Disasters & Emergency Preparedness: A Practical Resource Guide

This new guide brings together knowledge and resources from across the Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) to provide agencies with practical resources on how to deliver preparedness effectively in ten areas.

Natural disasters took the lives of 606,000 people and caused injuries to 4.1 billion people between 1995- 2015. Yet, we spend less than two per cent of the global aid budget on disaster prevention and preparedness, far short of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) target of ten per cent. Better preparation and prevention of disasters could substantially reduce the impact of natural disasters and conflict.  

This new guide brings together knowledge and resources from across the Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) to provide agencies with practical resources on how to deliver preparedness effectively in ten areas.

  1. Early warning systems
  2. Inclusion
  3. Protection
  4. Organisational capacity development
  5. Individual capacity development
  6. Localisation
  7. Collaboration
  8. Surge
  9. Resilience
  10. Communicating with communities

The Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) programme aimed to improve the knowledge and understanding of national staff of civil society organisations and their counterparts so they could be better prepared for emergencies and better able to deliver an effective response when disasters strikes, as well as strengthen organisational preparedness capacity and the institutional and policy environments related to preparedness. It also developed and strengthened early warning systems, created and supported collaborative networks, and facilitated locally led humanitarian responses to crises.

The programme has taken practical steps forward in the spirit of some of the Grand Bargain commitments. These include increasing flexible funding available to local and national responders; the participation revolution; and strengthening engagement between humanitarian and development actors.

The Start Network’s Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) was a multi-year UK Aid funded programme of 14 projects across 10 countries. DEPP used the collective knowledge and expertise of the Start Network and the CDAC Network to deliver its interventions.