Principal Investigator: Dr. Maria Carinnes Alejandria
Co-Investigators and Country Leads:
Dr. Lena Hanifa, Indonesia
Dr. Shariza Wahyuna Binti Hj Shahrin, Brunei
Dr. Rowena Gaspay Fernandez and Dr. Lorizza Mae Gacott, Philippines
Dr. Nurzaima Ubaidillah, Malaysia
Duration: April 1, 2024-March 31, 2026
Funding Agency: Universiti Brunei Darussalam
The 2022 Southeast Asia Climate Outlook Report identified flooding as the most serious impact of climate change according to respondents of the survey (Seah et. al. 2022). In the same report, flooding is considered to pose greater threat to communities living in metropolitan or urban areas. Torti (2012) the implications of rising flood events in the region on the resilience of health systems citing contexts of complex disasters—the cooccurrence of disaster events. Between 2020-2022, while the COVID-19 peaked, record-breaking flooding events were recorded in several urban areas including in Brunei-Muara, Kalimantan, Sabah, and Palawan. These areas are under the subregion known as the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines- East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) which declared in its Vision 2025 that the cluster aims at “making cities resilient and more liveable through integrated urban development and environmental planning.” Aligning to this goal, this paper aims to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practices of vulnerable communities in the BIMP-EAGA subregion on disaster preparedness, specifically in relation to flooding as a hazard. Through this, this study may contribute to the documentation of localized understanding of climate changes impacts and the relevant adaptation and mitigation approaches that could be amplified towards policy-making.
- Examine the community members’ climate change knowledge.
- Determine the community members’ level of awareness on flood-related hazards.
- Identify the modalities of disaster preparation (DP) activities that the community engages in.
- Determine the contexts that informed the community in their choices for Disaster Preparation
- Examine the forms of negotiations with other state and non-state actors that the community engages in addressing hazards.
- Generate localized frameworks for disaster governance in BIMP sub-region vis-à-vis ASEAN Standard Operating Procedure for Regional Standby Arrangements and Coordination of Joint Disaster Relief and Emergency Response Operations
Very delighted to share that I have been selected for the highly competitive Residential Fellowship of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Loughborough University London. During my 1 month residency, I will be collaborating with Prof. Chmutina and Prof. Tuft on expanding the outputs of our project on Flooding Governance in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (BIMP). The key goal of this collaboration is to further promote a gender responsive and community-based disaster communication strategy for the subregion. Information on the Residential Fellowship here: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/opportunities/residential-fellowships/
Watch my lecture here: https://youtu.be/rQXRxdbS_1o?si=pR4D7pbLp4IKBzch
Looking forward to sharing our paper entitled She L.E.A.D.S.: Towards a Gender-Inclusive Approach to Sustainable Disaster Preparedness and Humanitarian Response in BIMP-EAGA at the 2024 ICUNSSI hosted by Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology HHI Resilient Communities on September 19, 2024.
Register ⬇️
https://lnkd.in/g4RnkA5d
July 26-27, 2024. I was invited to speak on community-based initiatives on flood preparedness in the #BIMP region at the International Workshop on Climate-Resilient Development in Southeast Asia. For this event, I will be focusing on the increasing challenges & opportunities of urban communities in addressing flooding as a hazard. Watch the recorded presentation here
More details about the event here.
June 21, 2024. Conducted instruments validation today with participants from Brunei. Apart from interviews, we will be using creative methods like sociogram and photovoice to further engage our research participants in reflexive discussions of their experiences with flood governance in their countries. Some of our key takeaways from today’s event related to: 1) localization of instruments, 2) ability inclusiveness, 3) codeveloping and coproducing knowledge with community members. Thank you everyone for your insights!
July 1, 2024. Currently in South Kalimantan to kick start our research collaboration with Dr. Lena Hanifa of Universitas Lambung Mangkurat for the project that I’m leading on Flood Preparedness among urban communities in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (BIMP). Today, we received the warmest welcome from Mayor Ibnu Sina of Banjarmasin City, Indonesia. Over lunch we spoke of the threats of sea level rise, urban flooding, and associated socio-economic issues that he has been addressing with initiatives to improve policies towards a climate resilient city. A key to his framework is the all society approach to disaster preparedness and recovery allowing for close collaboration with the government, civil society, and affected communities. Over the past week, I have also met with Ibu Agusliana, multi-awarded community leader, to discuss their community-led projects to combat the impacts of climate change. This project is funded by Universiti Brunei Darussalam and will run until March 2026. Terimah Kasih, Banjarmasin!
I am thrilled to share that we secured additional funding to generate localized and gender-inclusive disaster preparedness tools for our BIMP Flood Preparedness project. Thank you to SEA Junction for believing in our collective vision!
Through this grant we hope to engage in community-based hazard mapping and host a workshop at Universiti Brunei Darussalam for our collaborators and partners to draft a resilience toolkit for the affected communities who participated in our research project.
Read more about the grant here: https://lnkd.in/g_vvEAE7
Maria Carinnes P. Alejandria 
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