Consideration of compound drivers and impacts in the disaster risk reduction cycle

Consideration of compound drivers and impacts are often missing from app-
lications within the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) cycle, leading to poorer
understanding of risk and benefits of actions. The need to include compound con-
siderations is known, but lack of guidance is prohibiting practitioners from
including these considerations. This article makes a step toward practitioner guid-
ance by providing examples where consideration of compound drivers, hazards,
and impacts may affect different application domains within disaster risk man-
agement. We discern five DRR categories and provide illustrative examples of
studies that highlight the role of ‘‘compound thinking’’ in early warning, emer-
gency response, infrastructure management, long-term planning, and capacity
building. We conclude with a number of common elements that may contribute
to the development of practical guidelines to develop appropriate applications
for risk management.