Natural disasters and Asia: introduction

Abstract

Natural disasters inflict tremendous social, economic and human costs. They have the potential to affect the economic development not only of a domestic economy, but also the rest of the world, given the extent of interconnected production networks in this globalized era. The main objective of this special issue is to highlight the real issues of natural disaster management. This special issue focuses on key policy issues and case studies of recent events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). We believe the lessons learned from past natural disasters should help to alleviate both the direct and indirect impacts of future disasters.