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The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Terminology aims to promote common understanding and common usage of disaster risk reduction concepts and to assist the disaster risk reduction efforts of authorities, practitioners and the public. The previous version “Terminology: Basic terms of disaster risk reduction” was published in “Living with risk: a global review of disaster risk reduction initiatives” in 2004. The following year, the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 requested the UNISDR to “update and widely disseminate international standard terminology related to disaster risk reduction, at least in all official United Nations languages, for use in programme and institutions development, operations, research, training curricula and public information programmes”.

The 2009 version is the result of a process of ongoing review by the UNISDR and consultations with a broad range of experts and practitioners in various international venues, regional discussions and national settings. The terms are now defined by a single sentence. The comments paragraph associated with each term is not part of the definition, but is provided to give additional context, qualification and explanation. It should be noted that the terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and in some cases may have overlapping meanings.

The Terminology has been revised to include words that are central to the contemporary understanding and evolving practice of disaster risk reduction but exclude words that have a common dictionary usage. Also included are a number of emerging new concepts that are not in widespread use but are of growing professional relevance; these terms are marked with a star (*) and their definition may evolve in future.

See all UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction including Japanese and Korean