Despite the fact that disasters have become more frequent and more costly in terms of economic losses throughout the world, most governments have yet to make a clear priority of addressing and managing risk reduction before disasters strike. According to the Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2012, in the last 10 years, the fi ve countries most hit by natural disasters were China, the United States, the Philippines, India and Indonesia. In 2012 alone, Asia accounted for nearly 65 % of global disaster victims, with hydrological events, such as fl oods, storm surge and landslides, accounting for 75 % of the disasters in Asia during that year (Guha-Sapir et al. 2012). Taking these factors into account, this chapter discusses current and proposed efforts to reduce natural disaster risk in countries across the Asia-Pacifi c. It also overviews how subsequent chapters address the issue from a public policy and governance perspective, with a focus on three broad themes: (1) emergency response and humanitarian relief, (2) recovery and resilience, and (3) improving preparedness.

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Disaster risk reduction is a process, which leads to the safety of community and nations. After the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Japan, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was adopted as a framework of risk reduction. The academic research and higher education in disaster risk reduction has made/is making gradual shift from pure basic research to applied, implementation oriented research. More emphasis is given on the multi-stakeholder collaboration and multi-disciplinary research. Emerging university networks in Asia, Europe, Africa and Americas have urged for the process-oriented research in disaster risk reduction fi eld. Keeping this in mind, this new series will promote the outputs of action research on disaster risk reduction, which will be useful for a wider range of stakeholders including academicians, professionals, practitioners, and students and researchers in the related fi eld. The series will focus on some of emerging needs in the risk reduction fi eld, starting from climate change adaptation, urban ecosystem, coastal risk reduction, education for sustainable development, community based practices, risk communication, human security etc. Through academic review, this series will encourage young researchers and practitioners to analyze fi eld practices, and link it to theory and policies with logic, data and evidences. Thus, the series emphasizes evidence based risk reduction methods, approaches and practices.