National recovery and preparedness for the pandemic Issue No. 203

This issue discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic emerged to be the greatest challenge confronting humanity in recent times. This pandemic morphed from a public health emergency into a crisis that impacted the entirety of our social and economic systems. While the adverse impacts of this crisis have permeated into every aspect of human endeavour and experience, there is still a greater focus on the health and mortality related impacts of the pandemic. This in turn leads to a blind spot in formulating effective recovery and preparedness strategies against the pandemic. Therefore, we need to consider the larger impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic beyond the spheres of public health and economic slowdown.

As we stagger towards an era of normalcy, it is imperative to reckon the impacts of the pandemic on our social and economic systems. Only after such a reckoning, can an honest attempt towards sustainable recovery and preparedness be made at the national level. This issue of Southasiadisasters.net is titled ‘National Recovery and Preparedness for the Pandemic’ and focuses on the question of ‘national recovery and preparedness for the pandemic’. It questions our underlying beliefs about recovery and preparedness and offers newer paradigms