Nominations open for Averted Disaster Award

The Averted Disaster Award aims to recognize successful interventions implemented worldwide that help ensure society continues to function, thrive, and recover quickly in the face of disaster.

Interventions take many forms. The most obvious interventions are structural in nature, such as sea-walls or reinforced bridges. Certain activities, such as controlled forest burns, count as interventions too, since they reduce future wildfire risk. Financial products that manage disaster risk, such as flood insurance schemes, count as interventions as well. Interventions can also occur at the individual or community scale, where, for example, placing sandbags to protect critical locations such as grocery stores or hospitals can ensure that the community as a whole can recover more quickly from flash floods. It is important to keep in mind that interventions are proactive and not reactive: interventions are generally pre-meditated and implemented before the disaster occurs.

The Averted Disaster Award is an initiative of the Understanding Risk community and is supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

The winning submission will receive travel, accommodations and complimentary ticket for one person to attend the Understanding Risk 2024 in Tokyo Japan where the winning intervention will be featured as part of a session during the event.

The winning nomination will also be featured during a session at the Understanding Risk forum, spotlighted in the Understanding Risk Community newsletter that reaches 13,000 members and included on the Averted Disaster Award website.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any individual, project team, or organization interested in recognizing a successful disaster mitigation intervention can submit a nomination for a particular intervention, irrespective of whether they have a personal connection to the intervention.

Criteria

• Judges will assess each application against the following criteria:
  • Level of Impact of the Disaster Averted
  • Quality of Evidence Based Results
  • Potential to Replicate Adapt and Scale
  • Levels of Inclusivity, Equity and Focus on the Most Vulnerable
  • Narrative Clarity and Contribution to Understanding Risk and Risk Mitigation

What Judges are looking for?

• The Averted Disaster Award will be decided by a panel of judges selected by leaders of the Understanding Risk community. The panel will consist of thought leaders and practitioners in disaster risk management from a broad range of backgrounds. The panel will consider all case summaries submitted by the deadline, and choose the one that makes the best case for an effective disaster mitigation intervention.

For more information, visit Averted Disaster Award.