Own Projects

CESARE - National Damage and Event Database for Austria

CESARE aims to create a unified National Damage and Event Database for Austria that meets the requirements of the United Nations, the European Union, and national requirements for managing the impacts of disasters. The goals of CESARE include: - Establishing a standardized and harmonized damage and event database for Austria - Integrating various natural hazards - Integrating various data sources - Creating a unified basis for reporting, risk assessment, and benefit analysis For further information, please go to the project’s website.

Austrian Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework

A resolution of the United Nations General Assembly called for a midterm review of the Sendai Framework. This should help to identify progress, best practices, gaps and challenges and to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework by 2030 (see also UNDRR).

In Austria, the voluntary midterm review was carried out by the ASDR platform. The report shows the current status of disaster risk management in Austria as well as developments that have taken place since the implementation of the Sendai Framework. In addition, highlights are presented, gaps are identified, best practice examples are presented, and challenges and ideas for improvements are discussed. The report is intended to support the dialogue between different stakeholders and promote the process of strengthening disaster risk reduction.

The results of the midterm review served as a basis for discussion for a session of the UN General Assembly on 18 and 19 May 2023 in New York. Building on this, a political declaration was adopted that reaffirmed the commitment of UN Member States to reducing disaster risk and advancing the Sendai Goals (see also here).

Natural Hazards Conference

The Natural Hazards Conference has been held annually since 2021. Our goal is to bring an opportunity for knowledge exchange to the affected regions of Austria and to promote networking between the relevant actors and decision-makers and with experts, emergency organizations and infrastructure and utility companies. In addition, based on the experience of previous events, the motto “municipalities learn from municipalities” lies at the heart of the convention. GeoSphere Austria is the national focal point of the ASDR platform and is primarily responsible for organizing the Natural Hazards Conference. Since natural hazards usually occur very locally, in 2021 we decided to go exclusively to the regions of Austria with the Natural Hazards Conference format in order to reach as many local and regional decision-makers and practitioners as possible. Preparation for and knowledge of possible hazards are key in an emergency!

different actors such as firefighters and private individuals are shown how they communicate with each other in the event of a crisis

Tasks in natural hazard management on site (source: URAT19).