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Dear Readers,
We are happy to keep you abreast with the key activities and events at ADPC with this month's updates. 2005 had been a very eventful year and we anticipate coming months in 2006 to be very busy too with number of activities, meetings and workshops.
Suvit Yodmani, Executive Director, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
ACTIVITIES
Meeting with key officials from National Disaster Management Authority, India (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs, India and National Institute of Disaster Management, India (NIDM), New Delhi (December 5-10)
ADPC Executive Director Dr. Suvit Yodmani and Dr. Subbiah, Director of the Climate Risk Management Team, met Gen. NC Viz Vice-Chairman of NDMA and 5 other board members to brief them on the role of ADPC in the region and its efforts for developing partnership with agencies for implementing disaster reduction programmes. ADPC’s experiences and efforts in the region were well recognised by NDMA for all its efforts in mitigating impacts of disasters. They also discussed various disaster management systems and structures of countries of Asia and the Pacific, Australia, Europe, and North America. The discussion led to collaboration between ADPC and NDMA to draw up and implement specific action plans.
The Executive Director and his colleague also met with Mr. Dhar Chakorbarty, Executive Director of NIDM and discussed the possibility of MOU between ADPC and NIDM which would cover collaborative activities such as research, training and provide opportunities for exchanging experiences through networking and enhance the capacity of NIDM to translate its mandate into action.
Press Conference on the Establishment of the Tsunami and Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Southeast Asia, Phang Nga (December 26)
ADPC organised a press conference on the establishment of the Tsunami and Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Southeast Asia to mark the first anniversary of the devastating Tsunami of December 26, 2004. H.E. Mr. Suranand Vejjachiwa, Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister presided over the press conference. Two sea-level gauge stations have been installed on the west coast of Thailand, located at Koh Taphao Noi (completed in October 2005), and at Koh Miang (completed in November 2005). Three more tide gauges accompanied by 5 seismic stations will be installed in Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam across the region in the next 3 months. These multi-purpose sea-level gauges are crucial for determining the existence of a tsunami and for monitoring its progress. They will also monitor sea-level activity, storm surges and generate climate change data. This End-to-End early warning system will develop an overall culture of safety and disaster preparedness that starts with the technical components of a tsunami early-warning system and ends with a heightened awareness of disaster planning and mitigation at all levels, particularly at the community level. Countries covered by the Tsunami and Multi-Hazard Early Warning System are Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Participation in the Launching Ceremony
of the Roadmap for Disaster Risk Management – Towards safer Sri Lanka, Colombo – (December
30)
On the invitation of the
government of Sri Lanka, Dr. Suvit Yodmani, ADPC Executive Director participated
at the launching ceremony of the Roadmap for Disaster Risk Management – Towards
safer Sri Lanka. At the event Dr. Suvit made a special speech outlining
the assistance provided by ADPC to Sri Lanka in the past and made an
offer for technical assistance in implementation of initiatives for the
future. ADPC would provide necessary technical assistance to Disaster
Management Center (DMC) through UNDP in developing project proposals
for obtaining the assistance of international agencies and donor community
for implementation of the Road map for disaster risk management in Sri
Lanka. This is one of the important initiatives on long term disaster
risk management to reduce future disaster risk in the country, undertaken
by the government of Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of the tsunami, in addition
to the recovery initiatives in Tsunami affected areas. Hon. Prime Minister
of Sri Lanka in his capacity as the Minister for Disaster Management
presided over the ceremony. The ceremony was attended by several members
of the cabinet, parliamentarians, UN agencies, International donor agencies,
government stakeholder agencies and national and International NGOs.
Damage and Loss Assessment Methodology, and Compendium of Agriculture Risk Management Initiatives, Manila (January 12)
ADPC expert presented agricultural damage and loss assessment methodology developed for the project: Damage and Loss Assessment Methodology, and Compendium of Agriculture Risk Management Initiatives at the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), Manila on January 12, 2006.
Climate Forecast Applications in Bangladesh-2 (CFAB-2) project, Dhaka (January 14-17)
ADPC expert will be on official mission to Bangladesh to meet with USAID for the finalization of funding arrangements of Climate Forecast Applications in Bangladesh-2 (CFAB-2) project. CFAB-2 is a follow-on program to CFAB-1, implemented from November 2000 to December 2003, which developed a three-tiered flood forecasting system for Bangladesh. The focus of CFAB-2 is the transfer of forecasting technology to Bangladeshi institutions for the application of the forecasts in reducing risks in the agriculture and water resources sector in disaster management.
