Risk Communication for Better Disaster Risk Management: Side Event at 7th Session of Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction
Friday 27 August 2021
10:00 - 11:15 Bangkok time
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted risk communication as a crucial element in the process of risk management as it enables the public to recognize disaster risks, understand their roles in reducing that risk and engage with protection measures. In many instances, effective risk communication has been used to help individuals make decisions in response to many questions raised by them both before or during a disaster. Risk communication strategies have become crucial and viewed as a cornerstone to emergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation at both the policy and individual level as it guides activities that increase public awareness of disaster risks and increases public safety. In the age of information, in order to promote more effective future disaster risk mitigation and disaster responses, risk communication has to go beyond traditional approaches of sectors working in silos by including a whole of community approach to understand community disaster risk and embracing new innovations such as digital and social media and partnerships with the sectors such as the media.
This side event will discuss partner experiences on disaster risk communication before and during disasters, drawing from recent lessons and experiences from COVID-19 and other disasters including key challenges and opportunities in the digital and social media era which could ultimately enhance the capacity of disaster risk management.
Objective
1. To share good practices on risk communication/communication strategies during pandemics and other emergencies and disasters.
2. To identify key challenges and opportunities of enhancing risk/public communication throughout the disaster management cycle, particularly during compound and complex emergencies.
3. To encourage the exchange of lessons learned from cross-sectoral collaboration, as well as inclusive and whole of community approaches for effective risk communication.