ThinkHazard! — Delivering natural hazard information for decision making

Many countries are affected by multiple hazards to some extent. Development projects, from construction of schools, hospitals, bridges, or dams, to new agricultural programs are all at risk of being adversely affected by natural hazards in their design lifetime. The design of such projects must consider disaster and climate risks to ensure investment is sustainable and “disaster and climate proofed”. A significant challenge for those who want incorporate climate and disaster risk into projects, is accessing appropriate and understandable information on which risks exist and how to reduce these risks. The result is that too few development projects properly consider the full range of hazards present, and are at high risk of being left unprepared down the line. The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery developed ThinkHazard!, an open-source, simple yet robust, online hazard screening tool providing hazard level at a user's specified location, for eight hazards. This paper describes the structure and development of ThinkHazard!, which is intended to be the first source of information for project managers unfamiliar with all the potential hazards in their project location, acting as a stepping stone or gateway to accessing more detailed information to incorporate disaster risk management in their projects.