ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concepts of disaster preparedness, resilience, prevention as well as some case examples of how preparedness efforts are currently being applied at the individual, household, community and global levels. Disaster preparedness is the term for 'activities taken in advance of a disaster to ensure an effective response to the impact of hazards, including issuing timely and effective early warnings and the temporary evacuation of people and property from threatened locations'. Selecting evacuation and emergency points depends on many factors, such as topology, population size and the availability of resilient infrastructure. Household preparedness is especially critical for remote areas where official external help is limited in crises. Education and training are important strategies to promote preparedness in civil society. Strengthening of infrastructure is one of the most important approaches to reduce disaster risk. Disaster preparedness activities might be organised at the individual, household, community and global levels.
