From local resilience to systemic risk governance
Households can prepare for floods, but they cannot decide where development happens upstream, how regional power networks are protected, or whether capital keeps flowing into hazard-prone land. Writing for International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, Bapon Fakhruddin argues that where disaster impacts are felt should not be confused with who produces the risk. He separates risk creation, risk transmission and risk bearing, noting that those who benefit from a development decision are often not those who bear its consequences. His Local-to-Systemic Risk Governance framework proposes financed local resilience compacts, which pair local responsibility with real decision rights and predictable funding, alongside investment appraisals that make trade-offs explicit. Resilience is experienced locally, he concludes, but it is not produced locally alone.
Homes account for 43% of the direct economic disaster losses countries report through the Sendai Framework Monitor, and around half of everyone affected by disasters had their home damaged or destroyed. Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure modelling puts average annual losses to residential buildings from cyclones, floods, tsunamis and earthquakes at roughly US$228 billion, more than half of estimated losses across the world’s building stock from those hazards. Released for International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR’s message is that progress on cutting disaster deaths hasn’t been matched by progress on reducing the number of people affected or the economic cost. The UNDRR argues that this won’t change until homes get safer. The fix: risk-informed locations, enforced building standards, retrofits, and rebuilding to higher standards.
When El Niño hits home: Building household resilience ahead of a record-breaking climate event
As a very strong El Niño unfolds, raising the risk of severe weather into 2027, who ends up paying the disaster bill? Mostly households, argue the authors of a UN report. Post-Disaster Needs Assessments from 20 Asia-Pacific countries show that around 40% of disaster impacts fall on social and productive sectors such as housing, health, education and livelihoods. Forecasts now give at least six months’ lead time, but information only helps if families have the means to act on it. The authors set out three priorities for governments: turn forecasts into practical guidance, make home retrofits, insurance and other risk reduction affordable, and strengthen climate-responsive social protection.
Resilience starts at home: Building a safer future in Latin America and the Caribbean
With 81.2% of its population living in cities, Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the world’s most urbanised regions, and rapid, unplanned growth leaves many families building homes in places exposed to hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. The United Nations Development Programme shares three responses. In Havana, disaster risk was built into Old Havana’s housing strategy, alongside affordable designs that preserve heritage and use local materials. After Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica developed master plans for safer land use and trained local builders in resilient construction, while families received psychosocial support and help replacing lost documents. After the June 2026 earthquakes in Venezuela, engineers assessed nearly 1,000 structures to decide when families could safely return home.
Rethinking disaster reconstruction in Nepal: Building back for a changing climate
On 26 August 2026, a glacial lake outburst flood triggered by an avalanche on Mt Langtang Lirung swept through Nepal’s Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river valleys, killing more than 1,400 people. It was the third major flood to hit the region in just over a year. Kshitiz Pokharel asks whether reconstruction should simply restore what was lost or address the changing risks behind it. He argues for three principles: adaptation, with homes and public buildings on raised platforms, flood-resilient bridges and roads, and no-settlement zones near high-risk wetlands; accessibility, so warnings and support reach everyone; and acceptability, consulting communities before plans are finalised. With glaciers melting and extreme events becoming less predictable, past climate records are no longer a reliable guide to future risk.
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