INFORM, a global, open-source risk assessment tool has been launched by the European Commission and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, a forum for coordinating humanitarian assistance between UN and non-UN partners, to identify possible humanitarian crises requiring international assistance.
INFORM will provide easily accessible and specific data on the potential risk of humanitarian crises and disasters, enabling governments and international response agencies to act on the basis of actual risk, to define accurate preparedness levels and to monitor risk trends.
The new mechanism includes risk profiles for 191 countries based on a wide range of indicators related to the risk of natural and man-made hazards, vulnerability, aid dependency, economic or gender inequality and ability to respond and mitigate disaster impacts.
Furthermore, in the context of the ten-year international disaster risk reduction plan, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the use of science in disaster risk management has been highlighted as a key element in the discussions leading up to next year’s Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, to be held in Sendai, Japan.
