This book considers the challenges of building disaster resilience in South Asia – a region that frequently experiences some of the most severe and devastating impacts of disasters. Despite significant work to assist affected communities, many smaller South Asian countries remain particularly vulnerable in terms of fostering disaster resilience. Drawing on examples from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the book offers rich insights and narratives on disaster resilience policy and practice. It considers the possibilities for advancing community resilience and capacity building through an exploration of different aspects of governance and policy. Given the diversity of these countries and recent disasters, a variety of perspectives are considered: institutional and policy frameworks, risk management governance, recovery operations, building codes, and policy and media discourse. The book offers a collective understanding of practice, which can offer global lessons to a world increasingly beset by disasters and with uncertain environmental futures. This book will be a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners and students in the fields of disaster risk reduction and management, climate change adaptation, public policy and sustainable development.

To mitigate, develop, and improve the lives of those vulnerable to intense natural disasters, climate change, and food insecurity, many agencies are funding and implementing diverse activities from reconstruction to rehabilitation, and this book presents the lessons and impacts from a collection of these projects. It describes concepts, strategies, processes, and tools in such a way that they can be easily replicated and shared with a wider audience. This study explains that mid- to long-term interventions, strategies, and practical approaches in particular are being designed and adopted to build the resilience of the poor. It describes valuable practical experiences and lessons from the field, capturing a range of interventions from implementing agencies involved in post-disaster rehabilitation. It is comprised of 79 papers grouped into four sections: coastal threats and challenges in South Asia; disaster risk reduction and the combining of resilience, mitigation, and adaptation; pathways for building the capacity of vulnerable communities to withstand and rebuild from natural disasters; and real-life postdisaster rehabilitation and resilience-building projects that have led to positive change at the community level. This is an exceptional resource for anyone concerned with disaster management and rehabilitation work, including students, researchers, policymakers, and members of nongovernmental organizations.

This book aims to provide insight into how Southeast Asian countries have responded to disasters, recovered, and rebuilt. It investigates emergency response and disaster recovery cases at national levels and from regional perspectives. Recovery from great disasters poses great challenges to affected countries in terms of organization, financing, and opportunities for post-disaster betterment. Importantly, disasters are critical moments in which to achieve disaster risk reduction, especially in the context of climate change and Sustainable Development Goals. Insights from these cases can help other countries better prepare for response and recovery before the next disaster strikes. While the experiences of disaster risk reduction and climate change implementation in Southeast Asian countries have been well documented, tacit knowledge from emergency response and recovery from these countries has not been transformed into explicit knowledge. There are only a few books that integrate information and lessons from post-disaster governance in Southeast Asia as a region, and because of the importance of providing real and recent situations, this book will interest many policymakers, practitioners, and academics. The information presented here will lead to a better understanding of how to plan for future disasters and improve governance to ensure effective emergency response as well as encouraging a build back better and safer towards a more resilient and sustained recovery.

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable areas of an increasingly disaster-impacted world, with cyclones, earthquakes, floods and droughts causing several casualties and disrupting lives and livelihoods every year. Yet the impacts of disasters are not equally distributed across the peoples of the region.Women and men experience disaster differently, and their needs in the aftermath of disaster often differ. Bringing together perspectives from academics, emergency response specialists and development practitioners, the volume investigates to what extent and in what ways gender affects the course of post-disaster reconstruction. Conversely, it also explores in what ways gender politics may be altered by disaster and post-disaster reconstruction. The study includes: a comprehensive overview of key issues facing women and men, as gendered beings, in reconstruction and development; a targeted observation of specific South Asian disaster contexts; and a sustained discussion of case studies and their implications and lessons. This book will interest scholars and researchers of disaster management, rehabilitation studies, gender, environment, ecology and sociology. It will also be useful to institutions dealing with natural and man-made disasters, non-governmental organisations and disaster recovery professionals.

This book showcases research in disaster response in Southeast Asia of particular interest for those studying disaster and mental health, and for providers of mental health and psychosocial support. Contributors cover topics ranging from resistance to disasters to resilience and recovery interventions.

The Asia and Pacific region has seen tremendous economic and social progress since the 1960s. Yet, the region remains vulnerable to disaster risk that threatens its hard-won gains. Over the years, developing Asia has endured a growing number of disasters triggered by natural hazards. As a result, numerous lives, livelihoods, and communities have been damaged or lost. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is testament to the debilitating effects of such a disaster on people, businesses, and economies. Indeed, in 2020, developing Asia suffered its first economic contraction in 6 decades. Now more than ever, the region must find ways to reduce its vulnerability to hazards and build economic resilience.

Covering disaster scenarios, and the causes and consequences of disaster displacement, Disaster, Displacement and Resilient Livelihoods: Perspectives from South Asia focuses on the South Asian context, generating new insights and considering the policy implications of strategies for building resilient livelihoods.