Critical Factors for Post-Disaster Educational Continuity in Urban Floods in South and Southeast Asia

In South and Southeast Asia, recurrent hazards including floods and related hazards disrupt society, the economy and the environment. The impacts of floods invariably compromise individual and collective development. Floods cause deaths and injuries, temporary and permanent migration, and worsen pre-existing resource shortages, price inflation, and unemployment. Floods also pose significant challenges for education systems. Schools usually pay a high price in terms of the impact of destruction and damages to infrastructure and facilities. Within this context, the research project investigated the critical factors for educational continuity in urban floods in South and Southeast Asia. The research studied three countries (Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand) which are recurrently affected by urban floods. The research specifically sought to extrapolate the main blockers and enablers of educational continuity in schools. Towards this goal, primary, lower secondary and higher secondary schools were selected for analysis in each country.