Resilience starts at home: Connecting science, technology and communities through early warning systems

Time

9:00 - 10:00 CET

About

Organized by the Sendai Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM) Science and Technology Constituency, this webinar will explore how science, technology and innovation can strengthen people-centred, end-to-end, multi-hazard early warning systems, ensuring that scientific advances translate into practical, inclusive and timely action to protect lives, livelihoods and essential services.

The webinar will align with the 2026 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) theme, “Resilience Starts at Home,” the International Tsunami Awareness Day theme, “Be Tsunami Ready: Resilience Starts with You,” and the Early Warnings for All initiative, which aims to ensure that everyone on Earth is protected by early warning systems by 2027. Together, these frameworks reinforce the importance of placing people and communities at the centre of disaster risk reduction and ensuring that early warnings lead to meaningful preparedness and anticipatory action.

Recognizing that resilience begins with individuals, households and communities, the webinar will examine how scientific knowledge, technological innovation, local and Indigenous knowledge, and community engagement can be brought together to strengthen risk awareness, preparedness and response capacities, particularly among populations most at risk. It will highlight the importance of bridging the gap between scientific and technological capabilities and their practical application at the local level, ensuring that early warnings are not only accurate and timely but also accessible, trusted, understood and acted upon.

Discussions will address the entire early warning value chain, encompassing disaster risk knowledge; hazard detection, monitoring, analysis and forecasting; warning dissemination and communication; and preparedness and response capabilities. Particular emphasis will be placed on how advances in science, technology and innovation can support participatory risk assessments and mapping, citizen science, locally led preparedness planning, risk education and simulation exercises, while strengthening the capacity of households and communities to take informed and timely action.

The webinar will also explore how early warning systems can be designed and implemented in ways that are inclusive, context-specific and responsive to diverse needs. This includes integrating local and Indigenous knowledge, communicating risk information through clear, accessible and locally relevant messages, and ensuring the meaningful participation of women, children and young people, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants and other groups at heightened risk of being left behind.

Finally, the discussion will consider the enabling governance frameworks, institutional capacities, data-sharing arrangements, sustainable investments and cross-sector partnerships needed to connect scientific and technological advances with community-level preparedness and action. By bringing together scientific expertise, technological innovation and locally led approaches, the webinar will highlight opportunities to strengthen inclusive, sustainable and effective early warning systems that translate warnings into action and build resilience where it matters most: at home and within communities.

Session Objectives 

1. Explore the role of science, technology and innovation in strengthening people-centred early warning systems, with a focus on translating scientific knowledge and technological advances into accessible, locally relevant and actionable preparedness measures at household and community levels.
2. Examine emerging technologies and innovative approaches across the end-to-end early warning value chain, including artificial intelligence (AI), digital technologies, advanced monitoring and forecasting tools, citizen science, and the integration of local and Indigenous knowledge to strengthen multi-hazard risk understanding, warning communication and early action.
3. Promote inclusive and equitable early warning systems through community engagement and participatory governance, addressing inequalities in access to risk information and warning services, and ensuring the meaningful participation of women, children and young people, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants and other at-risk groups in early warning and preparedness processes.
4. Identify actionable pathways for connecting scientific and technological innovation with locally led preparedness and response, including through strengthened institutional capacities, data-sharing arrangements, cross-sector partnerships and sustainable investments, to ensure that early warnings are trusted, understood and translated into timely action that protects lives, livelihoods and essential services.

Session format

The session will feature interventions from:

• Andrew Spezowka, Portfolio Manager, Early Warnings for All, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
• Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga, Loughborough University (UK)
• Professor Rajib Shaw, Keio University (Japan)
• Dr Anuradha Senanayake, University of Colombo (Sri Lanka)

Following the speakers’ interventions, participants will be invited to share reflections and pose questions during an interactive discussion. The session will be moderated by Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga