Disaster Response and Resilience

Disaster Response and Resilience

The Asia Center has been deeply committed to and has supported research and academic activities focused on responses to natural disasters for many years. Beginning with offering support for academic activities such as seminars and conferences, the Center has in more recent years begun to develop collaborations involving a broader range of activities overseas. Research abroad had to be paused due to the pandemic, but we plan to resume in the near future. Past activities as well as opportunities for future research are described below.

Disaster Response and Resilience in the Philippines

In 2015, two years after Typhoon Haiyan, the Asia Center coordinated a panel discussion focused on disaster response, risk, and resilience. Due to the interest expressed across different parts of the University, the Center initiated an interdisciplinary project with faculty and researchers from several schools to address disasters and related issues of flooding, informal settlements, and coordination of multilateral response efforts in the Philippines in more depth.

In collaboration with colleagues from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the group developed an interdisciplinary project integrating research, training, conferences, and graduate student option studios.

The Philippines has been recognized internationally for its disaster response initiatives, and the project built on significant activities already established locally and partnered with colleagues on site. Research uncovered strengths and vulnerabilities and highlighted opportunities for better coordination across governmental and nonprofit sectors as well as with other local stakeholders including businesses and households.

Opportunities for Future Activities

Opportunities for new projects that can have an impact overseas include the development and implementation of innovative solutions on site; tailoring recommendations for other regions of Asia; creating interdisciplinary online courses and open-source toolkits; and co-creating new interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues at Harvard and internationally. In the longer term, the research aims to inform processes and best practices in other regions of Asia and to facilitate transnational learning and collaboration, regions illustrate how successful preparedness measures can be redesigned for neighboring countries. As additional goal is to establish a regional network of disaster management exchange and cross-learning.