Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Information Platform

Lesson 1 introduces the issue of compound and cascading disaster risks. The lesson covers key concepts to understand such risks: hazards, vulnerability, and exposure. These concepts explain when hazards turn into severe disasters, which informs us on how we should prepare for them and build resilience. To understand compound and cascading disasters concretely, the lesson features an actual example. The 2020 flooding in Kumamoto, Japan which happened during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lastly, the lesson teaches key characteristics of the compound and cascading risks with the concept of “impact chains”. After taking this lesson, you will gain a more specific understanding of the complexity and difficulty involved in the management of compound and cascading disaster risks.