Disaster Risk Reduction

Poverty and disasters reinforce each other: the poor are more vulnerable to disasters, and disasters often cause increased poverty for families and communities. IAF recognizes this association and realizes that to break this cycle, development programming must address the risks posed by disasters to protect poor communities before and after disasters. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) encompasses all activities that help communities prevent or mitigate disaster hazards, to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen coping capacities to withstand disaster impacts. IAF considers DRR as a strategy that spans humanitarian and development programs. This enables us to design or adjust our activities so that people and communities become safer and more disaster-resilient and safeguards efforts to create and expand sustainable poverty alleviation and development programs.

IAF brings a longer-term view to its humanitarian work, including supporting people [to] be less vulnerable to disasters in the first place. Where appropriate, our programs link emergency relief, recovery, and long-term development, and include measures for disaster preparedness and risk reduction.