Learning from disasters is critical to prevent repetition of mistakes. Whenever we try to learn from a disaster, it helps us understand not just what happened, but what worked, what did not work, and what needs to change.  It creates a cycle of experience and evidence that helps us understand risk and resilience gaps and the actions needed.

Disaster recovery should not restore yesterday’s vulnerability but help reduce the vulnerabilities that existed before the disasters, reduce future risks and create a more resilient future.

As an institution mandated to promote knowledge management, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) organises the Learning from Disasters series every year. In 2025, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure's (CDRI) Learning from Disaster Series examined the 2023 Türkiye earthquake, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Haiti earthquake, and Hurricane Beryl, tracing how each event tested infrastructure resilience and provided lessons for building back better. In 2026, the Learning from Disasters series will turn to the Venezuela Doublet Earthquake (Dialogue 1), the Ditwah Cyclone in Sri Lanka (Dialogue 2), and the Rio Grande do Sul floods in Brazil (Dialogue 3).

Each session will examine how the disaster damaged infrastructure sectors, the cascading impacts, why systems failed, and opportunities for Building Back Better. The sessions will also focus on turning recovery into a chance to redefine resilience, not just rebuild what was lost.

The first dialogue is scheduled for 30 September 2026, unpacking the learnings from Venezuela earthquakes . Stay tuned for more updates on DRI Connect.