This book takes a regional, multidisciplinary and multi-actor approach to improve understandings of how various actors respond to natural and human-induced disasters in the Asia Pacific region.The contributors draw their findings from a variety of countries in the region, including China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar and Samoa, and importantly, focus on the interconnection between vulnerability and resilience. The focus of this book on recent and on-going disasters makes it a topical and timely contribution to the growing field of disaster management, and will appeal to students and scholars of environmental studies, development studies and Asian politics.

Introduction 1. Coping with Disaster: Agency and resilience in the Asia-Pacific context Part I: Civil society 2. Responding to Disasters in the Asia-Pacific Region: State and civil society relationships 3. Key Factors for Capacity-Building of Disaster Relief Operations: Indonesian examples 4. Fostering Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Relief in Japan: Challenges and prospects for sustainable future operations Part II: Military and state institutions 5. The Military and Disaster Relief in China: Trends, drivers and implications 6. Myanmar, Cyclone Nargis and Regional Intermediaries 7. Temporalities of Planning and Disaster: Slum demolition and the rebuilding of lives at the margins of Delhi Part III: Local cultural knowledge and the media 8. The Politics of the Mount Merapi Eruption in Central Java, Indonesia 9. Coping with Floods in Urban Fiji: Responses and resilience of the poor 10. From Early Warning System to Trauma Healing: Alternative media and disaster relief in Central Java Part IV: Economic initiatives 11. Agrarianism, Capitalism or Protectionism? Exploring economic restructuring and local responses amidst global change in Samoa 12. Responding to Natural versus Human-made Disasters: Lessons from Fiji Part V: Conclusion 13. Lessons from Disaster Relief in the Asia-Pacific