Launch of Flood Emergency Management Strengthening Project

In September 2004, ADPC launched a new project, “Flood Emergency Management Strengthening (FEMS)”. FEMS is Component 4 of the Flood Management and Mitigation Program of the Mekong River Commission (MRC). The project will be implemented in close collaboration with MRC and Deutsche Gesellschaft fÜr Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, with funding from the Federal Republic of Germany. The project is intended to enhance the skills of civil authorities, emergency managers and community residents in matters related to flood preparedness and mitigation and help strengthen emergency management systems to deal more effectively with Mekong floods.

Under the 34-month project (September 2004 to June 2007), the following activities will be undertaken:

• Training in selected provinces and districts of Cambodia and Vietnam (with the close involvement of national disaster management practitioners who will gradually take over the course training),

• Support to provincial and district disaster management authorities for development and implementation of flood preparedness plans in the selected provinces and districts,

• Developing and distributing awareness raising materials,

• Two regional workshops to encourage sharing information on good practices in the Lower Mekong Basin, and

• Support for preparation of practical trans-boundary emergency preparedness tools through province-to-province dialogues and study tours.

All activities will be implemented in close consultation with the National Mekong Committees (NMC), National Disaster Management Offices, Provincial and District Disaster Management Committees (PCDM/DCDM), National Red Cross Societies, government line agencies and partner NGOs working in flood management and mitigation in the MRC member countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.

Successful Completion of Phase I of ECHO-MRC-ADPC Capacity Building Project

The project “Capacity Building for Flood Preparedness Planning in the Lower Mekong Basin Phase I” was implemented through a partnership of MRC, ADPC and ECHO and involved building capacity for flood preparedness, planning and response through the use of flood information products for the countries of the Lower Mekong Basin (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam). The program was financially supported by ECHO under their “3rd Action Plan for Southeast Asia”.

The overall objective of this 10-month program (September 2003 to June 2004) was “Enhanced capacity for undertaking flood preparedness planning so that emergency response during floods in the Lower Mekong Basin is carried out in a timely, efficient and coordinated way”.

The main accomplishments of the project were:

• An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the current use and application of flood forecasting and information products produced by MRC and national line agencies,

• An assessment of the status and gaps in training for flood emergencies in the four target countries,

• A training curriculum based on the findings of the assessment to be delivered in two of the four MRC member countries: Cambodia and Vietnam,

• Two pilot training courses; one in Cambodia’s Kampong Cham Province in April 2004, and one in Vietnam’s Dong Thap Province in May 2004; with provincial and district disaster management committees as key participants and training courses conducted in Khmer and Vietnamese, and

• A two one-day national seminar in Thailand and Lao PDR.

Both projects were implemented by the Disaster Management Systems Team at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. For more details contact: ajrego@adpc.net