Research Scope and objectives
CRISTA is a unique research-to-community action project that integrates scientific research, digital innovation, policy advocacy and community-participatory activities into a singular framework to improve and enhance disaster and climate resilience in vulnerable communities.
CRISTA is a digital platform designed to enhance decision-making capacity of local government authorities to respond to hazard incidents and critical infrastructure damage and disruptions. The system is comprised of web and mobile applications, that integrate socio-economic data, baseline hazard and risk information and ‘community-generated’ incident reports onto a geospatial dashboard, supporting local authorities in ‘near real-time’ monitoring, assessing impacts of hazards and infrastructure disruptions, deploying response measures, identifying hotspots for risk mitigation and providing alerts to the public for anticipatory action.
Donor, Partners and Geographical scope
Initial concepts of the design were developed in 2021, followed by two rounds of prototype development, user testing and pilot implementation in Nepal and Bangladesh in 2022 and 2024, supported by The World Bank, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center and UK AID (formerly FCDO-UK). Following successful pilots and user endorsement, the system has been continuing implementation in Nepal since 2025. In 2026, CRISTA was awarded a ‘Sprint Grant’ by WFP’s Humanitarian Innovation Accelerator 2.0 Program. With the additional funding, the system is being adapted and will be implemented in Lao PDR.
With CRISTA’s modular and scalable design, the system can be adopted and implemented in any geographic area, administrative or hazard contexts to support local communities and governments improve their disaster resilience initiatives.
AIT role and responsibilities
AIT’s Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management Program functions as the principal proprietor and curator of the system, leading research and development, marketing, publicity and impact assessment. Local level field implementation is supported by various partners.
Expected outcomes and impact
Currently, CRISTA is being implemented in four municipalities, with more than 700 registered users. Over the course of the next two years, the project aims to expand its coverage to three countries and reach more than 3000 users across South and Southeast Asia, promoting grassroot level digital innovation and technologies for disaster and climate resilience.
Lessons learned and way forward
CRISTA’s implementation and user endorsement shows the high potential of academic research -community participation in advancing innovative ideas and tools to bridge data and technological gaps and enhance disaster risk reduction capacities of vulnerable communities and local authorities in developing countries in the Asia Pacific.
Project Lead Dr. Indrajit Pal during demonstration of ICT technologies at Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology in Oct 2024.
A CRISTA mobile application user submitting report of a landslide incident in their community in Nepal.
Community volunteer from CRISTA’s partner in Nepal training local community members about the system and its benefits.
Project Manager Mr. Ayush Baskota pitches the CRISTA concept and social impacts to participants and jurors at the HIA 2.0 in Luxembourg.
CRISTA project team members during a field visit to LuangPrabang, Lao PDR to understand local issues, needs and capacities.
Participants of CRISTA Inception Workshop in LuangPrabang, Lao PDR engage in discussions about DRR systems, challenges and CRISTA adoption.
