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AUDMP
Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation News - June 2002
This month's issue includes
the following features:
Should you wish to receive
the News by e-mail please send a message to the AUDMP Information
and Networking Coordinator at ccapikul@ait.ac.th
Please
click here to go to AUDMP monthly activity highlights
Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction for Cities (EVRC-1) course a fulfilling endeavor to participants
Kathmandu,
Nepal - More than 25 participants from six earthquake-prone countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines and
Turkey attended the first regional training course on Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction for Cities (EVRC-1) during 20-31 May 2002 in
the most earthquake prone city in the world - Kathmandu, Nepal.
EVRC is the fourth training course developed under the Training and Resource Materials and Continuing Education (TRMCE) component of the Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP) of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Bangkok. It was delivered by ADPC in collaboration with the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET-Nepal), the World Seismic Safety Initiative (WSSI) and the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI). The course content was compiled and evaluated by a panel of international experts.
The 10-day course consisted of five modules, to provide knowledge, instill skills and attitudes for Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction (EVR) approaches and mitigation initiatives. The course contents consisted of overview of urbanization, natural hazards, vulnerabilities, risks and disaster management as well as an in-depth study of earthquake hazard, earthquake vulnerabilities, and EVR methods, planning for EVR and plan implementation for
EVR.
These modules were successfully delivered by a panel of international resource persons, including Prof. Haresh Shah, Chairman of the WSSI; Dr. Fouad Bendimerad, Chairman of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI); Mr. Amod Dixit, General Secretary of NSET-Nepal; Mr. Krishna Pribadi, Project Manager of Indonesian Urban Disaster Mitigation Project (IUDMP); Mr. Ramon J. Santiago, Chief of Staff, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and several professionals from ADPC.
Through learning-by-doing, the participants had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the RADIUS (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas against Seismic Disasters), which is a tool for preliminary earthquake risk assessment developed and launched by the secretariat of the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), United Nations. The learning process of RADIUS was facilitated by a field survey to Ward 34 in Kathmandu city. The field exposure also provided the participants a firsthand experience on EVR from ongoing mitigation work implemented by NSET-Nepal, enabling them to “learn and be able to replicate the mitigation measures in their own countries”- a key message from Ms. Zenaida Delica, Director of Training and Education for ADPC during her welcome address.
During the two weeks of the course, the participants gradually acquired a better understanding and a broadened perspective in EVR despite their heterogeneous backgrounds and disciplines.
“When I came here, I was asking myself the same question as what Professor Shah was asking us. Who am I? What can I do about EVR? I am a doctor, not a technical man. I sometimes found it difficult to understand some technical terms we were discussing about. I knew I lacked knowledge about earthquake. But as days went by I have developed some understanding in EVR and I now realize who I am and what I can do about EVR,” said Mr. Angelito A. Llabres, Assistant City Health Officer from Marikina
city, Philippines.
Inspired by the knowledge and skills learned from the course, the participants developed some EVR initiatives to be applied within their professional areas to stimulate people towards awareness of earthquake and EVR.
“The course has deepened my understanding about earthquakes in Nepal, which is a highly earthquake-prone country. As a lecturer myself, I will try to encourage the final-year civil engineering students to integrate earthquake risk assessment into their work as it is another important feature that needs to be taken into account when constructing a building in Nepal. They should be taught about this. The present Nepalese engineering curriculum rarely includes this aspect,” said Mr. Suresh Hada,
Structural Engineering Lecturer and Assistant Campus Chief, Earthquake Safety Group Pokhara (ESAG-Pokhara) under the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
Though run for the first time, the course was evaluated by the participants to be a very successful and a useful one. There was unanimous agreement that “its learning objectives have been achieved”. Not only did the course fulfill their expectation, it was also a venue where people, from different countries to meet and learn from each other.
Friendships forged would go a long way to expand a network of professionals committed to
EVR.
