Purdue leads global conference on building resilience, rehabilitation
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In the wake of global disasters such as the devastating Haiti earthquake, Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, scholars from around the world will gather at Purdue University to share advances and discoveries in the field of resilience, postcrisis rehabilitation and rebuilding.
The conference, Building Resilience: Post Disaster Recovery in International Perspective, will run from 1-5 p.m. March 25 in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 121. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required at https://buildingresilience.eventbrite.com/
Jon Harbor
"The conference will focus on social science advances in the field of postdisaster recovery," said Jon Harbor, interim director of Purdue's Global Sustainability Initiative, which is helping organize the conference. "Through individual presentations by leading international scholars, combined with moderated panels and question-and-answer sessions, this event will highlight new discoveries on the topic and bring together experts to network and build new research partnerships for affecting public policy."
Speakers will include Ayhan Irfanoglu, a Purdue civil engineering professor and member of the Purdue-led Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation team who has spent the past month researching the aftermath of the deadly Haiti earthquake.
Purdue political science professor Elizabeth McNie will lead a panel titled "Crisis and Recovery" from 1:15-2:15 p.m. Joining her will be Doshisha University sociology professor Shigeo Tatsuki, Sudarshan Rodriguez of India's Dakshin Foundation and Tokyo University political science professor Rieko Kage.
A second panel discussion, "Policy Recommendations for Decision Makers," is from 3-4:40 p.m. and will include Tokyo University economics professor Yasuyuki Sawada, Louisiana State University sociology professor Rick Weil and Purdue political science professor Daniel P. Aldrich. Otto Doering, an agricultural economics professor and interim director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, will moderate this discussion.
Daniel Aldrich
Aldrich, who is helping organize the event, said far more individuals around the world suffer from disasters - from slow-developing ones such as famines to rapid ones like tsunami or earthquakes - than commonly feared events such as terrorism. In recent decades, 3 million people have been killed by such disasters while millions of others have been left homeless or jobless.
"In addition to the social impact, disasters have caused billons of dollars of damage to infrastructure," Aldrich said. "The global cost of these catastrophes, both in terms of lives and property damage, is only expected to increase in the future due to climate change. Despite the importance of the problem, social science has yet to identify the factors that speed up recovery."
Aldrich has written the acclaimed book "Site Flights," which focuses on the connection between civil society and public policy. He also is finishing a cross-national project examining the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, 1995 Kobe earthquake, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and 2005 Hurricane Katrina to understand the role of social networks and civil society in postdisaster recovery.
J. Eric Dietz, director of the Purdue Homeland Security Institute and a computer and information technology professor, and Purdue earth and atmospheric sciences professor Matthew Huber also will speak at the Purdue event. The international panelists and their areas of expertise include:
* Kage is an expert on the interaction between official and informal institutions in the government and civil society after a disaster. Her contribution will focus on the role played by civil society and the state in cooperation during the postcrisis recovery period.
* Rodriguez is a socio-ecological resilience and civil society network researcher at the Dakshin Foundation in India and an expert on the postdisaster process in developing nations such as India and Indonesia.
* Sawada is an expert on economic methods for understanding how civil society affects postdisaster recovery and the process for verifying economic growth after a crisis.
* Tatsuki has conducted extensive research on the 1995 Kobe earthquake and on the role of civil society in individual-level recovery. He has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications on the 1995 Kobe earthquake, surveying more than 5,000 survivors for his research.
* Weil is studying the recovery process from Hurricane Katrina and has done cutting-edge work on the introduction of GIS data into recovery mapping. He has surveyed more than 2,300 New Orleans households the past three and a half years, combining sociological, economic, demographic and GIS data into multilayer maps that summarize key information about recovery.
A primary sponsor for the conference is the Center for Global Partnership, an organization led by the Japan Foundation that promotes collaboration between U.S. and Japanese researchers through its Tokyo and New York City offices. Other organizers include the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, Discovery Park Office of Engagement, Department of Political Science and the Purdue Homeland Security Institute.
About the Purdue Climate Change Research Center
The Purdue Climate Change Research Center in Discovery Park promotes and organizes research and education on global climate change and studies its impact on agriculture, natural ecosystems and society. Established in 2004, the center supports Purdue research and education on regional-scale climate change, its impacts and mitigation, and adaptation strategies.
Writers: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Sierra Smith, srsmith@purdue.edu
Sources: Jon Harbor, 765-496-1938, jharbor@purdue.edu
Otto Doering, 765-494-4226, doering@purdue.edu
Daniel P. Aldrich, 765-494-4190, daldrich@purdue.edu
Rose Filley, 765-496-3211, rfilley@purdue.edu