Jo da Silva
Shifting agendas: response to resilience
The role of the engineer in disaster risk reduction
Jo da Silva is a Director at Arup where she leads Arup International Development, which she founded in 2007. Having studied engineering at the University of Cambridge, she began her career working in central India before joining Arup as a graduate engineer in 1989.
Her subsequent experience as both a chartered civil and structural engineer includes working on significant projects such as Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong, as well as the design of numerous educational, cultural and community facilities and various urban regeneration projects, in both the developed and developing world.
Jo's interest in post-disaster contexts began in 1991 when she became a member of RedR, a non-governmental agency providing training and technical expertise after major disasters. She has provided engineering expertise to service refugee camps during the Rwandan genocide, shelter advice following Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and she co-ordinated the construction of 60,000 shelters in Sri Lanka following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
As a recognised expert in post-disaster shelter and reconstruction, she has authored various publications including 'Lessons from Aceh: Key Considerations in Post-Disaster Reconstruction' and 'Engineering and Disaster Resource-Partnership: A new puiblic-private partnership model for disaster response'.