office of the Executive Director

Dear Readers,

October has been a very eventful month for ADPC. Above and beyond the on-going projects and activities, we became occupied in planning and implementing assistance to the government and people of Pakistan who were victims of and affected by the October 8 major earthquake in South Asia. By the last week of October, 56,000 deaths had been registered in Pakistan alone.

Suvit Yodmani, Executive Director, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ACTIVITIES

ADPC’s role in the South-Asia Earthquake (October)
ADPC in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and AIT sent a joint mission to assess the damage and needs in housing in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake from 31 October 2005 – 4 November 2005 with the view to reconstruction of the housing in the affected areas.

ADPC together with UNDP Pakistan, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank launched a ten-day Inter-Agency Assessment of the Recovery Needs in the affected areas beginning on 24th October 2005.

ADPC assisted Pakistan in obtaining the raw satellite images after the earthquake for some of the affected areas from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) . Various other organisations like United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and ITC Netherlands are being approached for the supply of satellite images.

ADPC staff contributed personally about US$ 2,000 in aid of search, rescue and relief work in Kashmir.

EVENTS

ADPC hosted farewell luncheon for H.E. Mir Hussain Bakhsh Bangulzai, (October 26)
ADPC hosted a farewell luncheon for H.E. Mir Hussain Bakhsh Bangulzai, Ambassador of Pakistan to Thailand to express appreciation for the coordination and support ADPC has received from the Pakistani Embassy in Bangkok during the Ambassador’s term of office in Thailand.

Visit to ADPC for the delegation of Shanghai Municipal Civil Defence Office, Shanghai, China, (November 6-10)
ADPC was very happy to welcome 7 senior officials from Shanghai Municipal Civil Defence Office (SCDO) to meet and discuss establishing a training center for disaster management in Shanghai with the assistance of ADPC. The SCDO delegation also visited the Thai Red Cross and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPC).

Visit to ADPC by the Norwegian Emergency Preparedness System (NOREPS), (November 8)
On November 8, The Norwegian Private Sector team of 10 led by Mr. Bjorn Johannessen of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway visited ADPC to share information on ADPC’s and NOREP’s activities and to seek avenues of collaboration between NOREPS and ADPC.

WORKSHOPS/TRAINING

2nd Batch Basic Emergency Response Instructors Course, Thailand (October 25 – November 12),
ADPC in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) is organising 2nd batch Basic Emergency Response Instructors Course in Bangkok. The training course will provide basic knowledge and skills to emergency responders to manage patients’ safely and effectively during emergency and disaster situations. The training course selected 5 participants to perform as assistant instructors in the second batch of the course. 24 participants from medical first response, government agencies and civil society, designated search and rescue teams, and laypersons in the community participated in the course.

Climate Forecast Application Workshop, Hyderabad, India, (November 7-15)
ADPC is participating in the Climate Forecast Application Workshop organised by the Asia Pacific Network (APN) from 7-15 November. An IRI and ADPC expert will be one of the key speakers in the Workshop at International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Acrid Tropics (ICRISAT). The presentation will focus on India’s climate risk management in the agriculture sector.

32nd Regional Training Course on Disaster Management, Bangkok, (November 7-25)
The 32nd Regional Training Course on Disaster Management organised by ADPC in Bangkok from 7-25 November 2005 is being attended by 41 mid to senior level staff members of UN, international organisations, NGO’s, and of national governments. Participants come from 14 African, Asian, Australian, European, North American and Pacific countries. The purpose of the course is to provide comprehensive disaster management knowledge and skills to enhance the capabilities of executive managers who have key disaster management responsibilities. Through this course participants will be able to develop effective strategies and systems for disaster prevention and mitigation; apply risk management processes in order to identify, assess and deal with disaster risks; utilise an emergency coordination center to manage disaster events and assess key implementation issues and requirements in disaster management. For those applicants who applied late, nother DMC Course (DMC33) will be organised from 16 January – 3 February 2006. Up to 11 November, 35 applicants have already registered.

National Consultation Workshop on Community Based Disaster Risk Management Indonesia (October 17-18)
APDC is implementing national workshops on community based disaster risk management in Indonesia This workshop will focus on sharing of CBDRM experiences and identification of issues and challenges, and development of strategies for future strengthening of CBDRM practices in the countries.

National Workshop on CBDRM Good Practice Criteria, Impact Indicators, and Criteria to Determine Family and Community Vulnerability to Natural Disasters, East Timor (November 9-11)
The national workshop on CBDRM will focus on development of national standards on community based disaster risk management. In the workshop, criteria and indicators for assessment of vulnerability at family and community levels will be developed. It is expected that the formulation of these standards will help to improve the practice of CBDRM in East Timor.

