Education and Disaster Vulnerability in Southeast Asia: Evidence and Policy Implications

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the growing theoretical and empirical literature on the role of education in disaster risk reduction with a focus on Southeast Asia. Education and learning can take place in different environments in more or less formalized ways. They can influence disaster vulnerability in direct and indirect ways. Directly, through education and learning, individuals acquire knowledge, abilities, skills and perceptions that allow them to effectively prepare for and cope with the consequences of disaster shocks. Indirectly, education gives individuals and households access to material, informational and social resources which can help reduce disaster vulnerability. This chapter highlights central concepts and terminologies and discusses the different theoretical mechanisms through which education can support disaster risk reduction. Supportive empirical evidence is presented and discussed with a particular focus on the role of inclusiveness in education and challenges in achieving universal access to high-quality education. Based on a situation analysis and best practice cases, policy implications are derived that can inform the design and implementation of education and learning-based disaster risk reduction efforts in the region.

Citation

Hoffmann, R. and Blecha, D. (2020), "Education and Disaster Vulnerability in Southeast Asia: Evidence and Policy Implications", Hechanova, M.R.M. and Waelde, L.C. (Ed.) Resistance, Resilience, and Recovery from Disasters: Perspectives from Southeast Asia (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 21), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 17-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-726220200000021002