DRR Solutions space

Disaster risk solutions

Scalable and replicable case studies to prevent disasters.

illustrative image

A catalogue of evidence-based practices to reduce disaster risk.

Concrete innovations, inventions, and strategies are reducing the impacts of disasters worldwide. These practical case studies and proven strategies address various aspects of disaster risk.

The documented successes, measurable achievements, avoided disasters, and tangible outcomes serve as lessons for those planning actions to enhance resilience, reduce vulnerability, and protect communities from the adverse effects of disasters.

The case studies you will find below encompass a wide range of practical DRR measures, including early warning systems, community-based initiatives, green and grey infrastructure improvements, policy implementations, and innovative technologies that have been applied and proven effective in real-world scenarios.

Find your solution

Search by theme, hazard and country, or use specific keywords.

Uploaded on
Update

Swiss Re's analysis shows that the protection offered by natural habitats, such as mangrove swamps and salt marshes, reduced the frequency of insurance losses from lower severity weather events from 2009 to 2022.

Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re)
Cover and source: Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re)
Documents and publications

This Swiss Re Institute briefer explains how natural habitats, such as coral reefs, mangrove swamps and salt marshes, can reduce insurance loss frequency by around a half in coastal flood cases caused by higher frequency-lower severity storms.

Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re)
Children playing with water in fountain in Harbour drive in downtown San Diego.
Update

U.S. cities on the verge of hotter, drier conditions can learn from the experiences of global communities that have had to confront major water supply crises. Planning now can help urban centers avoid the worst impacts of future droughts.

Conversation Media Group, the
Cover
Documents and publications

This study suggests that heat-related illness has significant long-term impacts on future cardiovascular disease CVD incidence, which can be mitigated by heatwave warnings.

The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific
Houses in Rodanthe, NC, are left in the waves at the ocean's edge following the passage of Hurricane Isabel
Update

The Corolla Light Resort was built with care to preserve its unique environment. That forward-thinking allowed the property to weather environmental impacts better than those around it and continue prioritizing sustainability for decades.

Triple Pundit
Fire in the background in the Palisades neighborhood, LA, USA (2025)
Update

Within the wreckage in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, some homes are still standing, seemingly untouched. More often than not, fire experts are finding those homeowners took key precautions that likely saved their houses from burning.

NPR
Uploaded on
illustration
Submit a solution
Do you have a solution to share with the DRR community? Submit published content on a disaster risk reduction solution in the form of a news article or a publication. See our content submission policy. Ģý editors will review your content and get back to your promptly.
Coloured houses on a windy day
Disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management
The policy objective of anticipating and reducing risk is called disaster risk reduction (DRR). Disaster risk management (DRM) can be thought of as the implementation of DRR, since it describes the actions that aim to achieve the objective of reducing risk.

Featured stories

Houses that can float could protect vulnerable people from flooding

This concept retrofits houses with flotation devices and tethers them to poles - allowing the house to rise with floodwaters and descend to their foundations when the flood subsides.

Can wildfire prevention offer sustainable business opportunities?

Because of climate change, wildfires are becoming more intense and frequent. Prevention measures often come with a hefty price tag. Across Europe, fire-smart solutions make wildfire prevention more sustainable, by offering ecological, economic and social benefits.

Rain-related early warning in Japan

“The risk is imminent” translates as KiKIKURU in Japanese. It’s the name of an innovative early warning system for rain-related hazards in Japan. KIKIKURU was developed by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The system provides real-time hazard updates using a high spatial resolution of 1 km.

Developing local-level solutions

View of the volcano in the background of the city of Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
Read the latest news from cities building their resilience.

Is your city resilient? Does its resilience help its citizens to prosper and flourish? Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) is a unique cross-stakeholder initiative for improving local resilience. See how cities around the world build their capacities to tackle disasters.

MCR2030 is a place where cities can find guidance and support to enhance understanding on risk reduction and resilience, to improve strategic planning to reduce risk and build resilience, and to take actions and progress along the resilience roadmap.

See below news from cities that have taken the leap to reduce disaster risk.

Is this page useful?

Yes No
Report an issue on this page

Thank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window).