Disaster risk communication

This theme covers disaster risk communication, advocacy and awareness raising of disaster risk reduction (DRR) including through traditional and new media, as well as guidance for journalists reporting on disasters, guidance on communicating about climate change and extreme weather attribution. Raising awareness is a key disaster risk management activity.

Visit the Risk Media Hub: a toolkit for news media professionals reporting on disasters and resilience. he toolkit provides an array of resources to help journalists tell the other side of the disaster story and raise critical questions to help societies become more resilient.

Explore the Disaster Risk Communication Hub: the risk communication hub aims to support practitioners - from any sector - who are planning public risk communication strategies with the general public.

When crises strike, fear, uncertainty, and information overload make people more vulnerable to false narratives and disinformation.

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Latest Disaster risk communication additions in the Knowledge Base

Showing 1–10 of 3,739 results

Update

24 May 2026

Connected when it counts: Mobile-enabled early warning systems for island nations

For SIDS, the barriers to effective EWS are uniquely pronounced. Geographic isolation and, for some areas, limited infrastructure redundancy, make multi-channel emergency alerting inherently difficult, while exposure to severe hazards continues to grow

GSMA Mobile for Development

Documents and publications

11 November 2026

Balancing safety and mobility: Experience with Iceland’s SMS Avalanche Warning System

This article examines Iceland’s Short Message Service (SMS) avalanche warning service as an impact-based early warning system in the context of road safety.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science

From the European Civil Protection Forum to the Regional Platform 2027Update

From the European Civil Protection Forum to the Regional Platform 2027

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Europe & Central Asia

Classifying perceived shaking in post-earthquake social media with large language models for rapid estimation of seismic intensity-affected areas thumbnail

Documents and publications

9 November 2026

Classifying perceived shaking in post-earthquake social media with large language models for rapid estimation of seismic intensity-affected areas

This study uses a LoRA-fine-tuned DeepSeek-7B model to classify Sina Weibo earthquake-shaking reports and estimate affected areas; population-adjusted shaking indices better matched official intensity maps than comment counts.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (Elsevier)

Case study

Jordan

National campaign to raise awareness on heat health

This case study is about a national heatwave awareness campaign called Harrek Wa’yak launched in Jordan by Prosper Global partnered with the Ministry of Health and MedLabs, a leading private sector laboratory diagnostics provider.

Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance

Case study

Haiti

Haiti: Matching warning technology to existing capacity in a fragile context

Haiti is highly exposed to multiple hazards compounded by fragile operating conditions, including poverty, political instability, infrastructure gaps, blackouts, security constraints and limited institutional resources.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

A tsunami evacuation sign stands beside a long, steep wooden staircase zigzagging up a sandy hill toward high ground. The route provides safe passage in Oregon’s tsunami-prone coastal zones.

Blog

05 Nov 2026

Vaitsis Koutsipetsidis

Inclusive tsunami preparedness: Why the people most at risk must help shape the plan

On 5 November, take two actions: learn your route to high ground, and ask the people around you who might need assistance what support they would need and involve them in the planning. Don’t just identify them; co-plan with them.

Communicating and Constructing Risk: Government and Public Interactions in Responding to Heat Risks thumbnail

Documents and publications

4 November 2026

Communicating and constructing risk: government and public interactions in responding to heat risks

This study examines heat risk communication in China, revealing differences between public concerns and government messaging and highlighting the importance of responsive, two-way communication for effective heat risk governance.

Risk Analysis (Wiley)

Update

4 November 2026

Study finds air quality warnings had only a modest impact on Montrealers’ movements

McGill researcher suggests authorities should consider pairing advisories with practical incentives to encourage compliance

McGill University

Municipal risk communication and public trust: Reducing counterproductive behaviors across emergency scenarios thumbnail

Documents and publications

3 November 2026

Municipal risk communication and public trust: Reducing counterproductive behaviors across emergency scenarios

This study examined how municipal informational messages shaped behavioral intentions across five emergency scenarios (wildfires, flooding, hazardous materials, extreme weather, and civil unrest) in a representative sample of 1509 adults.

Risk Analysis (Wiley)

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