Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research

International society led by the United Nations has been working to improve and standardize every country's post-disaster recovery policy. In particular, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction adopted at the UN World Conference at Sendai, Japan, in 2015 declared the slogan "Build Back Better (BBB)." In this book, the BBB is considered an essential common criterion for evaluating recovery status, but BBB variations in each individual country's context are pursued. In contrast to a governmental approach to recovery evaluation focusing mainly on physical structures and macro indicators, this volume focuses more on the affected societies, communities, economies, and especially victims' livelihoods. The authors are academics from diverse fields, including governance, law, economics, and engineering, so that the book is truly interdisciplinary.

This collection results from an international collaboration by scholars from "disaster-affected universities" in global-scale mega-disasters occurring in the Asian region in recent decades. The universities include Kobe University in Japan; Iwate University in Japan; Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, Indonesia; Sichuan University in China; and the University of the Philippines.

COVID-19 has changed not only human lives since the beginning of the year 2020, but systems of human society as well. Legal measures have been employed in every country to mandate the state’s control of human behavior in order to stop the pandemic. But the mode of legal control has differed by country, showing different results in terms of constraining the spread of infection. While the behavioral restrictions continue, the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic have been causing another catastrophe, particularly in the most vulnerable sectors of each society. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are typical representatives of such vulnerable groups, compelled to assume the economic burdens of the pandemic that have been shifted from the larger economic actors that hold the advantage in contractual negotiations.

Statistical data on infection status have revealed a great gap between countries, such as European nations reaching the level of several thousand deaths per one hundred thousand population, while most Asian countries have maintained a level of one or two digits. Even though COVID-19 affects the whole world, the redistribution of risks in the pandemic is a goal to be pursued in the socio-cultural context of each society.

This book explores the law and social changes in Asian countries under the impact of COVID-19, with a particular focus on the social relations surrounding the SMEs. These form the center of contractual relations between various socio-economic actors and at the same time, are a direct counterpart of the governmental SME policies, peculiar to Asian interventionist governments. A comparative approach is taken, using the results of interview surveys based on structured questions conducted via research collaboration between the contributors from Japan as well as other Asian countries.

This edited book was produced through a transnational and transdisciplinary UNESCO Chair Project on Gender and Vulnerability in Disaster Risk Reduction Support. Contributors come from five disaster-prone Asian countries, and the chapters reflect their rich knowledge and practical experience in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. The chapters, all with a focus on gender and vulnerability, illustrate that gender can make people, especially women, vulnerable. The chapters address the experiences of state and non-state actors responding to disaster and promoting recovery at the local level. However, while women and vulnerable people may be victims of disasters, they also serve as agents for recovery and voices for better disaster preparedness. In sharing both successes and failures, as well as suggestions for the future, this book speaks to the need for transdisciplinary knowledge and multilevel coordination, as well as full equality for all genders and respect for human rights, in order to cope with increasingly more frequent, intense, and complex emergencies. This book is of interest as a text to students in a variety of disciplines who are focusing on disaster and health emergencies, as well as to practitioners and others promoting disaster risk reduction and resilience.