|
|
January 2006-Issue 16
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
www.adpc.net
or contact us at
adpc@adpc.net To
subscribe to this service, send a blank email
to: adpc-announce-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
|
|
