Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative (DRRI)

The more governments, UN agencies, organizations, businesses and civil society understand risk and vulnerability, the better equipped they will be to mitigate disasters when they strike and save more lives. Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

The Risk Reduction Index (RRI) has been the principal project in DARA’s Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative. DARA’s DRRI takes its departure in the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters (UNISDR), a 10-year plan adopted by 168 Member States of the United Nations in 2005 at the World Disaster Reduction Conference, which took place just a few weeks after the Indian Ocean Tsunami. The aim of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) is to make the world safer from natural hazards and build the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

The HFA is the first plan to explain, describe and detail the work that is required from all sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses. It was developed and agreed on by the many partners that are crucial to reducing disaster risk – governments, international agencies, disaster experts and many others – bringing them into a common system of coordination. The HFA outlines five priorities for action, and offers guiding principles and practical means for achieving disaster resilience. Its goal is to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015, by building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. This means reducing loss of lives and protecting social, economic and environmental assets when hazards strike.

Priority Action 1: Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation.

Priority Action 2: Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning.

Priority Action 3: Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

Priority Action 4: Reduce the underlying risk factors.

Priority Action 5: Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.

The Risk Reduction Index (RRI) was the principal project in DARA’s DRRI. The first phase of the RRI focused on seven countries in Central America and the Caribbean (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic). The second phase of the RRI was carried out in West Africa.

Other DARA Disaster Risk Reduction-related activities