Frontline: from local information to local resilience
This publication summarises the key learning from our Views from the Frontline 2015 programme, including five key findings derived directly from surveys with communities most at risk of disasters in 22 countries.
Views from the Frontline is now the largest independent global review of disaster risk conducted entirely at the local level.
In 2015 we developed our research to thoroughly analyse all aspects of disaster risk. We asked community members about the threats they face, the consequences of those threats, actions that should be taken at the local level, and what they perceived to be the barriers to action. In particular we focused on everyday disasters and local resilience.
Local impact is a critical measure of progress in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. A vital component of assessing this is local knowledge of the many threats that affect communities. Our analysis found that communities are concerned about the impact of a whole range of threats, rather than a single threat, such as flooding. Action must consider multiple threats and take integrated action to respond to them, rather than focusing on them separately.
We also found that small-scale, recurring threats are often of most concern to community members. Many of the community participants decided to develop action plans to address smaller recurring threats – prioritising them over high impact but low frequency events.
The 2015 iteration of our flagship Views from the Frontline project was abbreviated to simply Frontline.
Our Views from the Frontline 2015 report is available in three languages: