Paper details
| Paper authors | Molly Gilmour, Pete McGowran, Joel Gill, Faith Taylor, Ajimba Dennis, Barasa Andrew Wamaya, Mark Ojal, Charity Chelangat |
| In panel on | Reimagining Humanitarian Response in the Face of Compounding Global Risks |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
In the face of rising climate volatility and compounding crises, many risk assessments still treat hazards as isolated phenomena. This assumption of independence misrepresents lived realities in multi-hazard contexts and can distort risk management priorities, inadvertently increasing vulnerability. The Sendai Framework calls for localised, multi-hazard approaches to preparedness and recovery —recognizing the interconnected nature of risks and the need for integrated, context-sensitive responses.
This paper shares insights on two low-income urban settlements in Nakuru, Kenya, where communities must navigate a range of hazards (including climate related hazards) and their health consequences, including contaminated rising lake levels, flash floods, subsidence and drought. Our team of geoscientists, social scientists, Nakuru City Council and civil society organizations co-developed innovative preparedness tools with households that reflect these societal, geological, biological and environmental compounding risks. Qualitative data generation took place in May 2025, which included storyboards, hazard card games and transect walks with households, alongside semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops with practitioners and policy makers. This data, combined with an analysis of literature, also supported a locally-specific characterization of hazards and their interrelationships. This can be used to identify multi-hazard scenarios, and support multi-hazard household preparedness.
By embracing an interdisciplinary multi-hazard lens, our work enabled households to identify and prioritize the risks they identified as intensifying their health vulnerabilities. This approach surfaces synergies and trade-offs in disaster preparedness strategies: actions that may reduce vulnerability to one hazard can, without care, increase vulnerability to another. Methodologically, this creative and participatory approach at a household level allowed us to center their capacities, creating a coherent localised multi-hazard strategy that can avoid the confusion and ‘risk fatigue’ of conflicting single-hazard guidance, and supports more sustainable, agile, integrated practices. This meaningful collaboration offers a pathway to more sustainable, localized solutions than institution-centered models often permit, critical for advancing equity and effectiveness in disaster preparedness.
