Executive Summary

Preparation for the future is always paramount in disaster resilience. Considering the rapidly changing climate landscape, there is a need to generate dialogue and create consciousness about forward-looking ideas that can potentially enhance disaster resilience in ASEAN. Under this year’s theme, “Disaster Resilience: Understanding What Lies Ahead”, the SPDDM 2023 provided an opportunity to bring together stakeholders from various backgrounds to engage with each other and share their perspectives on disaster management, providing participants with a holistic view of disaster resilience.

This report summarises the key points from the panel discussions and presentations. The keynote discussion focused on “Building Resilience to Climate-Induced Disasters” in which speakers discussed the link between climate change and disasters, and the factors needed to build disaster resilience. The High-Level Panel Discussion on “Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Communication and Early Action for Proactive Disaster Management” explored topics such as the geographical shifts in disasters due to climate change and the need to invest in faster risk communication. The dialogue concluded with the Thematic Session on “Risk Governance and Innovative Technology in Disaster Management” in which speakers highlighted the need to move beyond the creation of new data and focus on expanding analysis capacities for pre-existing data.