Increasing public awareness and public participation to reduce vulnerability to hazards. This involves programmes related to formal and non-formal education and should be addressed through public information, education and multidisciplinary professional training. The media, schools and higher education systems, as well as organizations such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent and locally based NGOs around the world, have a crucial role to play.
Fostering better understanding and knowledge of the causes of disastersthrough the transfer and exchange of experiences and by providing greater access to relevant data and information. The issues to be addressed in this context are: the assessment and analysis of gender-specific socio-economic impact of disasters; the construction of databases on disasters; the formulation of suitable coping strategies for different social groups; the introduction of early warning systems; and the promotion of relevant scientific research, which takes into account both indigenous or traditional knowledge and the development and transfer of new knowledge and technologies.
