Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) consists of a set of measures undertaken by governments, organisations, communities or individuals to better respond and cope with the immediate aftermath of a disaster, whether it be man-made or caused by natural hazards.  The objective is to reduce loss of life and livelihoods. Simple initiatives can go a long way, for instance training for search and rescue, establishing early warning systems, developing emergency plans, or stockpiling equipment and supplies. Disaster risk reduction and preparedness plays an important role in building the resilience of communities.

Improved practice and response mechanisms saves lives and strengthens the countries and communities’ ability to reduce the impact of disasters. Understanding the occurrence and frequency of natural hazards as well as the risks, vulnerabilities and potential impact on people and assets helps to improve preparedness. Instead of providing emergency response only, international efforts should help governments and communities invest in understanding risks and building preparedness capacities for pre-emptive and early action. 

In this course the focus will be placed on a paramount aspect of DRR: the emergency management plan. 

This is a mandatory act that every municipality must/should implement to increase its capacity to manage emergencies and mitigate its effects on the population, the environment and the economy. 

Emergency plans are adopted at different levels, from supranational/regional to national and finally local. Each level envisages the definition of  responsible stakeholders, procedures, communication flows, IT infrastructures, monitoring systems, manpower, etc. Clearly the granularity of the activity differs accentuating its precision and resolution at local level. In this  latter case, the involvement of the citizens to the civil protection activities, particularly in the planning process can  greatly enhance the transmission of knowledge and if correctly carried on can ensure visibility and understanding of the entire process thus increasing awareness and, ultimately, resilience. 

If this wasn't hard enough per se, the current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the weakness of the system globally and forced a new way of thinking about disaster management introducing, by force, the need of adapting all singular response into multi-risk events.  If until December 2019 a flood would have been treated as such with all its hazard specific advices (go to higher floors, if outside go to the safest emergency area, help elders moving to dry grounds or higher floors, etc), nowadays it will be treated as a multi-risk event, thus for example:

• tracking of COVID-19 positive patients 
• training of Civil Protection personnel and volunteers to recognize in crowded areas, COVID-19 symptoms 
• revising emergency plans ensuring maximum relief to hospitals which are already under full pressure dealing with the pandemic

To this end, Resiliact Training Course aims to enhance the knowledge about the entire process related to disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management through a different vision to the emergency management. 

By the end of the training, participants will have gained in-depth knowledge of:

•Participatory emergency planning for the creation of resilient communities

•Early Warning to Early Action intervention models

•Role of key stakeholders in DRR (i.e. Schools, municipalities, volunteering organizations, etc)

•Disaster Risk Management (DRM) operative frameworks

•Lessons learned from managing COVID-19 pandemic

•Adaptation of emergency management plans due to COVID-19

•Adapting from risk to multirisk DRM

•The involvement of stakeholders as a tool for adaptation and transformation in DRR policies

•Tools for climate change adaptation and multi-risk planning

•The European Union Civil Protection Mechanism