On 2-3 May 2013 an inception meeting kicked-off a 17 month-long project with Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) in partnership with ADPC, supported by the World Bank. The project, “Strengthening the Disaster Management Systems in Cambodia through risk assessment, early warning systems and developing building codes” is working to reduce the impact of future disasters on the country’s population, infrastructure and economy by increasing the NCDM disaster risk reductions capacities.Cambodia is among the countries worst affected by disasters in Southeast Asia. Extreme wet and dry season lead to droughts and floods almost every year. The fluctuations in climate lead to millions in agricultural losses each year.Over the past decade Cambodia has been exposed to a series of increasingly severe floods (2000, 2001, 2002 and 2009). Furthermore, even though severe storms have been historically uncommon in Cambodia, Typhoon Ketsana’s impact on the country in September 2009 has demonstrated that Cambodia must always be prepared for the worst.
Strengthening Disaster Management Systems in Cambodia
The project will accomplish the objective by addressing three sub-components with the aim of achieving three corresponding outcomes. These are:
• Sub-Component 1 (Development of national and provincial risk maps): Probabilistic risk assessment and open source software platform for risk maps, covering all provinces and identifying vulnerabilities and impacts on major sectors;
• Sub-Component 2 (Emergency management information and early warning systems): An end-to-end multi-hazard Early Warning System (EWS) and disaster awareness program from national to communal levels together with a fully functioning Disaster Management Information System (DMIS) at NCDM that includes an operational national and sub-national Damage and Needs Assessment (DANA) and Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) data management system;
• Sub-Component 3 (Development of construction guidelines and codes for housing and buildings): Guidelines, training manuals and standards development for different types of construction in the housing sector to improve quality and sustainability.
In conjunction with the project the NCDM also plans to set up the Disaster Management Information Center (DMIC) as a specialized unit for managing the effective collation and analysis of emergency management information.