Building Resilience: IMPACT’s Efforts in Disaster Risk Reduction in Moldova

As the 13th?of October marks the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR), and in a year that has seen significant damage and loss of life due to natural and climate-related disasters globally, IMPACT reaffirms its commitment to informing disaster risks and resilience building activities for crisis-affected?and other vulnerable communities around the world, in the spirit of the IDDRR 2024 slogan, ‘Are you Ready?’.?

In recent years, IMPACT Initiatives has stepped up its work to inform disaster resilience in fragile and crisis affected contexts where humanitarian action plays a key role – alongside local actors – to address risks and respond to shocks. The lack of local-level information on climatic, environmental and anthropogenic hazards and vulnerabilities commonly prevents adequate contingency planning by authorities and humanitarian responses from adapting to the realities of increasingly intense and frequent disasters.??

This is no exception in the Republic of Moldova, where IMPACT has been leading the way on multi-hazard research to inform sub-national disaster preparedness planning. This country - recognised as being particularly prone to natural and anthropogenic hazards - has been hosting over 125,000 refugees from Ukraine nearly 3 years on, and local governments in charge of service delivery and land use planning lacked a framework and evidence to shape much-needed resilience plans.?

IMPACT’s Area-based socio-economic vulnerability and disaster risk assessments for Anenii Noi Raion (2023) directly contributed to the recent development of the local council’s DRR Strategy and support to the local agriculture sector. Success in this pilot phase has led to similar research by the IMPACT team, and implementation by our partner ACTED, through our shared AGORA Initiative ongoing in Causeni and Criuleni raions. Meanwhile, deepening engagement with national authorities, including the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, and stronger partnerships with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and other actors present in Moldova, ensure that our methodologies are well aligned with national and European Union standards to improve their applicability to national level planning.?

As environment and climatic risks will trigger and aggravate more humanitarian needs in future years, IMPACT recognizes the strategic importance of informing preparedness planning and will continue contributing to strengthening the resilience of local communities and locally-led response systems, inspired by the pioneering work conducted in Moldova.?

#AreYouReady24 #DRRday #RiskManagement #DRR?