From Japan to Rwanda, early warnings are saving lives – but millions remain unprotected

Early warning systems are saving lives across the globe, but for millions of people the warning never arrives, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday, urging the world…

Early warning systems are saving lives across the globe, but for millions of people the warning never arrives, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday, urging the world to protect every person on Earth by the end of 2027. “No one should lose their life simply because a warning came too late – or never came at all,” he told a high-level event on the Early Warnings for All initiative at the COP31 climate conference, which runs until 20 November in Antalya, Türkiye.

His appeal came as a new report from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) showed that 136 countries – 70 per cent of the total – now report having multi-hazard early warning systems, 17 more than in March 2025. Yet major gaps remain in the most vulnerable countries, as a powerful El Niño raises the stakes.

Warnings that worked The report, Global Status of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems 2026, finds that countries with substantial to comprehensive systems record disaster-related mortality 6.1 times lower than those with limited to moderate ones, and 3.2 times fewer people affected. It also shows what that means on the ground. When a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in July 2025, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued its first threat messages within 10 minutes.

Japan evacuated approximately 1.9 million people, while in Ecuador’s Galápagos islands, more than 2,300 people were moved out of high-risk areas hours before waves of about 1.3 metres reached the shore. In Madagascar, an early action plan developed by the Malagasy Red Cross was partially activated before Tropical Cyclone Gezani made landfall in February, with some 600 door-to-door visits reaching 80,000 to 100,000 people with warnings and evacuation support.

And in Rwanda’s Karongi district, a tea farmer and her daughters were warned – through women’s cooperatives, SMS, local radio and loudspeakers – that heavy rain was expected within 48 hours, giving her time to reinforce her terraces, clear water channels and store her dried tea leaves before the downpour. Gaps where risk is greatest Around one in three countries still has no early warning system, Mr. Guterres said, with the widest gaps in least developed countries, small island developing States and countries affected by conflict.