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Effective risk communication starts well before a disaster strikes, with institutions ready to respond in a collective and coordinated manner, understanding the communities they serve.
These concerns were at the heart of the first global UN event dedicated to risk communication, From Knowledge to Action: Communication for a Safer World, held in Geneva on 14 October 2026. It represented a milestone for the field and reflected the joint leadership of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), UNESCO and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in advancing communication as an essential part of disaster preparedness, response and risk reduction.
Hosted at the IFRC Headquarters, the event marked the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Held under the theme, Resilience Starts at Home, it gathered disaster management authorities, disaster risk reduction practitioners, media professionals and regulators, broadcasting unions, humanitarian actors and researchers.
Understanding the barriers to action
The day opened with findings from the World Risk Poll 2026, offering a global perspective on risk perceptions and preparedness. Discussions examined the gap between making information available and ensuring that people can use it. In her opening video message, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Mariya Gabriel, highlighted this distinction:
Counting how many people received a warning tells us about its reach. It does not tell us whether people understood the risk, trusted the source, or had the information they needed to act.
A message may arrive in an unfamiliar language, through an inaccessible channel or from a source its audience does not trust. Unanswered questions leave a vacuum for rumours, and harmful information can deepen uncertainty, while damaged telecommunications networks and disrupted newsrooms can interrupt essential services.
Speakers stressed that mis- and disinformation should be assessed by the harm they cause. Understanding how people access, share and interpret information should, therefore, be incorporated into risk assessments and preparedness planning.
Trust is another crucial factor in effective risk communication. Information systems depend on public trust in the institutions, which. cannot be improvised during a crisis, but should be  built through consistent, transparent engagement and visible responses to people’s concerns. The IFRC’s Community Trust Index  highlights the importance of understanding trust as a multidimensional and measurable factor.
Preparing together before a crisis
Institutions cannot build or sustain a resilient information ecosystem in silo. Clear responsibilities, dedicated resources, and established collaboration between public authorities, scientists, media, telecommunications providers and communities are essential. These relationships, backed by communication strategies, provide a foundation for coordinated action when an emergency unfolds.
The place of the media in this collaboration remains insufficiently recognized. Too often, the media are still treated as a megaphone called only when there is an emergency. Yet their contribution extends beyond relaying warnings: they can help people navigate uncertainty and inform policymakers and humanitarian agencies about communities’ needs and concerns. As the media can hold institutions accountable, they should be included in formal frameworks and procedures, such as national risk assessments and simulation exercises.
Mohamed Boudouri, Vice-President of the Comoros National Council for the Press and Audiovisual Media, shared his experience of developing a national communication plan on disaster risk management, guided by UNESCO’s Model Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan for Media Institutions.
Effective preparedness also requires operational and financial support. Sonia Gill, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, underscored the institutional vulnerabilities and economic pressures threatening media viability, particularly for local media. Keeping newsrooms financially independent and sustainable reserves communities’ access to reliable information before and during emergencies.
Making information meaningful and accessible
The event also explored how local knowledge, language, community participation and accessible formats can make risk information more relevant. Games, music and storytelling or other culturally rooted approaches can make risks tangible, engage people emotionally and foster dialogue, especially when developed with communities. A tsunami awareness campaign in Timor-Leste illustrated this approach, where local musicians brought preparedness messages into schools, alongside learning activities on warning signs and protective actions.
Community media extend this work through familiar voices and local languages, sharing life-saving information, including with people in remote areas or with limited connectivity. Deepak Acharya, a Manager at Nepal’s Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, illustrated how close ties with communities and programming that reflects their linguistic diversity make these media outlets trusted sources of information when it comes to climate and disaster risks.
Across the day, one message stood out: risk communication is a core function of disaster risk management, not an add-on once an emergency strikes. It needs, therefore, sustained institutional commitment, message testing and evaluation of whether information is understood, trusted and acted upon. The event brought this agenda to the global stage and made the case for placing communication at the heart of a safer world.
