Integrating pandemic preparedness and disaster risk reduction to protect economic development and social welfare in the Bandung Metropolitan area of Indonesia

Metropolitan areas, such as Greater Bandung in Indonesia, are a vital
geographic unit for nations to sustain economic growth and development.
However, they blur the boundaries between cities and peripheral regions,
and make traditional city boundaries, often imposed by administrative
needs, essentially obsolete. The importance of an integrated approach to
development and disaster preparedness is particularly acute when they are
threatened by a range of natural, technical and biological hazards,
including pandemics such as COVID-19.
Greater Bandung is located in a mountainous plateau region in the
central-west portion of West Java province and has the third highest
population of any metropolitan area in Indonesia. It is surrounded by active
volcanoes, a number of faults and complex river systems that pose
significant hazards, including earthquakes, volcano eruptions, frequent
floods and landslides.
In this project, researchers in the UK and Indonesia will work with actors at
the National, Provincial and City levels in the Bandung Metropolitan area,
and build upon the results of a previous study that won the 2019 Newton
Prize for Indonesia. They will map and seek to better integrate the key
actors involved in disaster risk reduction, climate change, and pandemic
preparedness. They will also increase the capacity of provincial and local
actors in the Greater Bandung Metropolitan area to address the threats to
economic assets and people posed by disaster risk, including developing
threats such as pandemics and climate change, that are creating a 'new
normal'.
The project will reduce disaster risk, including human and economic losses,
increase pandemic preparedness, and create more resilient, connected
communities. It will directly contribute to Indonesia's efforts in working
towards the targets set out in the 2015 global agreements on disaster risk
reduction, climate change and sustainable development.