The Indo-Pacific is one of the world’s most diverse and disaster-prone regions. Countries across the region face a wide range of hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, bushfires, landslides, volcanic hazards, extreme weather events, infrastructure disruptions, and emerging cybersecurity threats. The region encompasses highly urbanised societies, remote and rural communities, small island states, and First Nations communities, creating a unique and complex disaster-management landscape. At the same time, there is significant variation across countries in technological capabilities, emergency-management systems, institutional capacity, community knowledge, and access to critical infrastructure.
These challenges cannot always be effectively addressed through isolated national or disciplinary approaches. There is a growing need for regional collaboration that connects researchers, emergency managers, policymakers, technology developers, humanitarian organisations, and communities to exchange knowledge, share experiences, develop interoperable information systems, evaluate emerging technologies, and translate research into practical disaster-management capabilities.
This track explores how crisis information systems, disaster intelligence, artificial intelligence, IoT and sensing technologies, resilient communications, decision-support systems, and community and Indigenous knowledge can contribute to a more connected and resilient Indo-Pacific. Particular attention is given to the needs of remote, rural, island, and First Nations communities, where geographical isolation, limited connectivity, resource constraints, and local cultural contexts can significantly influence disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience.
The track welcomes empirical research, case studies, comparative studies, technological demonstrations, methodological contributions, and practitioner-oriented research addressing disaster and crisis management across the Indo-Pacific. Contributions that examine collaboration across countries, agencies, disciplines, and communities are particularly encouraged. Research that demonstrates how knowledge and technologies can be adapted across different geographical, institutional, cultural, and resource contexts is also welcomed.
The track seeks to foster discussion and collaboration across the Indo-Pacific and encourage the development of research partnerships, shared methodologies, interoperable technologies, and practical approaches that can strengthen disaster resilience at regional, national, and community levels.
Topics of Interest
Papers may address, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Indo-Pacific Regional Disaster Collaboration
- Cross-country and cross-border disaster management
- Regional disaster-management partnerships and networks
- Comparative disaster-management practices
- Multi-agency and multidisciplinary collaboration
- Knowledge and technology exchange across countries
Disaster Information Systems and Crisis Informatics
- Crisis information management
- Situational awareness and information sharing
- Crisis communication and information dissemination
- Social media and crowdsourced crisis information
- Interoperability of disaster information systems
AI and Emerging Technologies for Disaster Management
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Generative AI for crisis management
- Predictive analytics and disaster intelligence
- Human–AI collaboration and decision support
- Digital twins, robotics, and autonomous systems
Multi-Hazard Sensing and Early Warning
- Earthquake and tsunami early warning
- Flood and landslide monitoring
- Bushfire, cyclone, and extreme-weather monitoring
- IoT and low-cost sensing systems
- Edge computing and edge AI for disaster monitoring
- Integrated multi-hazard early-warning systems
Disaster-Resilient Communications
- Emergency communication systems
- Mobile ad hoc and opportunistic networks
- Satellite and UAV-based communications
- Communication resilience following infrastructure failure
- Connectivity for remote, rural, and island communities
Remote, Rural, Island, and Community-Based Disaster Management
- Community-based disaster risk reduction
- First Nations and Indigenous knowledge
- Local knowledge and community participation
- Disaster management in remote and geographically isolated communities
- Culturally appropriate risk communication and early warning
- Technology-enabled community resilience
Critical Infrastructure and Cascading Disasters
- Resilience of critical infrastructure
- Infrastructure interdependencies
- Cyber-physical resilience
- Cascading and compound disasters
- Resilience of energy, transport, health, water, and telecommunications systems
Disaster Decision-Making and Emergency Management
- Emergency decision-support systems
- Emergency operations and coordination
- Evacuation planning and modelling
- Resource allocation and optimisation
- Risk-informed decision-making
- Human factors and uncertainty in emergency decision-making
Climate and Emerging Disaster Risks
- Climate-related hazards and disaster risk
- Compound and cascading climate risks
- Emerging and evolving disaster threats
- Climate adaptation and community resilience
- Disaster risk reduction in vulnerable communities
Research-to-Practice and Regional Capacity Building
- Translation of research into operational practice
- Technology transfer and deployment
- Regional disaster-management capacity building
- Research–practice partnerships
- Multi-country pilot studies and field demonstrations
- Training, education, and knowledge exchange
- Lessons learned from real-world disaster response and recovery
Track Chairs
| Role | Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corresponding Chair | M. L. Tan | — | M.L.Tan@massey.ac.nz |
| Co-chair | Pradeep Abeygunawardhana | — | — |
| Co-chair | Ghamal Satya Mohammad | Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University | — |