Regional and International Initiatives

World Seismic Safety Initiative (WSSI) was established with the aim of disseminating information on state-of-the-art earthquake engineering systems, incorporating research findings and lessons, and recommending practices to reduce disaster vulnerability. WSSI involved government and financial institutions in accepting new technology for earthquake resistance through the provision of an organizational framework with sufficient financial resources to undertake projects on information exchange and sharing hazard information. For more information visit www.wssi.org 

Earthquake and Mega Cities Initiative (EMI) was set up by a group from WSSI and focuses on addressing specific earthquake risk management issues of concern in mega cities (more than 3 million). The “twinning” concept was encouraged wherein experienced cities help less experienced cities with earthquake risk reduction measures. EMI brought together institutions, local authorities, the scientific community and others involved in risk management to accelerate the transfer of knowledge and experience. For more information visit www.earthquakesandmegacities.org/ 

Global Earthquake Safety Initiative (GESI) was developed by Geo Hazards International (GHI) and the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) to build the capacity of city managers to assess risk from natural disasters, predict future risk patterns, and track the long-term success of efforts undertaken. GESI offers a method of quantifying the risk of loss of life in earthquakes in an effort to motivate community leaders to plan development to reduce risk. Geo Hazards International (GHI) and the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) are also working to build a worldwide network of participants and technical advisors who will share mitigation and implementation plans to encourage long-term applications of the project results. For more information visit www.geohaz.org/project/gesi/GesiIntro.htm 

RADIUS highlighted the need for people to understand seismic risk and raise public awareness as a first step towards seismic risk reduction. It worked to develop earthquake damage scenarios and action plans in the nine case study cities, 3 of which are in Asia Pacific (Bandung, Tashkent and Zigong). RADIUS developed tools for seismic risk management that can be applied to earthquake prone cities anywhere and promoted information exchange for seismic risk mitigation at city level. The RADIUS initiative has set the standard for earthquake mitigation strategies and measures in the 21st century. The appropriate international platform for disseminating RADIUS case studies and implementing strategies is now the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). More information is available at
http://www.geohaz.org/radius/RADIUSIntro.htm 

Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Programme (AUDMP) was established in 1995 by ADPC. AUDMP is a nine-year programme designed to respond to the need for safer cities. Working with collaborating institutions in selected partner countries, the program strategy is a three-tiered approach working through National Demonstration Projects, Information and Networking, and Training and Resource Materials and Continuing Education. The National Demonstration project identifies partner cities vulnerable to disasters to provide working examples of urban hazard mitigation. The project includes assessment of a hazard or set of hazards followed by design and implementation of appropriate disaster mitigation measures. Two successful projects are the Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Risk Mitigation Project (KVERMP) in Kathmandu, implemented by the National Society for Earthquake Technology, Nepal, and the Indonesia Urban Disaster Mitigation Programme (IUDMP) at the Bandung Centre for Earthquake Engineering Studies (CEES) and Center for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) within the Institute for Research, Institut Teknologi Bandung.

The Training and Resource Materials and Continuing Education Unit of AUDMP has designed a series of regional-level courses for city managers on Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction for Cities (EVRC). The first regional course, which commenced in May 2002, was an important step by AUDMP to reflect the importance of earthquake disaster mitigation in the region. For more information visit www.adpc.net