College of Population Studies · Chulalongkorn University

Dr. Tadashi Nakasu

ดร.ทาดาชิ นากาสึ

Researcher, Professional Level — disaster risk reduction, environmental sociology, and sustainable development.

Bangkok, Thailand

Portrait of Dr. Tadashi Nakasu

About

A career spent inside the world's disasters

Dr. Nakasu is a Researcher, Professional Level at the College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, in Thailand. For a decade in Japan he worked at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) as a principal research fellow, and at the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) and the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI), under the auspices of UNESCO, as a research specialist.

He has carried out disaster field surveys across the globe and conducted extensive disaster-management research. He served for nearly three years as project leader of the Working Group of Hydrology of the Typhoon Committee (WMO and UN/ESCAP), and as an external evaluator for UN/ESCAP policy and projects. He has also been a visiting researcher at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and an adjunct instructor at several universities in Japan.

Field record

Major disaster field surveys

  1. 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami South & Southeast Asia
  2. 2005 Hurricane Katrina United States — Gulf Coast
  3. 2009 Typhoons Ondoy & Pepeng Philippines
  4. 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Tōhoku, Japan
  5. 2011 Chao Phraya River Flood Central Thailand

Appointments & roles

Institutions and international service

  • Researcher, Professional Level College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Current
  • Principal Research Fellow National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Japan
  • Senior Officer, Disaster Information Laboratory National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Japan
  • Research Specialist ICHARM & PWRI, under the auspices of UNESCO, Japan
  • Project Leader, Working Group of Hydrology Typhoon Committee (WMO & UN/ESCAP) ~3 years
  • External Evaluator UN/ESCAP — policy and projects
  • Visiting Researcher & Adjunct Instructor JICA and several universities in Japan

Research interests

Where my work focuses

  • Disaster risk reduction
  • Environmental sociology
  • Sustainable development
  • Demographic vulnerability
  • Aging societies
  • Comparative disaster studies
  • Disaster history
  • Community resilience
  • Disaster management

Skills

Methods & tools

  • Data Analysis R programming, QGIS, and related quantitative tools Quantitative
  • Disaster Research Thematic analysis, historical analysis, and related qualitative methods Qualitative