Ahead of the Disaster: Turning Prediction into Protection and Prevention

Event Date: 27th January 2026
Location: Online, 17:00 GMT

Satellites, supercomputers, and data are available today to predict climate disasters better than ever before. Yet across the globe, extreme heat, floods, and storms continue to catch communities off guard, often hitting the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest. If these disasters can be seen coming, why is there still a struggle to stop the damage?

The problem is not just the physics of the atmosphere—it is the last mile of policy and human response. For an early warning system to be effective and help save lives, a scientific forecast must be transformed into a political decision, a clear message, and a localized, concrete plan of action.

Join Perry World House, the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, and Center for East Asian Studies, for a discussion on how to bridge the gap between high-level climate modeling and practical disaster risk management. Experts will explore how to turn “big data” into “big action” to strengthen global resilience and protect communities.

The event will feature Mami Mizutori, Perry World House Distinguished Fellow, Japan Foundation Visiting Fellow at the Center for East Asian Studies, Specially Appointed Professor at Tohoku University, and former Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. It will be moderated by Dr. Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media.