Before Disaster Strikes

Super Typhoon Goni slammed the northeastern coast of the Philippines on the first day of November. The country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reports that as of 4 November, the typhoon had caused at least 20 deaths a

Over the period 2015-2020, Southeast Asia faced its most severe droughts in decades, with devastating impacts. No country in our region has been spared. If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, our news headlines would have been dominated by drought impacts a

“One ASEAN, One Response” is far from just a tagline. It is a well thought out concept born out of a necessity to connect the real disaster experience from ground zero to the highest level of the diplomatic arena in ASEAN. It was borne from ASEAN’s exp

Myanmar, which has a very long coastal line at 2,228 kilometers, is mainly exposed to water-related disasters. The decade before Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar in 2008, large-scale disasters had been occurring in three- to five- year intervals.

Countries around the globe face various types of catastrophic disasters. Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones, typhoons, floods, drought, and other climate change-related hazards are among the most common natural disasters. T

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most disasterprone regions in the world. From 2012 to 2018,1,218 disasters occurred in the region, causing an estimated yearly damage of 15.9 billion US dollars, three times ASEAN’s collective annual GDP.

Four ASEAN countries are among the top 10 most affected by impacts of climate-related loss events from 1999 to 2018, according to The Global Climate Risk Index 2020.  Climate change causes slow onset effects: sea-level rise, drought, food insecurity, a

“Every child has a right to dream, all girls need to study and to pursue their futures, and not to become a wife or a mother at a young age. And if they are forced to marry someone, they should know that they have the right to say “no.”  They should di

The global economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has plunged a large segment of the population into poverty.

In the recently published Sustainable Development Report 2020, which tracks countries’ progress on achieving their sustainable development goals on time, most ASEAN Member States attained index scores ranging from 60 and 70. Rank-wise, six ASEAN Member

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected persons with disabilities (PWDs) in ASEAN? How can their needs, concerns, and recommendations be mainstreamed into post-pandemic recovery efforts?

Women are disproportionately affected by natural disasters. This statement is as irrefutable as it is disquieting.

Rangi Sudrajat dreamed of being a humanitarian worker since she was a young girl. She decided to pursue a path of helping the less fortunate, after watching the news about refugees affected by the Kosovo war.

When Super Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) struck the Philippines on 7 November 2013, Rowel Balais and his family hunkered down in their home in the town of Palo, Leyte province. Along with Tacloban city, it was one of the hardest hit areas by the

Armed with lenses, photojournalists go into the unknown zones to identify and capture moments that matter and show them to the world. During natural disasters, photography can also be a way to provide a sense of scale, while humanising the disasters.

Freelance photographer Alex Baluyut and theater actress Preciosa Leano are the founders of the non-profit organisation, Art Relief Mobile Kitchen in the Philippines (AMRK), that feeds distressed populations in disaster and conflict areas.   The couple

Pimvadee travels along mountain terrains to remote villages in Lao PDR and Myanmar, working together with rural communities to prepare for natural disasters, such as flooding and landslides.  Living with communities for two weeks for each assignment, s