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In Southeast Asia, COVID-19 Speeds Transition to Digital Technologies

As the novel coronavirus has undertaken its deadly migration across the globe, most attention has understandably focused on its immediate public health consequences, as well as the downstream economic consequences of the lockdown measures needed to contain it.

A less remarked development, however, has been the changes to everyday life that have resulted from the contagion. In particular, a new report reveals the extent to which COVID-19 has driven a dramatic uptake of digital technologies across Southeast Asia, accelerating a profound shift that was already underway.

Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway Master Plan 2019-2022

Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway concept was defined at the 1st meeting of the Working Group on the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway. The  AP-IS Master Plan identified the following four thematic pillars: (a) Physical infrastructure upgrade and interconnection; (b) Internet traffic management; (c) Building regional network resilience and (d) Promoting broadband access in underserved areas.

Flattening the curve of COVID-19

In Asia and the Pacific, the impact of COVID-19 has been tremendous due to the high concentration of people, economic activities and resource consumption. Coronavirus threatens economic, social and medical well-being of millions and we must act now to protect Asia's most vulnerable Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP’s Executive Secretary wrote in the Nikkei Asian Review on the 2nd of April.

Multi-Hazard Risk to Exposed Stock and Critical Infrastructure in Central Asia

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that natural disasters can be an impediment to realizing the development goals. Earthquakes, landslides, floods, and droughts have detrimental impacts on overall country macroeconomic factors and further disproportionately affect the poor and marginalized groups. Therefore, it is imperative to develop multi-hazard assessments that address and map both physical and social vulnerabilities.

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