Science and Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia 1st Edition: Potentials and Challenges

This book collects cases and studies presented at the APRU multi-hazards research symposium at Kyoto University in 2016. Science and Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia: Potentials and Challenges provides both a local and global perspective on how to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Topics demonstrate the advancement of scientific research as it applies to early warning systems, including identifying risk and the strengthening of infrastructure for different types of hazards. Through different major disasters, it has become evident that there must be a balance between hard and soft technology and physical, process and social solutions. This book demonstrates how this has been successfully implemented in Asia, and how these applications can apply on a global basis.

Key Features

• Covers new research on the role of science in Disaster Risk Reduction and lessons learned when research has been applied
• Utilizes case studies to outline the broader lessons learned
• Focuses on the Sendai Framework, which was adopted in the Third UN World Conference in 2015

Readership

Professionals in disaster risk reduction across governmental agencies, intergovernmental agencies, and NGOs; researchers in the field of environment and climate change studies.

Takako Izumi

Affiliations and Expertise
International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, Japan

Major activities and outputs covered in the Multi-Hazards 2022/2023 annual report:

• The 17th APRU Multi-Hazards Annual Symposium (November 29-30, 2022)
• Architecture and Urban Design for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (ArcDR3) Exhibition (January 26, 2023)
• APRU Multi-Hazards Workshop “Localizing DRR Strategies in Asia and the Pacific” (February 21-23, 2023)
• APRU Multi-Hazards Webinar series (April 2022-March 2023)
• 2023 Syria-Turkey Earthquake (March 16, 2023)
• Book: Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: Considerations for a post-COVID-19 pandemic analysis (Springer)

This publication entitled “30 Innovations linking DRR with SDGs” is the second volume in the “30 Innovations” series, and includes an additional 30 innovations focusing on 10 sectors— Emergency response, Gender, Health, Agriculture, Water, Children, Education, Disabilities, Livelihood, and Early warning—to demonstrate the strong association between DRR and SDGs. These 10 sectors were selected following detailed discussions by a group of experts in DRR, taking into consideration the 17 SDGs.

Similar to the first volume, another survey was conducted on the most effective DRR innovations, which received 200 responses from academia, governments, the private sector, NGOs, and international and regional organizations. The innovation that was selected as the most effective from the 30 listed items in this publication was “Ecosystem-based DRR” under the “Livelihood” section. The outcome shows that we should consider how to maintain or channel these existing ideas, instead of focusing on developing expensive new technologies that require complicated procedures to apply.

Recognizing that greatly improved data is necessary to support all facets of disaster research, the UC Davis scholars and experts placed the focus of the Multi-Hazard Data Science Workshop on improvements in data and decision science. This emphasis is congruent with the growing interest within the larger Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and APRU for the development of data science and data analytics expertise across the region.