Peter Rottach, Chair of the ACT Alliance Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Community of Practice, speaks from the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) taking place in Sendai, Japan (14-18 March 2015). He highlights, on the back of the devastating cyclone that hit Vanuatu on 14 March 2015, the urgency of action needed to help communities build resilience to extreme weather events as the impacts of climate change continue to increase.