ADPC hosted a delegation from the People's Republic of China over the past few days. The delegation, made up of 8 officials from national and provincial governments, has been staying in Thailand to learn more regarding disaster management systems and approaches. Today, the delegation visited the ADPC Headquarters.

M. Sajedul Hassan, ADPC Director and Chief of ADPC, expressed thanks on behalf of the organization for the support that the Government of China has provided to the ADPC over the last few years, especially in the wake of the 2011 floods. Money donated to the ADPC by the Shenzhen One Foundation of China was used to provide water purification materials, foods and uniforms to local schools in two Thai provinces, for which both the school and the Thai government were grateful.

Mr. Liu Zhao, head of the delegation, then expressed how happy the delegation were to visit Thailand and the ADPC, and conveyed thanks for support from the ADPC in facilitating the visit

“The Government of the People's Republic of China has received more and more support from international communities during its disasters, especially in sharing experience and lessons in managing disasters. This has been really beneficial to our country, and helps us to improve our capacity in this field" Mr. Liu said.

He continued by commenting on the aims of their trip to Thailand; "We were hoping that we would be able to observe different experiences and lessons in this division”.

Ms. Ling Ling Jiang, project manager for China and North-East Asia in the ADPC, presented the organization's work with the Government of the People's Republic of China since the year 2000, which included courses, study tours, the preparation of training manuals and partnerships with organizations such as Ministry of Civil Affairs, the China Earthquake Administration and the China Meteorological Administration. She thanked the Asia Foundation Beijing Office for supporting ADPC in developing and delivering training courses on Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM in various provinces

Ling Ling also outlined how the paradigms surrounding disaster management and the conception of disaster have changed over the years globally.

Members of the delegation called the meeting with ADPC as “inspiring” and several members from various governmental agencies expressed interest in implementing training courses in their regions.

Sajedul and Ling Ling made clear that training courses in disaster management would be made available in Chinese language upon request, and suggested a sereis of programs that could be adapted to the changing needs of the country, especially in the area of disaster risk management.

ADPC looks forward to continuing to strengthen cooperation with the People's Republic of China in 2013.