Integrating Community Based Disaster Risk Management into Donor Policy and Planning, Bangkok, (November 11)
ADPC in collaboration with UNESCAP is organising a workshop for the representatives of the donor community of Southeast Asia. The goal of the workshop is to encourage continuous policy dialogue with the broader donor community to institutionalize CBDRM in their development policy and practice. The objectives of the workshop are: to mobilize donor support for the national strategies on integrating CBDRM into the socio-economic development process; review current status on mainstreaming DRR, experiences and challenges; learn from, and establish synergies with similar on-going efforts, and explore possible tools and opportunities to facilitate mainstreaming in donor policy and programming.

Refresher Course on Capacity Building in Asia using Information Technology Applications (CASITA), Hanoi, (November 14-25)
ADPC, in partnership with ITC, the Netherlands and Hanoi Architectural University is organising a course in Hanoi, Vietnam during 14-25 November 2005 on Capacity Building in Asia using Information Technology Applications. The course is intended as a train-the-trainers course, as it is directed to University teachers that are involved in the development or implementation of disaster management courses. The course will be attended by mid-level professionals from academic and research institutions working on geo-informatics for hazard and risk assessment. About 35 participants from Asian countries will attend the course.

Strengthening the Resilience of Local Communities in Coastal Areas to Water Related Natural Disasters, Copenhagen (November 16-18)
ADPC is participating in the Workshop on Strengthening the Resilience of Local Communities in Coastal Areas to Water Related Natural Disasters, organised by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and UNISDR in Copenhagen from 6-18 November. ADPC is contributing a country paper on the "Water Related Natural Disasters in Coastal Areas" from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, in consultation with the National Disaster Management Organizations (NDMOs) of these countries in the workshop.

4th Inter-sessional Working Group Meeting for the Development of a Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System for the Indian Ocean (ICG/IOTWS), Singapore (November 19-25)
ADPC is participating in the 4th Inter-sessional Working Group Meeting for the Development of a Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System for the Indian Ocean to ensure that efforts to establish the regional tsunami warning arrangement for Southeast Asia are coordinated with the International Oceanographic Commission. The main output of this event is to create an operational directive (International exchange of Advices and Warnings, establishing and maintaining data-bases on contacts, warning address lists for international dissemination of warning messages, warning phases, etc.), which will address the issues of accountability, the time frame of operations, and the language to be used for international exchange of tsunami warning messages.

Agricultural Damage and Loss Assessment Workshop, Manila, Philippines (November 21-25)
ADPC is participating and presenting a paper on Assessment Methodologies and Field Experiences in the workshop - Agricultural Damage and Loss Assessment at the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). The workshop to be held in Manila, The Philippines is being orgnised by FAO.

Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction, Geneva (November 22-23)
ADPC is participating in the 12th session of Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction organised by UNISDR from 22-23 November in Geneva, Switzerland. The key focus of this meeting is to support nations and committees in the implementation of Hyogo Framework.

Expert Group Meeting on Social Aspects of Integrated Flood Management, Geneva (November 25-26)
ADPC is participating in the Expert Group Meeting on Social Aspects of Integrated Flood Management organised by WMO from 25-26 November in Geneva. A paper on "Social Aspects of Integrated Flood Management: Enhancing Stakeholders Engagement" has been submitted to the WMO, and will be presented to the expert group during the meeting.

Regional workshop on CBDRM training curriculum for local government officials Bangkok, (November 28-29)
ADPC is organising a three-day workshop in Bangkok on CBDRM training curriculum for local government which will bring together CBDRM practitioners from partner countries viz. Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Timor Leste and Vietnam. The workshop aims to produce a commonly agreed manual for training on various aspects of CBDRM, focusing on curriculum for training staff of National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) and other relevant government agencies in the planning and implementation of CBDRM projects.

Planning and Implementation of Flood Preparedness Programmes, Cambodia, (November 28 – December 1)
ADPC is organising a training course on Planning and Implementation of Flood Preparedness Programmes at the Provincial and District levels in Kratie province of Cambodia. The training is targeted at the members of Provincial Committee for Disaster Management (PCDM) and it will be conducted in the local language with resource persons from NGOs such as ACF, OXFAM and Cambodia Red Cross, as well as from NCDM-Cambodia. The project is supported by DIPECHO.

Meeting with Business Groups in Vietnam (November)
ADPC in collaboration with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry is organising a meeting with Business groups in Vietnam. The purpose of the meeting is to orientate the business firms on the hazards and risks that are present in the contexts where they operate. It will also discuss the potential disaster risks that might be caused by the business activities. The meeting will discuss importance of identifying risk and action planning for managing those risks in order to ensure safety of the business, employees and the communities where such businesses are located; and to identify the potential resources from the private sector to provide community-based disaster management initiatives.

SOME UPCOMING EVENTS IN DECEMBER 2005

National Workshop on CBDRM Good Practice Criteria, Impact Indicators, and Criteria to Determine Family and Community Vulnerability to Natural Disasters Indonesia, December 7-8, 2005
Nutrition for Children & Mothers in Disasters (NCM), Teheran, December 3-14, 2005