Technical note: Linking Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) - Practical tools, approaches and case studies Format IMPORTANT OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS Recently, the approach to hazardous events has undergone a considerable shift, away from reactive activities focused on managing and responding to events and towards a more proactive process of emergency and disaster risk management (DRM). The ultimate goal of this shift in focus is to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks, a process known as disaster risk reduction (DRR), while strengthening individual, community, societal and global resilience. Hazardous events and emergencies continue to dramatically affect millions of people every year, with natural hazards causing thousands of deaths and US$ 2.6 trillion in total losses between 1994 and 2013 (CRED, 2015). Compounded by the developing global climate and environmental emergency, these damages are likely to increase, with an average of 25 million displaced annually by sudden-onset natural disasters since 2008 (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre/Norwegian Refugee Council, 2016) and predictions of more than 143 million people being forced to move/migrate by 2050 due to climate-related risks in just three regions – Latin America, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (Rigaud et al., 2018). Meanwhile, epidemics were estimated to result in annual losses of approximately US$ 500 billion, 0.6% of annual global income (Fan, Jamison & Summers, 2018), even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and these losses may be exacerbated by continued environmental degradation (Settele, Diaz, Brondizio & Daszak, 2020). Violence and conflict have resulted in further devastation, with a global economic impact of $14.1 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP), equivalent to 11.2% of the world’s gross economic product, in 2018 alone (Institute for Economics & Peace, 2019). Taken together, hazardous events and emergencies of all kinds present a complex and multifaceted set of challenges that require unique solutions to address their effects. Recently, the approach to hazardous events has undergone a considerable shift, away from reactive activities focused on managing and responding to events and towards a more proactive process of emergency and