Climate Conscious Cities: Urban-Act Webinar Series – Multi Hazard Early Warning System for Urban Resilience

On 27 August 2026 at 14:00 Bangkok time, Climate Conscious Cities: Urban-Act Webinar Series will host its seventh webinar of 2026: under the theme “Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Urban Resilience”. 

Cities across the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly at the forefront of climate-related disasters, experiencing more frequent and intense floods, heatwaves, storms, and other extreme events that threaten lives, infrastructure, and economic activity. While many countries have made notable progress towards achieving SDG Target 11.b by adopting national and local disaster risk reduction and resilience strategies aligned with the Sendai Framework, disaster-related losses at the urban level continue to rise. Critical infrastructure, housing, transport networks, and essential urban services are sustaining increasing damage, reflecting persistent gaps between policy commitments and effective risk reduction on the ground. This growing disconnect underscores the urgent need to strengthen city-level preparedness through integrated, multi-hazard early warning systems that not only provide timely risk information but also support proactive planning, coordinated response, and long-term urban resilience in the face of escalating climate risks.

In densely populated cities, the interconnected nature of urban systems can amplify the consequences of a single hazard. Disruptions to electricity, water supply, transport, health services, and communications can trigger cascading impacts across communities and local economies. These impacts are often felt most acutely by people living in informal or underserved settlements and by groups with limited access to reliable information, safe shelter, essential services, and emergency support.

Effective early warning systems extend beyond hazard detection and forecasting. They require a people-centred, end-to-end approach that brings together risk knowledge, monitoring and prediction, warning dissemination and communication, and preparedness for early action. To support effective decision-making, warnings must be timely, understandable, accessible, and tailored to local conditions, enabling authorities, service providers, communities, and individuals to act before hazards escalate into disasters.

Advances in geospatial technologies, satellite observations, real-time data platforms , and impact-based forecasting are creating new opportunities to improve the accuracy, reach, and accessibility of early warnings. However, many cities continue to face fragmented institutional responsibilities, limited access to localized risk data, gaps in last-mile communication, and insufficient capacity to connect warnings with clearly defined actions. Overcoming these barriers requires stronger coordination among national and local governments, meteorological and emergency management agencies, infrastructure providers, researchers, civil society organizations, and communities. Early warning systems should therefore be embedded within broader urban governance and development processes, including land-use planning, public health, infrastructure management, social protection, and local disaster preparedness. Linking early warning with anticipatory action can help cities move beyond reactive emergency response towards proactive risk reduction, while improving the continuity of essential services and strengthening resilience among communities most at risk.

This webinar will explore how cities can develop inclusive, multi-hazard and people-centred early warning systems to strengthen urban resilience. Experts and practitioners will share experiences related to risk assessment, forecasting technologies, institutional coordination, warning communication, anticipatory action, and community preparedness. The session will also showcase practical approaches through which cities are translating early warning information into coordinated action and longer-term resilience plans.

Join us as we bring together policymakers, city leaders, technical experts, researchers and development partners to discuss how effective early warning systems can contribute to safer, better-prepared, and more climate-resilient cities across Asia and the Pacific.