Professor Haresh Shah addressing the closing ceremony told the participants that, “during the past two weeks, you have learned more from each other than from the speakers. You have created a network of people working in EVR and I hope you will continue further dialogue with each other in an attempt to reduce earthquake vulnerability.”
The EVRC will be next offered as a pre-symposium training course at the 4th General Assembly of the Asian Seismological Commission scheduled for November 2002 in Kathmandu, Nepal. For more information, please visit the ASC website at
http://safe.nset.org.np/ASC2002/.
CHPB expedites the procedure for academic integration of NDM at the University of Moratuwa
Sri Lanka - Following the first activity held in January 2002 in the process of integrating the subject of Natural Disaster Management (NDM) into the curricula of all courses of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, the Centre for Housing, Planning and Building (CHPB) recently stepped up the procedure by organizing a Curriculum
Development Committee meeting on 3 May 2002. The meeting was attended by several representatives from the Department of Architecture, Town Planning and Building Economics, University of
Moratuwa.
The workshop was conducted to further consider this initiative after an introductory workshop, which was the first activity in the process, was held on 28 January 2002 for the staff of the three departments of the faculty, namely Town and Country Planning, Architecture, and Building Economics. It aimed to provide regular monitoring of the curriculum development activity by SLUMDMP as well as to ensure quality of the output as there is a continuous review throughout the process.
The first course to be taken up would be the B.Sc. (Hons.) Degree Course in Town and Country Planning. The disaster mitigation module for this course is presently being developed and the first draft will be made available soon.
The course development of NDB is expected to be completed by September 2002. It then will be incorporated into the Faculty’s curriculum in the first semester of the next academic year. CHPB will facilitate the process by organizing a one-day workshop in September where the draft curricula will be presented and reviewed by other staff members of the faculty after the working committee finalizes it.
ADPC offers a training course on Flood Risk Management (FRM-3)
The third regional training course on Flood Risk Management (FRM-3) to be organized by ADPC is scheduled for 16-27 September 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The course offers an integrated approach to respond to the perennial problem of floods, flooding in the Asia-Pacific region. Using lessons learned from both successful and failed experiences with structural, non-structural and the less structural strategies, the course will enable participants to understand and analyze causative factors and create recommendations appropriate to their country’s flood situation.
The course is linked to the various ongoing efforts of the ADPC relating to the flood issue. These are demonstration project experience of AUDMP, the Flood Preparedness Information Network (FINE) in South Asia; the Extreme Climate Events (ECE) Program; the cooperation between the ADPC and the Mekong River Commission; and the community-based initiatives for flood mitigation. The course has been developed under the Training, Resource Materials and Continuing Education (TRMCE) component of AUDMP.
The FRM-3 consists of four modules that impart the information and skills in flood problem analysis, understanding and appreciation of the various approaches to flood risk reduction, determination of appropriateness of the strategies and/or measures to achieve the desired goal of flood risk/damage reduction.
The course is designed for national and local (city/town)
administrators, the development and planning authorities flood control professionals, national agencies’ officials and staff in urban planning, housing, public works and water resource development and management; and disaster managers with flood hazard as the main cause of disasters in their sphere of responsibility or concern. The course fee is US$2,000 per participant which include tuition fee and costs of books and other materials.
For more information, please contact Mr. Zoro Zuniga, FRM-3 course director at
zbabel@ait.ac.th or visit the ADPC website at
www.adpc.ait.ac.th
MONTHLY UPDATE: Regional Workshop on Best Practices in Disaster Mitigation: Lessons Learned from the Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program and other initiatives,
24-26 September in Bali, Indonesia
WORKSHOP WEBSITE is being continually updated. Do visit regularly at
www.adpc.ait.ac.th/audmp/rllw/default.html. Here, you can register online, find the workshop details, themes and the latest agenda.
