Building Resilience Through Collaboration: Insights and Strategies from the CORE Project for Disaster Risk Reduction

An effective Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategy relies on collaboration among scientists, policymakers, and practitioners to mitigate risks and enhance societal resilience. Shaping and fostering informed decisions is a pivotal responsibility shared by these groups. Insights from past disasters must be documented and shared transparently, using clear and inclusive language to ensure accessibility. This approach not only identifies challenges policymakers may face in implementation but also addresses barriers from end-users, such as citizens, by promoting understanding and engagement.

The H2020 CORE EU project exemplified this collaborative ethos by developing comprehensive public guidance to enhance community readiness for emergencies. Spanning both pre-event preparedness and post-event recovery, CORE aimed to build a chain of trust, credibility, and engagement among citizens and stakeholders, providing actionable recommendations for policymakers and society.

CORE’s methodology was rooted in a transdisciplinary approach, synthesizing case studies from Europe and beyond, including the L’Aquila earthquake (Italy, 2009), the Manchester Arena bombing (UK, 2017), the Venkatapuram industrial accident (India, 2020), Aude region flash flooding (France, 2018), the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami (Japan, 2011), the Jerusalem wildfire (Israel, 2021), and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023). By analyzing these events, CORE identified best practices, enabling scalable and adaptable resilience strategies across diverse contexts.

Key to CORE’s success is bridging the gap between research and practice. Stakeholder workshops, such as those held in Brussels and Rome, highlighted the importance of collaborative knowledge transfer. The project also fostered long-term relationships between scientists, policymakers, and practitioners, ensuring sustained engagement and continuity despite personnel changes.

By uniting scientific rigor, policy relevance, and community involvement, the CORE project provided a robust framework for DRR. Its outputs, including practical tools and policy guidelines, empower communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. CORE demonstrated that effective DRR hinges on a seamless collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and practitioners, ensuring that disaster management is not only reactive but also anticipatory and inclusive. This integrated approach builds trust, fosters resilience, and equips societies to navigate future crises with confidence and cohesion.

 

This work has been supported by the CORE ("sCience and human factor for Resilient sociEty") project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101021746.