Vulnerability, Social Capital and Disaster Preparedness: Experiences of the Orang Asli Families in Malaysia

This book addresses increasing concerns regarding the relationship between social capital and disaster, highlighting conceptual definitions related to social capital and disaster, family, community, vulnerability, disaster experience and preparedness. Focusing on a contemporary case of disaster management in Malaysia, the authors explore and establish linkages between the level of social capital and disaster preparedness amongst the indigenous Orang Asli people. Taking the case of the Orang Asli families as a point of departure, the book presents solutions for mobilizing social capital for disaster preparedness through multi-stakeholder involvement, promoting participation in awareness programs, ensuring indigenous people’s access to resources, and proposing a prioritization of local values and culture in enabling proper planning and coordination for more disaster-resilient communities in Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and beyond. The book is broadly relevant to cases in similar economic settings where indigenous people are lagging behind in disaster preparedness. An excellent resource for sociologists, this pioneering book collates various concepts and theories relating to social and ecological networks and systems, family resilience, and stress and coping mechanisms. It is relevant to researchers focused on disasters in developing countries, globally, particularly those focused on indigenous communities. 

Sumaiya Sadeka obtained her Ph.D. in social work from the National University of Malaysia (UKM). She is working as an Associate Researcher in the  Centre for Asian Climate and Environmental Policy Studies (CACEPS), based in Canada  . Her major research areas include social capital, disaster preparedness, community resilience, ethnic studies, disaster and climate change. 

Mohd Suhaimi Mohamad obtained his Ph.D. in social work from University of Bristol, United Kingdom. He is Associate Professor in the research center for Psychology and Human Well-being at Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He is Director for Professional Development and Leadership Centre in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and former President of the Malaysian Association of Social Workers. He is also Research Fellow at the Tasik Chini Research Centre, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. His research and teaching interests include social work, mental health, and marginalized community development which include Orang Asli and Indigenous People in Malaysia.   

Md. Sujahangir Kabir Sarkar received his Ph.D. in climatic hazards from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia. He is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Economics and Sociology at Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh. Dr. Sarkar worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia and JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow at United Nations University, Tokyo, and KEIO university, Japan.  He is also an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Asian Climate and Environmental Policy Studies (CACEPS), Canada. Dr. Sarkar has received a number of fellowships including Zamalah Research University scholarship from UKM, post-doctoral fellowship from Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia, and JSPS post-doctoral fellowship from Japan. His research interests are environmental economics, development economics, energy economics, and climate change and disaster management. 

Abul Quasem Al-Amin, Ph.D is currently working as a Senior Fellow, Centre For Asian Climate and Environmental Policy Studies as well as Professor (Ad-j) at the University of Waterloo, Canada. As an accomplished researcher with over decades of experience in ‘Climate Adaptation and Climate Risk Assessment’ modelling and analysis, and over 30 reports (publications) on the Adaptation Risk Assessment (including working experiences with MIT and Harvard Universities), particularly in the fields of Climate Adaptation, Climate Risk Assessment, Carbon Tax estimation and Climate Mitigation (e.g., by using Integrated Assessment Modeling (IAM), Dynamic Regional Integrated Climate Change Modeling (RICE), and Climate Change and Environmental Policy Modeling), he is associated with several research works currently at UNDP, HEKS, HAW-Germany, FORUM FOR FUTURE Singapore and many more. His recent work with INDC-related assignments in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, South Korea, and Africa, as well as his work on the development of adaptive livelihoods planning, a Green Climate Fund (GCF) feasibility study in northwestern Bangladesh, and a comparative analysis of emission reduction by using carbon tax toward INDC implementation in South-East Asia (including African countries) from 2030 to 2100, would aid in understanding the works in which he is involved. In collaboration with MIT and University of Waterloo, he is currently assisting countries, particularly ASEAN, in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy by enhancing policymakers' ability to promote green technologies, such as renewable energy development, affordable access to clean energy, and assistance to industries and other economic sectors in adopting low carbon technologies.