Emergency Services

After the 1995 Kobe earthquake, residents of North Rokko used the participatory Machizukuri model to create alternative reconstruction plans, forming neighbourhood associations that strengthened community resilience and civic engagement.

Structured collaboration among stakeholders to enhance community resilience

A low-cost network of sensors built from open hardware that sends flood and mudflow alerts to officials and community leaders in Chosica, Peru. 

A five-step method for building flood early warning systems with local communities, municipalities and national weather and civil defence services in the Andes.

It was developed by CIIFEN, the International Research Centre on El Niño, under the regional programme PRASDES, which Finland’s foreign ministry financed. It joins the four components of early warning set out by the UN disaster-reduction office to an approach of the Organization of American States in which trained community volunteers operate simple rain and river-level instruments. 

In 2015-2016, residents of 19 communities in Escoma, Bolivia, mapped flood-prone areas with the municipality to build a local flood early warning system.

A community flood early warning system was built in Querecotillo, Peru, in 2016, with residents mapping flood zones and rehearsing an evacuation drill. CIIFEN worked with the municipality, the civil defence institute INDECI and the weather service SENAMHI between January and September 2016.

The Zambia Red Cross acted on a flood forecast in January 2023 to warn and equip households in Kitwe and Kafue before the water arrived.

The initiative combines participatory resilience assessment, university technical support and community engagement. A December 2023 Scorecard workshop identified data-management needs, leading the municipality and university to establish a dedicated data-collection portal.

Suryodaya connects neighbourhood organisation with municipal disaster risk governance. Its 201 Tole Development Committees support preparedness and community mobilisation, working with ward and municipal authorities. Participatory assessment and planning connect local knowledge with technical risk analysis and municipal action.

The 'Emergency Awareness' Workshops aims to strengthen people and community preparedness in crises and emergencies. The workshops are designed to align preparedness activities with crises that have a high likelihood and high societal impact: hazardous materials incidents, flooding, extreme weather, blackouts, epidemics and wildfires. The workshops use an interactive, small group serious game to introduce concrete preparedness actions. Participants jointly prepare a fictional persona for an upcoming crisis and later reflect on what these actions mean for their own situation.