| AUDMP
Program Description and Accomplishments
Program
Accomplishments
Nepal
Overview:
Nepal has a long history of destructive earthquakes. With a burgeoning
population of almost a million people, uncontrolled development,
and building construction techniques that have changed little in
the past century, Kathmandu Valley becomes increasingly vulnerable
to catastrophic earthquakes with each passing year. The objective
of the project is to reduce the earthquake vulnerability of Kathmandu
Valley. The project has four main components: 1) Scenario and Action
Plan; 2) School Earthquake Safety; 3) Public Awareness; and 4) Institution
Building and Training. The Scenario and Action Plan component involves
putting information on earthquake risk and consequences in a form
that is understandable to public officials and citizens, information
gathering from operators of critical facilities, presentation of
a likely earthquake scenario to public and private decision-makers,
and generation of an action plan. The School Earthquake Safety component
establishes an Advisory Sub-Committee on school safety, design earthquake
preparedness curriculum, conduct a participatory evaluation of the
vulnerability of schools, and produce proposals for retrofitting
the buildings most at-risk. The Public Awareness component combines
public outreach in the form of various information pieces and public
talks. The highlight of the project so far has been the establishment
and commemoration of the annual Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Safety
Day on the anniversary of the devastating earthquake in 1934. The
Institution Building and Training component has helped to build
the capacity of NSET-Nepal to become a self-sustaining multi-disciplinary
professional society capable of handling various aspects of earthquake
risk management process within Nepal.
Status:
The project replication phase ended in November 2001 and project
partner has entered the MOU with ADPC for continued professional
association beyond the grant period of AUDMP. Therefore, the AUDMP/ADPC
assistance to NSET continues to carry out activities undertaken
by KVERMP during the reporting period.
Under
the Earthquake Scenario and Action Plan component, the Kathmandu
Valley Earthquake Scenario and Earthquake Risk Management Action
Plan have been developed, published and distributed in both Nepali
and English. Replication of the whole process of KVERMP requires
the continuation beyond the AUDMP in order to achieve the larger
goals aimed at Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Risk Reduction. The project
partner received the financial assistance from OFDA for continuation
of KVERMP activities through a new project called Action Plan Implementation
Project (APIP) since year 2001. The cooperation between NSET and
AUDMP/ADPC will continue further in the light of implementation
of APIP.
The
School Earthquake Safety component, which started as a component
of AUDMP, is continuing and 12 schools have been retrofitted to
date. The project has established School Earthquake Safety Advisory
Committees, drawn from the education system in the Valley, the Ministry
of Education, NGOs and INGOs, municipalities and NSET-Nepal to facilitate
the continuation of the activities into other areas within Kathmandu
valley. The system for school retrofitting has been established,
field-tested under AUDMP and it will be further developed as a component
under APIP. Vulnerability assessments of school buildings have been
conducted and the survey and conceptual retrofit design of 10 different
building typologies have been completed under AUDMP. Survey results
will be published under APIP. The masons trained in the school retrofit
program serve as trainers for the other masons within the valley.
The methodology is considered as a very successful way to promote
appropriate construction techniques for non-engineered construction.
It has become a common feature to introduce earthquake resistant
elements in almost all the new constructions of dwelling houses
undertaken by the trained masons.
Royal
Nepal Government (RNG) has recognized National Program on Earthquake
Safety Day (ESD), as an annual event and will continue to organize
ESD in association with NSET in January every year. Earthquake awareness
procession through the city, earthquake safety day’s national
meeting and exhibition are some of the highlights of the Earthquake
Safety day national program. Many government and private institutions
participated in the exhibition. This year, AUDMP sponsored staffs
of BUDMP and India to participate in this occasion. Demonstration
of the effectiveness of retrofitted construction has become a popular
feature of the exhibition organized under ESD program. In such demonstrations
1:10 scale models of the school buildings were tested on a shaking
table in order to create awareness on the impact of earthquakes
to building safety. Workshop on the experiences of natural disaster/earthquake
risk management, which was organized to coincide with the national
event, provided a forum for professionals to discuss various aspects
of risk management. Similar workshops on earthquake vulnerability
reduction are expected to organize in Bangladesh and India soon.
The
project has realized the importance of effective awareness creation
on all aspects of risk reduction measures with analyses from social,
economic and technical viewpoints. The project’s staffs conducted
seminars, workshops and participated in various meetings to raise
earthquake hazards awareness and to introduce ways for vulnerability
reduction. In order to increase public awareness, NSET-Nepal has
produced numerous information products aimed at increasing awareness
on seismic risk and preparedness. These products include posters,
fliers with construction tips, newspaper articles and television
and radio programs. The calendar annually published by NSET with
the financial assistance of municipalities and private sectors is
one of the effective awareness-creating materials produced under
the project.
The
very successful community-based initiative in the ward 34 of the
Kathmandu municipality is being carried on further. It not only
helps create a greater awareness, it also facilitates active participation
of communities in implementation of preparedness activities such
as hazard mapping and preparation of database on the community capacities
etc.
In
the replication phase the project partner has carried out environmental
mapping and risk assessment in the Dharan municipality area funded
by RUDO/USAID. During the replication phase NSET has established
partnerships with professional societies within the Dharan and Pokhra
valleys and created greater understanding for continuation of implementation
of programs similar to KVERMP in the future. The Institution of
Engineers (IOE) in association with NSET has conducted the first
national level training program on Urban Disaster Mitigation and
IOE expects to take up this course as a module in the regular post
graduate diploma course program.
Since
January 2003 the Project has entered into its Consolidation phase.
NSET is in the process of disseminating the success of KVERMP in
to 3 other municipalities namely, Pokhara (around 200 Km away from
Kathmandu), Vyas (around 150 Km away from Kathmandu) and Banepa
(around 40 Km away from Kathmandu). The consolidation Phase has
been scheduled to complete by the end of July 2003.
Philippines
Overview:
Many natural hazard, including cyclones, floods, and earthquakes,
seriously threaten urban areas of the Philippines. The objective
of the Philippines project is to reduce vulnerability to natural
hazards in two cities, beginning with flood mitigation in Naga City
and followed by multiple hazard mitigation in San Carlos. In addition
to hazard mapping and mitigation planning, the project emphasizes
land use planning, the formation of disaster management standards,
and the training of urban professionals. A Cascade City component
promotes the replication of lessons learned to other Philippine
municipalities. The lead project institutions are the League of
Cities of the Philippines (LCP) and the Philippine Business for
Social Progress (PBSP).
Status:
Philippine Cities Disaster Mitigation Project (PCDMP) in Naga City
and San Carlos city was completed in August 1999. Since then both
cities have established disaster management units in the city administration.
These units are functioning very effectively. Naga city has successfully
implemented some of the priority actions listed in the disaster
management plan developed under the project. This included landuse
planning initiatives and structural solutions to reduce the impact
of floods. The city administration of Naga city has identified the
necessity to strengthen the household and community level preparedness
to enhance the effectiveness of some of the initiatives undertaken
by the city administration. AUDMP is in the process of designing
a new project phase taking into consideration of the issues recommended
by the city administration. The project identifies the need for
initiatives to share the experience of two cities and disseminate
the best practices and lessons learned from the project to a wider
audience, mainly to other cities facing similar problems. It will
be included as one of the components of the next phase of the project.
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