Critical factors for post-disaster educational continuity in urban floods in South and Southeast Asia

Accelerating urbanisation is forcing an ever-growing number of people to live in areas exposed to hazards. Unplanned settlements and the lack of opportunities for individual and collective development increasingly place the most marginalised of society in vulnerable situations. In urban areas, children and youth are a particularly vulnerable group.

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, this 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 investigated the factors and scale of disruption and impact of urban floods on education; policy and operational enablers and blockers of educational continuity; and best practices in educational continuity. These topics were investigated at the school, family, and community level. Primary, lower secondary and higher secondary schools were selected for analysis in each country.