APELL handbook: a process for improving community awareness and preparedness for technological hazards and environmental emergencies

Number of pages: 108 p. Second edition, 2015:

The updated second edition of the Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level (APELL) handbook builds on the original publication of 1988, drawing on nearly three decades of experience in supporting resilient communities in more than 30 countries. The document provides the basic concepts for initiating and organizing the APELL Process with the aim of helping countries minimize the health, environmental and economic costs of disasters through building preparedness and community awareness of the risks.

It offers guidance on involving emergency preparedness participants, identifying and understanding risks, improving awareness and developing preparedness plans. The concepts and tools suggested are flexible, and their implementation should be adapted to specific local conditions and requirements. The revised handbook is illustrated with examples of best practices from countries that have successfully implemented the approach.

This second edition of the APELL Handbook offers guidance to community leaders and members, industry and local authorities that wish to to engage in a participatory disaster risk reduction process and to improve a community’s level of hazard awareness and emergency preparedness.