One of the most important goals of ThinkHazard! is to help users manage disaster risk in their projects, not only to identify the hazard level. This guidance takes the form of:
recommendations on how to address the risk from each hazard;
links to further resources, such as other data sources, reports on risk management options, or risk analyses relevant to that hazard and/or location; and
Contacts information of organizations working on the hazard in that country.
Risk management recommendations¶
ThinkHazard! displays hazard level for selected locations, not risk level (it does not estimate risk based on exposure and vulnerability to hazard). However, to maximize utility for user, technical recommendations are provided describing actions to be taken to manage risk to the project, based upon the classified hazard level. The recommendations have been developed by external experts in each hazard, consulted for this project. The recommendations are project agnostic (not specific to any project type or sector such as education, agriculture, or sanitation).
Recommendations comprise a short summary statement, which is shown on the user interface, and a more detailed description of risk management actions, which is accessed by clicking on the ‘more information’ link at the end of each summary statement. The recommendations have been developed to provide guidance in non-technical language, and to provide practical actions specific to each hazard. A recommendation may be repeated for more than one hazard category, but higher hazard categories generally have a greater number of recommendations, comprising a greater number of, or the more serious, actions required to manage the highest level of hazard. Each technical recommendation comprises a short summary, which is presented on the user interface, and a more detailed section that can be accessed by clicking the hyperlinked short title. The technical recommendations cover subjects such as seeking professional guidance, considering early warning systems, or not increasing the hazard through the actions of the project. Please see the user interface for examples.
Further resources¶
The user interface includes a section providing further resources to the user. This comprises links to documents, analytical tools and websites that provide information relevant to the hazard and selected location. The resources may provide information on previous projects in the area, general advice on managing risk to a hazard, or provide a link to relevant agencies and tools for further analysis. All resources are stored on the same GeoNode as hazard data layers, and imported to ThinkHazard! for display. The resources are filtered by hazard and location, according to their metadata, and are displayed in chronological order in the user interface. A user downloads or accesses a link via the GeoNode record for that document.
Contact Information¶
Contact information has been compiled for every country and hazard included in ThinkHazard!. This comprises organization name, website URL, telephone and email address, for up to three organizations per hazard and country. This list was last compiled in early 2017. It will be periodically reviewed and updated as new versions of ThinkHazard! are developed.