This year the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) campaign will focus on “Early warning and early action for all” and, in particular, on Target G of the Sendai Framework: “Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030”. This special issue of the FLASH NEWS from the Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre shares an overview of the recent research and activities of the European Commission that directly or indirectly contribute to the availability of risk information/assessments and to the delivery of early warnings for everyone.

A discussion, organized under the auspices of the Czech Republic in its capacity as European Union Council President, on best practices in the use of new technology and digitalization in disaster risk reduction to inform relevant policy making at the trans-national, governmental and agency levels, including upcoming EU Council Conclusions on Disaster Risk Reduction.

How many people live in areas affected by a flood event? Or how many settlements will be affected by a cyclone should it follow a given path? Are settlements expanding in exposed areas?

Recent developments from JRC research on flood forecast information, flood impacts, operational services for global hydrological forecasting and monitoring and flood risk management of trans-national river basins.

Monitoring, forecasting, analysing and reporting about droughts in Europe and globally, with high-level indicators highlighting different warning levels for agricultural and ecosystem drought.

From the collaboration between the European Commission and fire specialists from 43 countries, harmonised data in the Pan-European region for coherent strategies to prevent wildfire damages.

Ready-to-print maps and geospatial data within hours or days to support emergency management activities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or on-demand provision of geospatial information for prevention, preparedness, disaster risk reduction or recovery phases.

Linking data and information across systems and disciplines for co-organising the existing knowledge and getting ready for system interoperability and machine learning

Experts in early warning for earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis -including meteo-tsunamis- have come together to focus on possible synergies and best practices for tsunami early warning.

A cross-scale indicator for measuring hazard-independent vulnerability in Europe, based on four dimensions (social, economic, political and environmental), to capture the systemic susceptibility of communities to disasters at different administrative levels over time.

INFORM Climate Change complements INFORM Suite by adding a climate change perspective and insight into the future risk of humanitarian crisis.