Disaster risk management (DRM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing, and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the consequences of disasters. Disaster risk management is the application of disaster risk reduction policies and strategies to prevent new disaster risk, reduce existing disaster risk, and manage residual risks, contributing to the strengthening of resilience and reduction of losses. The following are the key activities involved in disaster risk management:

• Prospective disaster risk management: This involves addressing and seeking to avoid the development of new or increased disaster risks. Examples include better land-use planning or disaster-resistant water supply systems.

• Corrective disaster risk management: This involves addressing and seeking to remove or reduce disaster risks that are already present and need to be managed and reduced now. Examples include the retrofitting of critical infrastructure or the relocation of exposed populations or assets.

• Compensatory disaster risk management: This involves managing residual risk, also called residual risk management. It includes actions to compensate for the losses that cannot be avoided or reduced by prospective or corrective disaster risk management.

• Community-based disaster risk management: This promotes the involvement of potentially affected communities in disaster risk management at the local level. It includes community assessments of hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities, and their involvement in planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of local action for disaster risk reduction.

Disaster risk reduction is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development. Disaster risk reduction strategies and policies define goals and objectives across different timescales and with concrete targets, indicators, and time frames. Disaster risk management is the policy objective of disaster risk reduction, and its goals and objectives are defined in disaster risk reduction strategies and plans.