Although the focus is on the tsunami, this book examines the link between communication and disasters, relevant in all kinds of disaster risk management scenarios.
The book is the culmination of a year-long process, which started with the TVE Asia Pacific and UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok coming together in late 2006 to explore the nexus between communication and disasters in the Asia Pacific region. A regional brainstorming meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, held on the eve of the Indian Ocean Tsunami?s second anniversary on 21 ? 22 December 2006, brought together over 30 leading media professionals, disaster managers and communication specialists from South and Southeast Asia. The discussions and recommendations of this meeting form a key part of this book, which has been compiled in the months that followed, pooling the knowledge, expertise and diverse perspectives of some meeting participants as well as other acknowledged practitioners in media and development spheres.
