AIDMI — This issue of Southasiadisasters.net is titled ‘Perspectives on the Pandemic: COVID-19 in South Asia’ and brings forth different perspectives on managing the COVID-19 outbreak in South Asia. South Asia is unlike other regions in the world, it is culturally diverse, economically dynamic and demographically young. Moreover, South Asia is also the world’s most populous and most densely populated region, housing one-fourth of the world’s population on 3.5% of its total land surface area. All these factors have shaped the response of the government, private and civil society actors to the pandemic in the region.

This issue’s contents includes: (i) Revisiting Urban Risks: Planning for Complex Emergencies; (ii) Role of NIDM in COVID-19 Response: Top Agenda; (iii) COVID-19 Pandemic: How Odisha Ensured Slow Spread in Rural Areas?; (iv) What Did Nepal Do to Slow Down COVID-19 Spread?; (v) ADRRN’s Roles in COVID-19 Response; (vi) Leaving No One Behind amid Pandemic in Bangladesh; (vii) Sri Lanka’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic; (viii) Local Effort for Global Pandemic; and (ix) A Whole-of-ASEAN Post Pandemic Approach.

Maj Gen Manoj Kumar Bindal, Executive Director, NIDM, India; Abha Mishra, UNDP, India; Surya Bahadur Thapa, Chairperson, DPNet Nepal; Hafiz Amirrol, ADRRN; and Rita Thakuri, NSET, Nepal; Refata Nasim, Programme Officer, CBM, Bangladesh; Maj. Gen. S. Ranasinghe (Retd.), Director General, DMC, Sri Lanka; Sanat K. Bhowmik, Deputy Executive Director, COAST Trust, Bangladesh; H.E. Kung Phoak, Deputy Secretary, General of ASEAN for ASCC, Indonesia.