The Business Process Reengineering (BPR) undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development paved way for a paradigm move in the way disasters were managed in Ethiopia - marking the shift from reactive crises management to proactive disaster risk management. One of the basic requirements to undertake and implement such an approach was to have an information system in place which could answer questions like:

1. Where do the disasters take place?
2. Why do the disasters take place in these locations?
3. Who are the people vulnerable to these hazards?
4. What are the underlying reasons that make them vulnerable?

It was with a view to answering these questions that Wereda Disaster Risk Profiling (WDRP) Programme was launched by DRMFSS, aiming at:

• To examine underlying causes of disaster risk and design risk reduction programmes
• To inform the kind of early warning and response system that needs to be framed in different risk contexts
• To inform a comprehensive contingency plan at wereda level