The DKKV is…
German Committee for Disaster Reduction e.V. (ger.: Deutsches Komitee Katastrophenvorsorge e.V.)
Newsblog
The nominees for the Helping Hand Award 2024 have been announced
The ‘Helping Hand’ award is Germany's most important honour for voluntary work in civil protection and is presented annually by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland (BMI). It recognises the work of over 1.7 million volunteers in various categories such as...
Berlin Peace Dialogue 2024
The annual conference of the Federal Government's Advisory Council for Civilian Crisis Prevention and Peacebuilding is dedicated to the role of civilian crisis prevention in a world characterised by power rivalries and military deployment. The conference will shed...
Recommendations from the Climate Adaptation Dialogue
The German government is currently developing the German Adaptation Strategy from 2008 into a new, precautionary climate change adaptation strategy. This is intended to set out long-term concepts or behaviors and the measures required to implement them. In autumn...
New publication: Culture, psyche and disaster
This commemorative publication honors the multifaceted life's work of Bernd Rieken, who habilitated in European ethnology at the University of Vienna and headed the first doctoral program in psychotherapy science at the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna from...
Follow us
What is disaster risk reduction?
Storms, natural hazards and extreme events can quickly become a danger to people and the environment. But climate change, extreme urbanization, power outages and fires also offer potential hazards.
A disaster occurs when the functioning of a community or society is impaired or interrupted and, as a result, high human, material, economic and ecological losses occur that cannot be managed alone.
Precautionary measures can help to reduce the consequences and impact of the disaster. Depending on the hazard and personal circumstances, the precautionary measures to be taken may vary.
Find out more about potential hazards and individual precautionary measures on our topic pages.