New directions in post-disaster: Livelihoods, resilience and sustainablitiy

This conference is taking place at a time when attention international attention is increasingly being focused on developing a successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action which will commence in 2015. The need for a successor to the Hyogo Framework is reinforced by continuing evidence of the significant challenges natural hazard events continue to pose to populations around the world, and particularly for those more vulnerable populations who bear the brunt of disaster consequences.

The conference is seeking papers and posters that discuss policy, research and practice relating to recovery, reconstruction and development in the aftermath of disasters. In particular, organizers are interested in contributions that:

• contribute to developing and implementing cost-effective government policies on disaster mitigation, preparedness and recovery that seek to facilitate community involvement and participation (particularly for populations that are especially vulnerable to experiencing disaster impacts and who face significant recovery and reconstruction challenges);
• encourage the decentralization of recovery and reconstruction projects and programs in ways that acknowledge and facilitate the use of local solutions, build relationships that strengthen community government relationships, and promote the incorporation of community memory of events in ways that contribute to the development of DRR programs;
• develop understanding of the long term implications of large scale disasters;
• examine how new communication media (e.g., social media) can be used to support and facilitate long term recovery and development;
• contribute to understanding the contribution of cultural and cross-cultural research on disaster mitigation, preparedness and recovery in ways that increase the availability of knowledge of disaster recovery and reconstruction practices and its ability to be incorporated in public policy throughout Asia;
• facilitate the ability of Disaster Risk Reduction practitioners among civil society groups to share their knowledge and experience with a view to opening dialogue on improved approaches to development and resilience amongst affected populations, and particularly vulnerable, often poverty-stricken, populations;
• examine how to develop and facilitate access to social capital in family and kinship networks, land and assets influence survival rates and adaptive behaviours after a disaster; and
• identify how migration into and out of disaster-affected areas influences long-term socio-economic impacts on individuals and population groups.
• Focus on recovery and reconstruction as opportunities for social, physical and psychological development through using strategies that facilitate equity and equality and the development of future DRR plans and capabilities built on shared responsibility across all stakeholders.