Abstract

This paper examines the critical role of sustainable recovery in strengthening disaster risk resilience through the integration of sustainable development principles into strategic planning and policy frameworks. Sustainable recovery comes as a result of respecting the basic principles of sustainable development when making strategic plans in all areas essential for responding to risk conditions that can lead to disasters. To raise awareness of the importance of sustainability, it is necessary to incorporate this concept into the teaching contents of all educational levels, especially when training personnel for disaster risk prevention and reduction. The aim is to analyze the interconnectedness of sustainability and resilience, focusing on how local knowledge, scientific methods, and strategic planning can mitigate vulnerabilities and enhance community preparedness for disasters. The findings highlight that communities which prioritize sustainable practices and incorporate disaster risk reduction measures into their development strategies demonstrate higher levels of resilience to hazards. Also, the practice has shown that the most resilient communities are those that base their development strategies on respect for local specificities and knowledge of scientific methods derived from previous experiences with numerous risks and their consequences. This study also identifies key factors contributing to vulnerability, emphasizing the importance of education, intersectoral collaboration, and policy reforms in fostering long-term resilience. Vulnerability comes as a result of many factors, the knowledge of which can contribute to raising the level of community resistance to hazards and risks to which the area is exposed. The phenomenon of sustainable development or sustainability as well as sustainable recovery is a major catalyst for change in government policies and legal frameworks, which has dramatically changed the role and behavior of nations. Politics, economy, ecology, geographical characteristics of the area and climatic conditions in combination with personnel potential can be part of the solution, but also the source of the problem. The results underscore the necessity for integrating sustainability principles at all levels of governance to achieve a holistic approach to disaster risk reduction and community resilience. Future research should focus on developing standardized indicators for measuring sustainable recovery and resilience across diverse socio-economic and geographical contexts.