and uncertainty. Climate-fuelled disasters are more frequent and intense, while the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the interconnected and cascading nature of risk.
According to the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2025, 305 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025, driven by armed conflicts and intensifying weather-related disasters.
The impact of disasters on vulnerable populations threatens to increase humanitarian needs and reverse progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Countries affected by crises and protracted conflicts are among the most vulnerable, so every opportunity to make humanitarian analysis, planning and action risk-informed needs to be seized.
See the checklist in action
A short video series on applying the Checklist on Scaling Up DRR in Humanitarian Action across the Humanitarian Programme Cycle.
DRR integration also helps ensure that no one is left behind, as marginalization and social inequalities reinforce vulnerable populations’ exposure to disasters. Increased resilience ultimately contributes to eradicating global poverty and exclusion.
To promote the incorporation of disaster risk management into post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation processes, [it is important to] facilitate the link between relief, rehabilitation and development, [to] use opportunities during the recovery phase to develop capacities that reduce disaster risk in the short, medium and long term.
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
What does scaling up DRR in humanitarian action involve?
Two things: reducing vulnerability on the ground, and making humanitarian decisions risk-informed.
The integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in humanitarian action remains a work in progress: only a few good practices from concrete experience are available and replicable. This page brings together resources and good practices to close that gap.
What is reducing vulnerability and building resilience?
Disaster risk management activities that reduce suffering and build the capacities of vulnerable populations, so they are resilient to hazards and underlying risk drivers.
What is risk-informing humanitarian action?
Making sure strategies and programmes understand systemic risk: analysing multi and cascading hazards, and how a humanitarian situation might evolve, to inform planning.
Risk analysis should be an integral part of planning, and resilience-building an integral part of programming.
Neither aspect works alone: at country and local levels, programmes that build resilience need plans that anticipate how risk will change.
How can I build my capacity?
A free course teaches a risk-sensitive approach to humanitarian planning.
The training helps actors prepare Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNOs) and Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs) as part of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC). It covers analysing hazards and risk levels, anticipating how situations might evolve, and informing contingency planning, preparedness and early action.
A two-page guidance note on applying the checklist offers direction for humanitarian, development and peace actors.
Which publications should I read first?
Three UNDRR publications cover how to finance, plan and analyse risk in crisis settings.
Ensuring effective DRR financing in humanitarian and crisis settings should be of significant concern for all actors, not only specialists.
What does this look like in practice?
Governments and shelter partners are already applying these approaches.
Preparedness · Bahrain
A national civil protection platform
The government of Bahrain have developed a National Civil Protection Platform that strengthens disaster preparedness through real-time alerts, practical guidance and active community engagement. By linking early warning with public action, the platform turns preparedness into anticipatory action, empowering people to act before a crisis unfolds. It provides access to safety-related information through a modern, technology-driven approach, reinforcing a culture of security across society.
Shelter · Madagascar
A shelter-focused DRR strategy
Supported through the UNDRR-Global Shelter Cluster partnership, Madagascar’s DRR Technical Working Group (DRR/TWIG) developed a shelter-focused disaster risk reduction strategy, including preparedness and response SOPs and a humanitarian action plan (2025–2030). These SOPs were pilot-tested in Atsimo Andrefana and Androy regions by volunteer NGOs — Action Against Hunger, Catholic Relief Services, and Humanity & Inclusion — validating their effectiveness for coordinated response while identifying areas for further refinement
Shelter · Nigeria
Simulation exercise for shelter actors
Nigeria hosted a UNDRR and Global Shelter Cluster Green Team DRR workshop, including a field visit and simulation exercise (SIMEX), bringing together 30 government, humanitarian, and environmental actors to strengthen disaster risk reduction capacity for humanitarian shelter. The workshop introduced the DRR scaling-up checklist, enhanced technical skills and identified priority actions to advance risk-informed shelter interventions in conflict- and climate-affected areas.
Shelter · Yemen
Supporting the shelter cluster
UNHCR, in partnership with the Global Shelter Cluster and UNDRR, is supporting Yemen’s shelter cluster in implementing flood mitigation measures at high-risk IDP sites to protect vulnerable communities from recurring floods. This initiative engages local communities to reinforce shelters and infrastructure, reducing flood impacts and enhancing long-term resilience. With targeted interventions and community participation, this two-phases project aims to improve living conditions, safeguard lives and set the stage for scaling disaster risk reduction across Yemen’s most vulnerable areas.
The common thread: conflict- and climate-affected settings can still plan ahead when partners share tools and training.
Where can I find more resources?
The full collection holds reports, briefing notes and tools from across the humanitarian system.
Related sections on PreventionWeb
Continue with the approaches that sit closest to humanitarian action.