Events
Visit of the Norwegian Ambassador to Thailand to ADPC (January 24)
ADPC has invited H.E. Mrs. Merete Fjeld Brattested, Norwegian Ambassador to Thailand to visit ADPC on 24 January 2006. Ambassador Mrs. Merete Fjeld Brattested has accepted to become a new member of the Board of Trustees of ADPC. This visit will provide an opportunity to brief Her Excellency on ADPC’s activities and active involvement in the region and to further enhance the on-going partnership and collaboration between the Royal Norwegian Government and ADPC.
Workshops/Training
Workshop on Incorporating the Incident Command System (ICS) into the Government of Sri Lanka Disaster Response System, Colombo (January 11-12)
ADPC is participating in a workshop entitled “Incorporating the Incident Command System (ICS) into the Government of Sri Lanka Disaster Response System”. The main objectives of the workshop are to develop a collective vision for integrating the ICS into the Sri Lanka’s disaster management system and collaboratively develop a road map to realize the vision for integrating the ICS. This event will be a relevant input for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Programme supported by USAID.
33rd Regional
Training Course on Disaster Management (DMC), Bangkok16
January – February 3)
The
33rd Regional Disaster Management Course organised by
ADPC in Bangkok from
16 January – 3 February 2006 will be attended by 40 mid-to-senior
level staff members from the UN,
international organisations, NGO’s, and national governments.
Participants come from 17 African, Asian, European, North American
and Pacific countries. The course provides 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; an
emergency coordination center to manage disaster events and assess
key implementation issues and requirements in disaster management.
Regional
Workshop on CBDRM Standards, Bangkok(January 24-27)
In
partnership with UNESCAP, ADPC is organising a regional workshop
on CBDRM standards on January 24-27, 2006 in Bangkok with the funding support from DIPECHO. The purpose of formulating CBDRM
standards is to contribute to improvements in the practice of community-based
disaster risk management (CBDRM) in the countries of Southeast Asia by providing guidelines to decision makers
and practitioners for designing, implementing and evaluating the
community-based initiatives and projects. In
line with this, ADPC has prepared a draft report titled "CBDRM Standards
of Good Practice, Project Impact Indicators and Vulnerability Criteria".
The workshop will discuss the draft CBDRM standards and provide suggestions
and comments for improvement of the content and substance. It is
expected that the CBDRM standards prepared through the national as
well as regional workshops will help standardize CBDRM practices
in the countries of Southeast Asia
Strategic
Collaborative Planning Workshop, Jakarta (January 30-31)
The
national consultation workshops, conducted in all the PDRSEA
countries, developed a framework for institutionalizing community-based
disaster risk management (CBDRM) in government policy-making and planning
defining the vision, mission, goals and strategies of CBDRM and
key players and their respective roles in the institutionalization
of the same in all the participating countries. The Strategic Collaborative
Planning Workshop will develop a five year strategic collaborative
action plan for each country to institutionalize CBDRM, which will
help make the rural communities safe and prosperous in the years
to come. Such workshops have already held in other PDRSEA project
countries. The workshop in Indonesia will be held on January
30-31, 2006.
National
Workshop on CBDRM Standards, Dili, Timor Leste
(February 9-10)
Three-day
national workshops are being organized in five project countries
of PDRSEA for developing criteria for CBDRM good practices
and impact indicators for CBDRM projects. Criteria (and indicators)
for assessment of vulnerability at family and community levels will
also be developed in the workshop. The outputs of this activity should
lead towards improvements in the practice of community based disaster
risk management in the countries.
Disaster
Management Course, Kabul (February 9-19)
A two-week Disaster Management Course
to be held in Kabul Afghanistan from
February 9-19 will provide comprehensive disaster management knowledge
and skills to enhance the capabilities of 30 senior/middle level
policy managers, decision-makers from government and non-government
offices.This
course is component of ADPC’s “Training & Capacity
Building Project” in partnership with InWent Germany with funding support from
UNDP Afghanistan.
For more information on the above workshops/training, events and activities, please visit our website
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