APSS 18 April, Monday events

[Minako Sakai]

Item 1: The Rector, Prof Michael Frater, will launch the new website
of the Asia-Pacific Seminar Series at 12:10, 18 April in the School of
Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), Building 29, Room 106 (Access
via front door to Building 28).

Item 2: Asia-Pacific Seminar Series:

The next seminar in the Asia Pacific Seminar Series (APSS) will be
presented by Prof David Lovell on Monday, 18th April 2011 from
12:10-13:30 in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS),
Building 29, Room 106 (Access via front door to Building 28).
Seminar Topic: Disaster management, reconstruction and civil society
in the Asia-Pacific Region
Abstract: Natural disasters are no respecters of countries, living
standards or state capacity; they strike with impunity at rich and
poor, at prepared and unprepared, alike. The Asia-Pacific region is a
zone where natural disasters are frequent. Whether because of climate
change, or the spread of economic and social development, or the 24-
hour news cycle, disasters in this region seem to be increasing in
frequency and severity. Hard-won gains in infrastructure, economic
development and living standards are blown, or washed, or shaken away,
with perhaps the greatest hardship and disappointment suffered by
those whose gains are most recent and most fragile. This paper will
reflect on the roles of civil society in responses to natural
disasters in the Asia-Pacific region, both in the immediate aftermath
and the reconstruction period, as well as in the context of long-term
requirements for sustainable social development. In the first phases
of a disaster the capacity of governments is tested, and often found
wanting: the immediate requirements of speed, coordination and
effectiveness in disaster relief are often supplied by foreign
governments and NGOs; long-term issues around reconstruction are
sometimes undermined by unsustainable development and the misuse of
aid funds. While the damage to, and repair of, physical infrastructure
may be ‘newsworthy’, we should not forget the associated, long-term,
somewhat mundane, but nevertheless crucial issues around the
reconstruction and continuing development of social infrastructure.
Urban planning, the provision of housing, sanitation, and education,
and the development of secure and thriving communities in the rapidly
growing cities of the Asia-Pacific can be conceived in some of these
countries as slow-motion disasters, which also expose government
incapacity, corruption and mismanagement. The development of
indigenous civil society organisations under these circumstances is an
opportunity both to develop more resilient communities, better able to
protect and assist themselves, and to channel discontent at corrupt or
inept governments into demands for political change.

ALL WELCOME

The Asia Pacific Seminar Series is jointly hosted by the School of
Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Physical, Environmental
and Mathematical Sciences and the School of Business UNSW@ADFA.
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The Asia Pacific Seminar convenors welcome suggestions for seminar
speakers and topics. Please contact the 2011 convenors: Minako Sakai
(m.s...@adfa.edu.au), Edwin Jurriens (e.jur...@adfa.edu.au), Jian
Zhang (j.z...@adfa.edu.au), Paul Tickell (p.ti...@adfa.edu.au),
Alec Thornton (a.tho...@adfa.edu.au), or Satish Chand
(s.c...@adfa.edu.au). Please also visit our website
www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/hass/APSS/Apss.html