August 2006 Issue No 23

Regional multi-hazard Early Warning System: Capacity building for loss assessment activity, India (7-10 August)
ADPC’s Climate Risk Management (CRM) and Urban Development Risk Management (UDRM) teams were in Chennai, India to present case studies on loss assessment in agriculture and production sectors. This activity was in partnership with the Department of Relief, State of Tamilnadu, India.

Phase I Completion of Hazard and Vulnerability Mapping of SHOUHARDO Program of CARE Bangladesh, (8-21 August)
ADPC is providing technical assistance to CARE Bangladesh’s SHOUHARDO Program (Strengthening Household Abilities for Responding to Development Opportunities) targeting communities to better prepare, mitigate and respond to natural disaster. The first phase of this project is hazard and vulnerability mapping in order to select the most vulnerable communities to natural hazard. The project is carried out by Department of Geography and Environment of Dhaka University under the assistance of ADPC’s UDRM. This phase is to be completed on 21 August 2006.

Regional multi-hazard Early Warning System: Disaster risk management policy and institutional framework, Sri Lanka (10-16 August)
Senior technical experts from ADPC CRM team are on mission to Sri Lanka to conduct an assessment of Sri Lanka’s disaster risk management policy and institutional framework. The assessment is expected to identify gaps and possible interventions through the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System program (US IOTWS) program. This activity follows the secondary review of existing resources on Sri Lankan policies and institutional arrangements, which was conducted between 3-31 July, and will be based on a design framework developed by ADPC in collaboration with Nan Barton, US IOTWS program consultant.

Adapting to Climate Variability and Climate Change: Activities for Climate Field School in Iloilo province, Philippines (12-16 August)
A delegation from ADPC, led by A.R. Subbiah, Director of ADPC's Climate Risk Management (CRM) team will be on mission to Iloilo, Philippines under the Climate Forecast Applications for Disaster Mitigation program (CFA). The mission will facilitate an implementation planning meeting with the Provincial Agriculture Office and other agencies which will be involved in implementing the Climate Field School project in select pilot municipalities in Iloilo. They will also assess the training needs of technical institutions in relation to climate forecast information interpretation and translation. On 15 August, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between ADPC and the provincial government of Iloilo on climate forecast applications for disaster mitigation activities and Climate Field School.

SHOUHARDO program, Bangladesh (14-16 August)
Mr. NMSI Arambepola, Director of ADPC’s Urban Disaster Risk Management will discuss about the next year plan of Strengthening Household Abilities for Responding to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) program with CARE Bangladesh (2006-2007). This will be in continuation of the first year program of ADPC as a consultant for SHOUHARDO Program.

Regional multi-hazard Early Warning System: ADPC facilitate Sri Lankan delegation visit to Thailand (18 August)
Eleven senior-level government officials from Sri Lanka will visit National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) Bangkok to learn about Thailand’s early warning and dissemination system for tsunami and other natural hazards. Sri Lankan and Thai officials will discuss lessons learned regarding the recently adopted Incident Command System for disaster management in Sri Lanka and the Rapid Alert Notification System in Thailand under the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System program (US IOTWS).

Regional multi-hazard Early Warning System: Sri Lankan officials and ADPC to go on study tour to United States of America (19 August-2 September)
A senior technical expert from ADPC Climate Risk Management team and Sri Lankan officials will go on a study tour in several cities in the United States America. The disaster management study tour is designed to expose participants to disaster management practices in the United States with a focus on the Incident Command System. The participants are expected to gain more knowledge on the organization structures, tactical, strategic, and policy decision making in the disaster management arena. The study tour is facilitated by the US Forest Service.

Regional Capacity Enhancement for Landslide Impact Mitigation (RECLAIM) project, Thailand (21-22 August)
ADPC Urban Disaster Risk Management team will organize a two-day kick off meeting of the Landslide Mitigation Demonstration Projects (LMDP) in Patong, Thailand. This meeting will discuss strategic plans for Thailand’s Landslide Demonstration Project and will be attended by senior officials from Department of Mineral Resources and Kasertsart University. RECLAIM is funded by The Royal Government of Norway.

Adapting to Climate Variability and Climate Change: Local institutional assessment, Vietnam (23-28 August)
A senior technical expert from the ADPC Climate Risk Management team will be on mission to Hanoi and Quang Tri province for the Climate Forecast Applications for Disaster Mitigation in Vietnam (CFA Vietnam) project. Assessing the local institutional structures, climate vulnerability, and decision cycles for climate forecast applications in the Quang Tri province are highlights of the mission. The ultimate goal of these activities is the strengthening of national and local level disaster management committees. CFA Vietnam is in collaboration with Vietnam’s National Hydro-meteorological Services.

Adapting to Climate Variability and Climate Change: Framework on conducting institutional analysis (29 August-8 September)
A senior technical expert from the ADPC Climate Risk Management team will be on mission to Rome, Italy to provide inputs to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) rapid guide to conducting institutional analysis. A framework of the guide will be held in an internal seminar.

Regional multi-hazard Early Warning System: National-level coastal community resilience activities, India (late August)
Mr. A.R. Subbiah, Director of ADPC's Climate Risk Management (CRM) team with a senior technical expert will be on mission to Chennai, Tamilnadu, India to coordinate national level activities in connection with the Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) project under the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System program (IOTWS). The mission will discuss planned country activities with local stakeholders. Preparatory activities for upcoming national workshops and collaborations with local stakeholders will be also carried out. The CCR program is being undertaken in coordination with the United Nations Development Program, the Government of Tamilnadu, and the US Agency for International Development mission in Chennai.

Adapting to Climate Variability and Climate Change: Preparation of action plans, Cambodia and Vietnam (late August)
Under the Enhancing Community Resilience to Natural Disasters in Southeast Asia” project, senior technical experts from the ADPC Climate Risk Management team will visit Cambodia and Vietnam in late August to prepare action plans for regional and national level implementation with project partners. They will conduct assessments to determine ADPC’s role in improving the capacity of Vietnam and Cambodia in the area of severe weather forecasting. In Cambodia, they will assess the observational network, technical, and manpower capacity of the hydro-meteorological agency to do Numerical Weather Prediction.

PROMISE, Vietnam & Sri Lanka (1st week September)
A senior technical expert will visit Vietnam and Sri Lanka for monitoring and project visit for the

MAP ASIA 2006
Bangkok (28-30 September)

ADPC joins MAP ASIA 2006 as Knowledge partner to be held in Queen Sirikit National Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. ADPC will also make presentations.