Communities play a key role in countering and managing disaster risk. From detecting hazards and increasing resilience, to responding to and recovering from disasters, communities designate the center of these processes. In this article, we will discuss how communities contribute to disaster risk management.

   1. Risk detection and assessment

  Communities are often at the forefront of risk detection. Local observations and experiences can help identify and assess risks. Local knowledge can be particularly valuable in places where scientific data is limited or unavailable.

   2. Increasing resilience

  Communities are key to building resilience to disasters. They can do this in a number of ways, such as through education and training, building and maintaining infrastructure that is resilient to disasters, and developing disaster response plans.

   3. Disaster response

  When a disaster strikes, communities are often the first to respond. They can carry out rescue operations, provide first aid, seek shelter for the affected, and communicate with larger organizations responsible for disaster management.

   4. Reconstruction after disasters

  After a disaster, communities are crucial to the recovery process. They can help assess losses, identify needs, and plan and implement reconstruction activities. Post-disaster reconstruction is also an opportunity to make communities more resilient to future disasters.

  In summary, communities play a key role in disaster risk management. They are on the front lines of hazard detection, resilience enhancement, disaster response and recovery. Recognizing and strengthening this role is critical to effective disaster risk management.