The Southeast Asian region is home to more than 667 million people. However, it is the most disaster-prone region in the world with more than 6,000 people and more than US$11 billion were lost in the last 5 years (AHA Centre, 2021). Correspondingly, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is an integral part of the socio-economic development of a region and considered as a key element to achieving sustainable development and reduce the loss of lives in major disasters (Minges, 2019). Development of disruptive Digital Technology (DT) have been helping decision makers, humanitarian actors and rescue operation with timely and accurate information. Wider application of DT in DRR activities will help accelerate and mainstream DRR efforts into practice and policies in the disaster-prone countries (Fontes de eira, L. and Bello, O., 2020). However, digital technologies may also create digital divide and foster inequality by excluding those with limited access to technology such as the elderly and the poor.
The project will focus on one important element of achieving disaster risk resilience; community-based knowledge. An example from Simeulue island in Aceh, Indonesia, demonstrated how oral history from the 1907 great tsunami experience that has been passed on over generations, saved lives in the event of the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami, where only 7 people died among the total 78,000 population (McAddoo, BG et.al, 2006). In the province’s capital, Banda Aceh, nearly 25% of its 260,000 population were killed.
Through a series of multidisciplinary podcasts, webinars, and a stakeholder workshop, the project aims at building a network of multidisciplinary academic and practitioners to raise awareness and instigate effective collaboration between researchers and practitioners in DT and DRR discipline. It will also open up discussions to seek innovative ideas for the wider adoption of digital technologies to help achieve disaster resilience in the built environment.