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Advances in disaster prevention and mitigation in Southeast Asia (SEA) have increasingly included plans for mental health and psychosocial support. However, substantial challenges remain, particularly in the areas of (a) disaster communication and preparedness, (b) institutionalized disaster education, (c) culturally adapted and evidence-based tools and interventions, (d) developing capacities and caring for disaster responders, and (e) enabling collective resilience. In addition, the impacts of poverty, lack of access to education, and other forms of marginalization result in less resources to prepare for hazardous event and increased vulnerability to environmental hazards for SEA countries. These issues highlight the need for SEA governments to address deeply rooted human development issues that put communities at risk and heighten vulnerabilities of SEA populations.

Tingting Qi's chapter titled, “Moving toward Decentralization? Changing Education Governance in China After 1985,” provides the historical and policy context for the volume. This chapter integrates the post-1978 Chinese educational reforms into the socioeconomic context of China. The special contribution of this chapter is that it explores the complexity of educational decentralization in China through an in-depth analysis of changes in education finance, administration, and curriculum. Qi reviews prior studies, government documents, laws, and regulations related to Chinese education reform since 1978 within the context of education decentralization in China. Qi also demonstrates that China's educational policy reforms are moving China toward “centralized decentralization” because decentralization is driven by a common, centralized national goal of economic modernization. The chapter presents evidence that “centralized decentralization” is a strategic maneuver that maintains centralized control while providing the reform legitimacy of decentralization. By focusing on decentralization as the core of Chinese educational policy reforms, this chapter situates the following chapters within the social, cultural, and political context of post-1978 China.

After decades of focus on disaster, crisis, and trauma itself, in recent years more attention has been devoted to the study of human strengths and resilience, as reflected in the rise of positive psychology and strengths-based social work. In particular, psychological growth after trauma has been increasingly studied, and one of the official terms referring to the phenomenon is posttraumatic growth (PTG). The PTG literature reflects work on positive psychology, trauma recovery, and resilience. The main components associated with PTG are new possibilities, interpersonal growth, personal growth, appreciation for life, and spiritual change (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2014). These domains have been tested and measured with a scale, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. While PTG and related concepts such as resilience have been studied in various populations, they have not yet been investigated extensively in Southeast Asia (SEA) populations. This chapter explores the psychological examination of resilience and PTG in the SEA context, with some discussion of the background of both positive psychological concepts and PTG research cross-culturally, and their application to the SEA region specifically. Brief relevant trauma history of the region, such as human-made and natural hazards impacting the region’s individuals and communities, and similarities and differences in the results of these traumas will be described. Implications for broader international work as well as cultural and clinical implications also will be discussed in this chapter.

Chentong Chen is an undergraduate at Nanjing Normal University studying law and English. She has research interests in education policy, education assessment and evaluation, and child development. She is currently working on two research projects: policy issues related to the college entrance exam in China, and theories and practice of preschool assessment in the U.S.