Education Disrupted: Disaster impacts on education in the Asia Pacific region in 2015

Each year disasters have a major impact on children, youth and education systems. In the disaster-prone region of the Asia Pacific, around 200 million children per year will have their lives severely disrupted by disasters in the coming decades.1 Every child has a right to a quality education, yet across the region many children are unable to realise this right due to the impact of these disasters. Educational inequities are made worse because of schools being damaged or destroyed (due to poor site selection, design, or construction), schools being used as evacuation centres, and because disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies are not being adequately resourced or prioritised through different levels of governments and to the community level. Being unable to realise this right puts children at risk of exploitation and violence, and contributes towards a lack of economic participation.

This report seeks to shine a light on the continuing impact that disasters have on education by profiling five specific events that struck the Asia-Pacific region in 2015 – the earthquakes in Nepal, floods in Indonesia and Myanmar, Typhoon Koppu in the Philippines, and Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. Some of the profiles are of large disasters such as that in Nepal, while others are recurring disasters that force children out of school on an annual or semi-annual basis, such as the typhoons in the Philippines or floods in Indonesia. Many of these are not identified as major disasters by any national or international declaration.