“Preparedness. Out of conviction.” – Motto for a strategic paper by Austrian Red Cross and offering the frame for a “B-Prepared Event” – hold on special ‘Disaster-Free-Friday’ (literally translated “Katastrophen-Frei-Tag”).

Integrated into the program: B-Prepareds’ key topic on how can gamification and community engagement transform disaster response? The workshop in Vienna brought together experts and participants to engage with new ways of building collective capability for climate-driven crises; furthermore to look ahead for potential and diversity of extreme weather events from now on.

This afternoon centered on three main pillars: Community, Engagement, and Gamified Learning. Entering the preparedness world with a fact-based keynote by GeoSphere Austria’s Bernhard Niedermoser on climate extremes, the session quickly transitioned into hands-on group tasks designed to uncover critical insights – like vulnerabilities, tools, motivation factors and organisational resilience – by also reframeing awareness for how society approaches disaster readiness.