SRC Joint Policy Brief – Strengthening Societal Resilience to Disasters

The Societal Resilience Cluster (SRC) published the policy brief “Strengthening Societal Resilience to Disaster: Improving Engagement and Communication among Citizens and Authorities”, gathering knowledge and recommendations from PARATUS and other 8 projects funded by Horizon Europe: BuildERS, CORE, DIRECTED, ENGAGE, LINKS, MEDIATE, RESILOC, and RiskPACC, with the facilitation of CMINE.

As we are increasingly exposed to hazards, we must strengthen our capacities to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform, and recover in a timely and efficient manner. The SRC policy brief aims to provide decision-makers and stakeholders with relevant, evidence-informed policy recommendations on how to increase the level of resilience to disasters in European communities.

First, the projects provide recommendations for enhancing engagement among authorities and citizens, highlighting actions towards competency building, knowledge sharing, participation, and collaboration in Disaster Risk Management processes. Thereafter, the projects outline recommendations for strengthening targeted and two-way communication processes among authorities and citizens, and address actions for making information accessible and for tailoring communication channels to match the needs of different members of the population. For each area, specific recommendations are provided on two levels: first at the operational and strategic planning level of disaster management organisations, and second at the policymaking level.

Philippe Quevauviller, Research Programming and Policy Officer at the European Commission, congratulated the SRC projects, highlighting: “this policy brief is a result of synergy-building efforts among 9 projects gathering more than 100 organisations. It expresses recommendations and actions from a high critical mass of multi-sectoral and pluridisciplinary knowledge in support of civil protection and related policies towards improved engagement and communication among authorities and citizens in DRM, and it will hence attract a wide readership from international to local levels.”

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Enquiries are welcome to: projects@cmine.eu