Two Decades from the Indian Ocean Tsunami: Key Challenges and Advancements (Disaster Risk Reduction)

This book presents the advancements in the disaster risk reduction and resilience building in the countries affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami countries. The book includes a few cross-cutting issues related to governance, technology, and communities, with two major parts: (1) cross-cutting issues and (2) regional and country level experiences.

At the threshold of twenty years from Indian Ocean Tsunami, the concept of disaster risk reduction field has evolved significantly in the affected countries as well as around the world. Globally, several mega disasters happened in the last 20 years, and risk landscape has become more complex. In addition, technology, governance, and people’s resilience have gained positive momentum. We had two world conferences on disaster risk reduction, resulting in two global disaster risk reduction frameworks, which aligned with development frameworks as well as climate change agreements. COVID-19 and post COVID risk landscape has brought the new dimension of compound and complex disasters and need for all hazards’ approach.

Professor Rajib Shaw is a professor in the Graduate School of Media and Governance in Keio University, Japan. He is also a senior fellow of the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan and the chairperson of the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS) Asia and the Church World Service (CWS) Japan, two Japanese NGOs. He is a co-founder of a Delhi (India)-based social entrepreneur startup, the Resilience Innovation Knowledge Academy (RIKA). Earlier, he was the executive director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) and was a professor in Kyoto University. His expertise includes disaster governance, community-based disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, urban risk management, and disaster and environmental education. Professor Shaw was the chair of the United Nations Science Technology Advisory Group (STAG) for disaster risk reduction and currently is the co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Science Technology Academic Advisory Group (APSTAAG).

Takako Izumi has been an associate professor at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, Japan, since 2013. She also serves as a program coordinator of the Multi Hazards Program under the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), which comprises 60 universities and academic institutes in the Pacific Rim. She holds a Ph.D. in global environmental study from Kyoto University, Japan. Her research interests include international and regional frameworks and strategies for disaster risk reduction, international humanitarian assistance, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives at local and community levels. Previously, she has had almost 15 years of experience with international NGOs and United Nations agencies including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and others for disaster risk reduction, response, recovery, and development especially in Asia.

Dr. Riyanti Djalante has over 10 years of scientific research and international professional experiences in the field of development, governance, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability. Dr. Djalante is the assistant director and head of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Division of the ASEAN Secretariat. Between 2017 and 2020, she worked as an academic programme officer at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability of the United Nations University (UNU-IAS) in Japan where she coordinated research and policy development on global change and resilience. She was the chair of scientific committee of the International Research of Disaster Risk (IRDR) between 2021 and 2022 and further served as the scientific committee member of a working group focusing on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Djalante is the section editor of the journal Progress in Disaster Science.

Prof. Fumihiko Imamura is an expert on tsunami modeling for warning and mitigation planning, education, and awareness. He was a member of the reconstruction design council of the Japanese Cabinet Office in response to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and a committee member of the Central Disaster Management Council for technical investigation on countermeasures against earthquakes and tsunamis. He was the director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDES), Tohoku University, Japan, where he led several research and implementation projects in Japan and abroad.