‘How can I make this better?’ - Profiles of women's leadership in disaster

and affected the lives Vasiti has a background in geo-science and data analysis and of many communities, authored the first pacific women in geospatial science magazine, in support of STEM and to encourage girls to explore science. Working and this motivated me in the male-dominated field of disaster response and management has not deterred Vasiti. [...] “It makes it challenging for people who endure the disasters not to have something or someone to support them.”  To address this, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is conducting a research on the mental health and psychosocial support providers in the Philippines to understand the types of services they provide, identify the institutions they coordinate with and the support they need to better s. [...] She has seen first hand when teams of experts do vulnerability studies and find that the area is highly vulnerable to Lea says the process of engaging communities about their disaster and then push to relocate communities.  concerns creates the spaces for women to exercise leadership.  In one of the coastal communities that Lea worked with, the people “Women in the communities are active participa. [...] “We need to reach out to them Despite government warnings, the people moved back to the and support them.” hazard-prone area because of their familiarity with the neighborhood, attachment to the community and access to jobs. [...] She works in emergencies in one of the most flood-prone countries in the world and is part of a community of humanitarians who are innovating to anticipate the needs of the most vulnerable and support them during disasters.