WORKSHOP BROCHURES are available for distribution. Multiple copies will be sent to AUDMP partners and networks of cities and disaster management for dissemination. Copies of the brochure can be requested from
audmp@ait.ac.th. For a preview of the workshop brochure have a look at
www.adpc.ait.ac.th/audmp/rllw/brochure_rllw.pdf
EIGHT THEMES fundamental to urban disaster mitigation will be presented and discussed at the workshop. Working papers on each theme with contributions from theme specialists, practitioners working in the field of disaster mitigation and AUDMP partners are being developed and will be published for distribution at the workshop. A workshop proceedings capturing all aspects of the themes’ presentations and discussions will also be produced. Details of the eight themes can be found at
www.adpc.ait.ac.th/audmp/rllw/themes.html.
CALL FOR PAPERS have been announced for external participations as an initiative to promote a forum for knowledge sharing between AUDMP and other disaster mitigation activities in Asia. The paper could be a case study, a theoretical overview of a theme with practical examples, innovative methods, tools and approaches
adopted under any of the themes, etc. A committee has been set up to review the papers for inclusion as part of the theme working papers and the workshop
proceedings. More information on the call for papers is available at
www.adpc.ait.ac.th/audmp/rllw/papers.html.
WORKSHOP is open for everyone interested. The registration fee is US$100 per person which will cover workshop documents, admission to all theme sessions,
local hospitality during the meeting. For more information e-mail us at
audmp@ait.ac.th
For updated information on the workshop subscribe to the workshop mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to
adpc-wkshp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
CHECK this space for regular updates on the workshop!
The
application of social marketing (Part 1)
Two features in the social marketing series that appeared in the April and May issue of the AUDM News covered some theoretical aspects of social marketing, including its definition, history and components. Here is the last article, which will focus on application of social marketing for specific campaigns, including disaster mitigation, based on the “5P”s of the marketing mix, namely product, price, place, promotion and positioning.
Sound research is the prerequisite basis for developing a social marketing program. Systematic research in relation to socio-demographic, psychological, psychographic and behavioral characteristics of the target audience enables social marketers to understand their specific needs, desires, beliefs and attitudes. This primary data will enable the design of a social marketing campaign to custom-fit the target audience.
Social marketers must first set specific, measurable and attainable social marketing objectives. They can start with broadly stated objectives but then go on to identify the specific behavior and actions of target audience that manifest the broadly stated objectives. For example, the Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Risk Management Project (KVERMP) aimed to reduce the earthquake vulnerability in Kathmandu. So the action they recommended people to take was to build properly-engineered earthquake-resistant houses, using earthquake-resistant building material. Therefore, earthquake-resistant house was, in this case, the program’s product.
Social marketers must next determine what product positioning is most suitable for each target segment. To ensure the success of the campaign, the product must be positioned to be distinctive and motivating to attract target audience’s attention and interest, that would lead them to adopt the product.
Disaster is commonly understood as a severe event that causes loss of life and property. Social marketers may use severity of disasters as a motivator based on “fear” to persuade people to adopt their product. Another possible option for positioning the product like disaster-resistant houses is to use “warmth” as a motivator. Some express concern that “fear” approach would
unnecessarily scare away target audience instead of drawing their attention to the campaign. “Warmth” technique applies less pressure and could generate a “voluntary” attention and interest among target audience. One example of this case is positioning a disaster-resistant shelter as an act of love and care toward one’s family. Building a disaster-resistant house or retrofitting the house to withstand a disaster, be it an earthquakes or a flood, can be portrayed as an act of love to your loved ones.
The application of the other three P’s, namely Place, Promotion and Price will be discussed in the next issue of the AUDM News. Be sure to catch it!
References:
- Ind, Nicholas, “Great Advertising Campaigns: Goals and Accomplishments”, 1993, NTC Business Books: Illinois
- Kotler, Philip and Roberto, L. Eduardo, “Social Marketing: Strategies for Changing Public Behavior”, 1989, The Free
Press: New York
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