Building Resilience at Home: How ASSIST’s Master of Disaster Game Solves the Household Preparedness Gap for IDDRR 2026

 

To mark IDDRR 2026, ASSIST is bringing the UN theme, "Resilience Starts at Home," straight to communities. By gamifying disaster prep with its Master of Disaster board game, ASSIST helps parents and kids build actionable safety routines together.

To mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2026, Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) is bringing the United Nations’ theme, "Resilience Starts at Home" straight to local communities. Moving beyond top-down emergency response, ASSIST brings parents and children together to build practical home safety plans.

While the Philippines ranks #1 on the WorldRiskIndex 2025, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative studies show that while 58% of households discuss emergency planning, only 20% maintain an actionable disaster plan. Without a practiced routine, families are prone to act out of panic and make poor decisions in times of emergencies.

To help build those critical routines, ASSIST created Master of Disaster (MOD). Replacing dense safety manuals with an engaging and innovative board game for all ages, MOD strips away jargon to translate knowledge into engaging and hands-on decision-making tools that even young kids understand. 

MOD gamifies learning about various types of disasters and how to prepare for times of emergencies.Through interactive challenges like "Act It Out," MOD gamifies learning on emergency prep, packing Go Bags, hazard response, and offline meetup spots. Community sessions even bring parents together to play alongside their peers and children, fostering collaborative learning and turning preparedness into a shared household habit. 

“It’s about building a readiness mindset,” says Francis Macatulad, Director for Business Development at ASSIST. “More than emergency equipment, evacuation centers and response plans, disaster resiliency requires a mindset shift for the whole community. This is what ASSIST Asia's Master of Disaster brings: practical, localized knowledge that unites families and schools to protect their communities and build a lasting mindset of preparedness.”

ASSIST partners with schools, local officials, and CSR sponsors to run MOD play sessions, train student and parent volunteers to lead local playgroups, and distribute readiness kits.

For teachers, the hands-on approach makes a critical difference. Teacher Cherry Talirongan of Fr. William F. Masterson Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro shares how gamified learning resonates with young minds: “Malaki ang maitutulong nito, lalo na sa mga batang hindi pa alam ang gagawin sa isang disaster. Sa paglalaro ng Master of Disaster board game, mai-aapply nila ang natutunan at magkakaroon ng ideya sa tamang gawin sa ganitong sitwasyon.” (“This will be a huge help, especially for young children who don't know what to do during a disaster yet. By playing the Master of Disaster board game, they can apply what they’ve learned and gain a clear idea of the right actions to take in emergencies.”)

To date, the MOD initiative has achieved major milestones:

471 MOD Rollouts deployed across schools, barangays, and youth councils (Sangguniang Kabataan).

703 Local Champions Trained, equipping teachers, students, parents, employees, and community leaders with practical disaster kits.

To leave no community behind, ASSIST is translating MOD into Taglish, Vietnamese, and Tamil, while the physical board game ensures offline learning reaches every home. 

As IDDRR 2026 calls for disaster preparedness to begin at home, ASSIST invites LGUs, corporate partners, and CSOs to adopt family-centered DRR tools that transform disaster anxiety into active self-reliance.

To learn more about bringing Master of Disaster to your school, barangay, or organization, or to explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities, visit assistasia.org or fill out the Partnerships Form.

About Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST)

ASSIST (Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation) is a self-sustaining pan-Asian NGO working at the intersection of social impact and sustainable transformation. True to its role as a Partner for Progress, ASSIST collaborates with corporate and institutional funders to deliver co-created initiatives as well as award-winning flagship programs that convert social investments into lasting local capacity. Explore our work and partner with us: www.assistasia.org