Members of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Development (MDRD) program met on 19 - 20 August 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the technical and operational aspects of the MDRD program, and to make specific recommendations in order for the program to be more useful for the countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

During the two-day proceedings, TWG reviewed the terms of reference and finalized the agenda for the next meeting that will be held in March 2014. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center’s (ADPC) safer development planning and implementation department provided TWG members with a briefing about the past achievements and current approach and activities that are at the moment being carried out in a number of countries in the region. The Government of Australia will be financing the program through AusAID until 2015.

The TWG members appreciated ADPC’s efforts for complementing other similar regional initiatives as well accelerating the implementation of priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action. ADPC will ensure the development of specific outputs with regard MDRD before the next meeting in order for the TWG members to be able to provide their feedback beforehand.

As external members, the meeting was participated by Ms. Madhavi Ariyabandu from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UN-ISDR), Mr. Puji Pujiono from United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), land-use planning specialist Dr. Bharat Dahiya from Thailand, and disaster risk reduction policy and strategy expert Ms. Jennifer McKay from Australia. ADPC was represented by technical resource persons including the Deputy Executive Director Mr. N.M.S.I. Arambepola and Director Mr. Sajedul Hassan.