Early warning systems play a central role in natural hazard communication, yet they remain largely confined to short-term alerts. While effective in immediate crisis response, they often fail to promote preparedness or to support long-term climate adaptation. This contribution examines how narrative approaches, particularly storytelling, can address these limitations by strengthening self-efficacy and providing a temporal link between urgent warnings and broader adaptive strategies.
Drawing on a participatory stakeholder workshop process in alpine regions, we analyze how storytelling creates cultural resonance, fosters trust, and engages emotions in ways that traditional risk communication rarely achieves. We assume that narratives not only increase awareness of hazards but also empower communities by reinforcing their belief in their own capacity to act. In this sense, storytelling becomes a bridge between institutional responsibility and local agency, enabling communities to move from passive recipients of warnings to active agents of resilience.
Our findings suggest that embedding participatory and narrative methods into hazard communication can generate communication practices that are both psychologically effective and culturally anchored. Such approaches integrate immediate responses with long-term preparedness, ensuring that warnings are not experienced as isolated signals but as part of a broader cultural dialogue about risk, adaptation, and resilience. By situating hazard communication within lived experience and shared cultural frameworks, storytelling can help close the gap between technical expertise and community engagement.
Ultimately, this study highlights the value of narrative-based, participatory approaches for achieving more sustainable forms of temporal risk communication in mountain regions. Storytelling not only enriches early warning systems but also contributes to building resilient, adaptive communities capable of facing the challenges of a changing climate.