By Yiyue Wu
A flood is approaching, and authorities have issued an evacuation warning. Residents have received alerts on their phones and know where the nearest shelters are. Yet some people remain in areas at risk.
Why doesn’t a warning always lead to a timely evacuation?
We tend to think of disaster warnings as a matter of getting information to people: once they know danger is coming, they can take action. But between receiving a warning and reaching safety, two barriers are often overlooked: whether someone has the freedom to make their own decisions, and whether they have the means to act on them.
Knowing the Danger Doesn’t Always Mean Having a Say
When disaster strikes, the decision to evacuate often involves the whole family.
Family members may need to agree on when to leave, what to take and how to care for children or older relatives. Who controls the household finances, and whose opinions carry the most weight, can influence the final decision.
Agency refers to people’s ability to make choices and act on them. This ability is shaped by the social relationships they live within (Emirbayer and Mische, 1998).
For example, someone who depends financially on other family members may want to leave early but still need their agreement or support.
A warning may reach everyone, but that does not mean everyone has an equal say in what happens next.
Making the Decision Doesn’t Mean Being Able to Leave
Even after someone has decided to evacuate, practical barriers may stand in their way.
A person caring alone for a family member with limited mobility may be unable to use ordinary public transport. A household without a car, and unable to afford alternative transport, may struggle to reach a shelter in time, even if they know the evacuation route.
These difficulties are tied to transport, income, health and caring responsibilities. They exist long before a disaster, but in an emergency, they can determine whether someone is able to reach safety.
This helps explain why the same warning can have very different outcomes for different households. A warning provides information. Evacuation requires the ability to act.
Turning Warnings into Real Protection
Preventing avoidable deaths means looking beyond whether warnings are issued in time. We also need to consider whether people can actually use that information to protect themselves.
Communities can identify residents who may need help evacuating, arrange suitable transport for people with limited mobility, and make sure shelters can meet the needs of older people, children and carers.
When planning evacuations, public authorities also need to understand the difficulties faced by different members of a household, rather than treating the family as a single unit in which everyone shares the same resources and decisions.
This is how warning systems can go beyond telling people that danger is coming and help them get out of harm’s way.
Making Resilience Start at Home
The theme of the 2026 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is Resilience Starts at Home(UNDRR, 2026).
A resilient household is not simply one that receives warnings in advance. Its members also need a say in the decisions that affect them, along with the resources and support to act.
The success of a warning should not be measured only by how many people receive it, but also by whether those people have a real chance to reach safety.
References
Emirbayer, M. and Mische, A. (1998) ‘What is agency?’, American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), pp. 962–1023. https://doi.org/10.1086/231294
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) (2026) Concept note: International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2026: Resilience Starts at Home. Available at: https://iddrr.undrr.org/publication/documents-and-publications/concept-note-international-day-disaster-risk-reduction-2026