Reducing the risk of disaster
Disasters have the biggest impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people, with children bearing the brunt. We work with children, communities, and governments to prepare, adapt and increase resilience against the impact of disasters.
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Children in Myanmar (Burma) mapping out safe and dangerous areas in their village in case there is another cyclone.
A growing threat
Over the past two decades, the number of natural disasters has doubled. There are more floods, cyclones, droughts, and severe cold spells. Glaciers and ice caps are melting, and rainfall patterns are changing.
Experts predict that urbanisation, population growth, and climate change will only increase the severity and impact of disasters in the future.
What is Disaster Risk Reduction?
Disaster Risk Reduction helps to prepare communities, and increase resilience against the impact of disasters and climate change. It can be policies, strategies or activities carried out to reduce a community’s vulnerability to a disaster.
We work with children, local communities and governments to ensure they have emergency plans in place. We help reduce the risk of an emergency by, for example, building embankments to protect communities from flooding. In India, we built shelters in flood- and earthquake-prone areas, and in Myanmar (Burma) we helped to reinforce schools so that people have a safe shelter if there is another cyclone.In Sri Lanka, we provided megaphones and loudspeakers so people have more time to respond to an impending disaster.
We also promote resilience so that communities can cope and recover after disaster strikes. In Zimbabwe, we encouraged farmers to use drought-resistant crops. And we annually transfer food or cash to reduce the risk of food crises among poor families.
We’re carrying out this work in more than 35 countries around the world.
Children saving children
We put children at the heart of our Disaster Risk Reduction activities. Children are more vulnerable during emergenices, so we listen to children to make sure we're really meeting their needs.
Children are involved in identifying the risks they face, developing action plans to tackle those risks and pressing their governments to ensure all children are reached through Disaster Risk Reduction programmes.
In Vietnam, children told us how to keep them safer if another cyclone hit.
"We thought we knew what needed to be done. But we asked children, and they said they wanted swimming lessons. They'd been very scared when the waters rose after the cyclone, because they couldn’t swim. We hadn’t even thought of that," said Save the Children's Kitty Arie.
How you can help
Donate to our Children's Emergency Fund – it helps us respond quickly when disaster strikes.