The awareness of multiple hazards and the understanding and the assessment of risks and their consequences is a critical and fundamental step towards the development of local, national and international policies and strategies within all phases of the disaster risk management cycle, in particular preparedness. The availability of reliable scientific data and information to anticipate future disaster events or crisis situations, considering uncertainties inherent to natural systems characterization, and effectively support decision-making processes at all levels represents a global challenge for both the research community and governance institutions
The understanding of multiple disaster risks (and related awareness) relies on knowledge
gained about historical data and information about past events and related lessons learned as
well as the ability to forecast and assess future risks under uncertainty (including impacts of
pandemics, as well as global change, including climate trends and earth system and
environment dynamics). These complex interactions between human decisions and multiple
hazards require novel risk assessment approaches such as agent-based modelling and systems
dynamics methods
– Advanced disaster / crisis simulations and impact assessments
– Risk and resilience assessment solutions, studies and outputs in support of long-term
multi-hazard management strategies with a focus on vulnerable regions prone to
multiple hazard occurrences
– Advanced data management, information update and forecast / early warning systems
– Communication and dissemination platforms supporting an increased dialogue and
cooperation between scientific, technological, practitioners, policy-makers, private
sector (e.g. insurers), NGOs, citizens and community-based organisations
