ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 1|12 pages

Introduction

Tackling the odds in the sub-continental fringes: disaster resilience in the smaller countries of South Asia

chapter 2|44 pages

An old hand

Comprehensive disaster risk reduction institutional framework in Bangladesh

chapter 3|38 pages

Icy flood

Adapting to the impacts of glacial lake outburst floods in Bhutan

chapter 4|38 pages

Staying afloat

Disaster recovery in the climate change-threatened atolls of the Maldives

chapter 5|34 pages

Rule of thumb

Opportunities and barriers to compliance of building codes for disaster resilience in Nepal

chapter 6|37 pages

Framing accountability

Policy implementation following floods and landslides in Sri Lanka

chapter 7|9 pages

Conclusion

Key considerations for disaster resilience in the smaller countries of South Asia