Asian Disaster Management News (Vol. 3, No. 3, November 1997)

Vol. 3, No. 3 November 1997

AUDMP - making cities safer ...

Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP) Highlights

First Regional Course in Urban Disaster Management

ADPC's Learning and Professional Development Unit ran its first regional course under the Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP), Introduction to Urban Disaster Mitigation, in Bangkok October 20 - 30, 1997. The course offered Asian urban management professionals a first-time opportunity to learn about how urban areas in the region are vulnerable to natural and technological hazards, and what they can do to protect their cities from disaster. The course covered a range of applied topics including hazard and vulnerability assessment for urban areas and disaster mitigation tools such as land use planning and safe building practices. The twenty-two course participants came from the five current AUDMP target countries -- Philippines, Indonesia, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka -- as well as from Bangladesh, Korea and Malaysia. Over one-third of the participants were self-funding, representing national, provincial and local governments, and NGOs. Well-known academics and practitioners in the fields of disaster management and urban planning came from all over Asia and the West to present at the course. ADPC experimented with various kinds of new information technology in delivering this course. An electronic forum was established on the ADPC homepage to promote sharing of ideas on disaster mitigation between participants and the outside world. In addition, a telephone conference linked participants in Bangkok with disaster management experts from USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and Virginia Polytech in Washington D.C. and for a discussion on disaster mitigation. Course participants, representing local decision makers, administrators, city planners, engineers, among others, indicated that the course offered them new, pragmatic tools which they can use in their professional lives to reduce the vulnerability of their communities.

Our Partners

Continuing with sketches of local project partners in the AUDMP network, we introduce ITB:

Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB)

The Indonesian Urban Disaster Mitigation Project (IUDMP), focusing on earthquake mitigation in Bandung, is being implemented by the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), Institute for Research.

ITB is one of the premier technical universities in the region. The role of ITB's Institute for Research is to promote inter-disciplinary research amongst the various faculties and research centers devoted to science, technology, and visual arts. The IUDMP project reflects this interdisciplinary approach and will be carried out collaboratively by the Center for Earthquake Study (CEES) and the Center for Urban and Regional Planning Study (CURDS).

The Institute for Research has been involved in many earthquake disaster management activities in Indonesia. For example, ITB faculty have conducted earthquake mitigation training in Maumere and Kupang in 1995 and 1997. This training was incorporated into the reconstruction program in Flores following the devastaing 1992 earthquake.

Aside from CEES' extensive background in earthquake hazard and damage assessment research, active interest in disaster management within the Institute for Research emerged partly out of necessity. According to Dr. Harkunti Rayahu, a lecturer in the department of Civil Engineering involved in the IUDMP, landslides in the city of Bandung in 19.. brought natural hazard issues to the Institute's immediate attention. The fact that several ITB faculty living in the hills surrounding the city had their homes damaged called attention to the importance of disaster mitigation a very personal way.

ITB is forming new partnerships with local institutions to implement this project. The seismic hazard and vulnerability assessment for the city of Bandung, for example, has brought the academics together with practitioners and government officers from the Municipality of Bandung, the Building Control Office, the Regional Center for Research on Human Settlements, and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, among others.

For more information about the IUDMP and ITB, please see the following Web page: http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th/audmp/indonesia/indonesia.html

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