This edited book was produced through a transnational and transdisciplinary UNESCO Chair Project on Gender and Vulnerability in Disaster Risk Reduction Support. Contributors come from five disaster-prone Asian countries, and the chapters reflect their rich knowledge and practical experience in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. The chapters, all with a focus on gender and vulnerability, illustrate that gender can make people, especially women, vulnerable. The chapters address the experiences of state and non-state actors responding to disaster and promoting recovery at the local level. However, while women and vulnerable people may be victims of disasters, they also serve as agents for recovery and voices for better disaster preparedness. In sharing both successes and failures, as well as suggestions for the future, this book speaks to the need for transdisciplinary knowledge and multilevel coordination, as well as full equality for all genders and respect for human rights, in order to cope with increasingly more frequent, intense, and complex emergencies. This book is of interest as a text to students in a variety of disciplines who are focusing on disaster and health emergencies, as well as to practitioners and others promoting disaster risk reduction and resilience.

Advancing the Regional Commons in the New East Asia highlights a number of interests which members of ASEAN and Plus Three countries collectively recognize. This set of common interests includes not only economic development but also social development. Written by nationals in their respective countries, the different chapters in this volume highlights the different foundations for such common interests and these reflect the different constructive ways in which ASEAN and Plus Three countries come to see a multi-strand cooperative partnership. The task of advancing the regional commons will involve efforts to recognise and nurture ASEAN's and Plus Three's common interests in terms of broad social development, managing regional security issues, the development of a regional infrastructure, and ensuring collective progress for all member countries. ASEAN becomes a community in 2015 and the idea of embracing, protecting, sustaining and advancing the regional commons become a vital process. Concurrently, APT has also realized that its contribution to the achieving goal of community and promoting regional commons is absolutely critical for both ASEAN and the Plus Three countries. Academics will find in this volume a clear analytical treatment of issues which regional groupings are currently facing and this can provide the basis for a comparative analysis. This volume will also be of interest to students and the general public looking for a systematic introduction to the successful implementation of cooperative ventures and also an assessment of the new collaborative energies which shape this dynamic region.

Advancing the Regional Commons in the New East Asia highlights a number of interests which members of ASEAN and Plus Three countries collectively recognize. This set of common interests includes not only economic development but also social development. Written by nationals in their respective countries, the different chapters in this volume highlights the different foundations for such common interests and these reflect the different constructive ways in which ASEAN and Plus Three countries come to see a multi-strand cooperative partnership. The task of advancing the regional commons will involve efforts to recognise and nurture ASEAN's and Plus Three's common interests in terms of broad social development, managing regional security issues, the development of a regional infrastructure, and ensuring collective progress for all member countries. ASEAN becomes a community in 2015 and the idea of embracing, protecting, sustaining and advancing the regional commons become a vital process. Concurrently, APT has also realized that its contribution to the achieving goal of community and promoting regional commons is absolutely critical for both ASEAN and the Plus Three countries. Academics will find in this volume a clear analytical treatment of issues which regional groupings are currently facing and this can provide the basis for a comparative analysis. This volume will also be of interest to students and the general public looking for a systematic introduction to the successful implementation of cooperative ventures and also an assessment of the new collaborative energies which shape this dynamic region.