Household preparedness is not ‘hazard agnostic’: a review of key preparedness advice from a mutli-hazard perspective

This presentation introduces a database of household-level preparedness advice prescribed for 19 natural hazards, synthesised from authoritative sources. While preparedness is often assumed to be hazard-agnostic, we demonstrate that although many actions are effective across multiple hazards, some forms of preparedness may increase vulnerability or exposure to other hazards. These actions are termed asynergistic.

The database is structured around 19 broad hazard types (e.g. earthquake, flood) and six overarching preparedness themes relevant at the household scale (e.g. household knowledge of past events, household subsistence). Within these themes, we identify 38 specific preparedness categories, such as structural design and food and water subsistence. Drawing on our recent review of the household preparedness literature, the database adopts a broad and inclusive interpretation of preparedness (e.g. accounting for gendered practices) and is designed to be applicable to majority-world, low-income contexts.

Preparedness actions were compiled from key sources that households commonly consult, including government guidance and International and Regional Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (acknowledging that the review was not exhaustive). This resulted in a database of more than 490 recommended preparedness actions across the 19 hazards (including duplication across hazards).

We find that many actions are shared across multiple hazards and can be considered synergistic (e.g. maintaining a three-day supply of food and water). Many actions are also not mutually exclusive, such as vegetation management and maintaining access to emergency cash, subject to time and resource constraints. However, a subset of actions are asynergistic, whereby preparation for one hazard may increase vulnerability to others, particularly when hazards occur simultaneously or in sequence. For example, sealing windows and doors to protect against gas-based hazards (e.g. volcanic eruptions, wildfires) may impede evacuation during an earthquake. We also identify more subtle tensions in seemingly synergistic actions, such as storing subsistence items upstairs to reduce flood damage, which may increase losses during wind-related hazards.

We argue that this database can support the development of more nuanced, locally tailored preparedness advice when used alongside multi-hazard risk registers. More broadly, this work provides an evidence base that challenges assumptions of hazard-agnostic preparedness and highlights the need to explicitly consider synergies and asynergies in household risk reduction.