After many months of preparation, meetings and planning, Understanding Risk (UR) Asia 2021 finally took place as a hybrid event from 2-3 December at Orchard Hotel. Close to 100 people joined the event in-person with about 1,000 participating online. As was the key objective for UR Asia, many of the riveting and insightful discussions focus on Asia’s context and contribution to disaster risk information and communication.
One key highlight of UR Asia was the launch of the Averted Disasters Award, which is the premier recognition of successful disaster mitigation interventions that go unnoticed precisely because of their success. The award recognises proactive interventions implemented around the world that help ensure that communities continue to function, thrive, and recover quickly in the face of disaster risk. More information and application for the award can be found here.
Although concluded, the legacy of URAsia and the connections made will continue to build upon the existing 13.000-strong community that is Understanding Risk. More forums will be held to further challenge the way we understand, interpret and communicate risk information and IPUR hopes to bring URAsia to the community in the near future.
Understanding Risk (UR) Asia 2021 aimed to create a space for learning and actively promoting the diversity of stakeholders which have been a mainstay at all past UR events. Deep diving into topics surrounding disaster risk management, UR Asia facilitatd non-traditional partnerships and collaboration amongst attendees, showcased the latest innovations in disaster risk assessment and identification, and integrated key ideas into policy and development planning.
The two days of talks, presentations and discussions featured an array of topics, including sessions on communicating risk in the age of misinformation, enhancing resilience of smart cities through cognitive computing, bridging the gap in investment and priorities on adaption and resilience, and celebrating successes in disaster risk aversion. The conference was held from 2-3 December and was be a paid hybrid event, with sessions and tracks available for those who wished to attend in person or virtually.
About Understanding Risk
The Understanding Risk (UR) Community is the pre-eminent platform for collaborating and sharing knowledge in disaster risk management. UR focuses on the creation and use of risk information for decision-making, the foundation of good disaster risk management and reduction. The World Bank and other partners created the UR Community and global forums in 2010 after recognizing that too many siloes were being formed in the field: creators of risk information were not engaging users of risk information, and vis versa.
The Community was born out of a recognised need for the disaster risk assessment and identification field to cross sector and industry boundaries. Since the founding of UR in 2010, the field of disaster risk identification has grown with innovation in identifying, assessing and communicating disaster risk. UR convenes its members every two years at UR Global Forums. Additionally, regions, countries and cities have hosted their own smaller UR events, such as UR Asia 2021. The last UR Global Forum was held virtually in 2020 – the post-event report can be accessed here.
Check out the post-event highlights video and article here.
