November 2006 Issue No 26

Climate Risk Management: Climate Forecast Applications Project, 5-13 Nov, Hanoi

Under the Climate Forecast Applications (CFA) project, ADPC is conducting the following activities: 1) identifying constraints and opportunities in the generation of downscaled climate information; 2) documenting existing forecast products and on-going research in targeted provinces, districts, and communes; 3) understanding the relevance of forecast information for decision making; and 4) documenting decision calendars. The primary partners in this project are the National Hydrometeorological Service, Quang Tri Department of Science and Technology, and Gio Linh District Storm and Flood Control Committee. The CFA project in Vietnam is supported by the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

Research trip to Thailand’s tsunami affected urban municipalities, 8-20 Nov, Phang Ang, Krabi and Phukhet provinces

ADPC is undertaking data collection for developing a topical inventory of good municipal practices for post tsunami activities with funding support from TCG International, LLC, under the project “Good Urban Governance South Asia.”.

Regional Early Warning System: ADPC to conduct assessment and documentation activities related to coastal community resilience, 12-19 Nov, Tamil Nadu, India

ADPC will conduct assessment and documentation activities related to coastal community resilience with the expected outcomes of 1) a review and documentation of institutional arrangements, current status, gaps, and challenges in implementing coastal zone regulations; 2) documentation of the extent of integration of disaster preparedness and mitigation in ongoing developmental programs; and 3) identification of key areas to be considered in designing the Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) project under the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System (IOTWS) program. During the mission, institutional arrangements for implementing the CCR project will also be established at state and district levels. The Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu are the primary partners in this project.

Flood Emergency Management Strengthening (FEMS) Project, 17 Nov
Under the Flood Emergency Management Strengthening project implemented by Disaster Management Systems (DMS) team of ADPC in collaboration with Mekong River Commission and GTZ, the following activities are planned:
National experience sharing workshop, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The objectives of the workshops are as follows:
• To update the national line agencies and other partners on the overall achievements of implementation since the start of the project
• To discuss and share with the national line agencies the experiences gained from the project implementation, particularly in the flood preparedness program development and its ground implementation through priority sub-project during the flood season 2006
• To seek guidance and suggestions on future activities in the remaining period of FEMS

The participants include, the National Mekong Committees, representatives from MRC Secretariat and Flood Management & Mitigation Program (FMMP) of MRCS, Vietnam National Disaster Management offices, Provincial Disaster Management committees of target provinces and districts, line agencies who have been involved in the FEMS project implementation (e.g.: Education and Sport (including local University); Health; Water Resources Management; Military; Women Affairs/Union; Youth Union; Committee for Population, Family and Children; etc.), National Red Cross Societies in Vietnam and IFRC, International organisations and Civil Society Organisations (UNDP, WFP, WHO, UNICEF, Oxfam-GB, Care, Save the Children, and GTZ Country Office).

Updates on Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia (PROMISE), 19-25 Nov

ADPC will visit Hyderabad, the PROMISE-Pakistan project site to participate in the training, coordination of the PROMISE work component 1. PROMISE is funded by the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) under the US Agency for International Development.

Coordination and finalization of SHOUHARDO project Phase I, Dhaka

ADPC will coordinate hazard, vulnerability and risk assessments with new technical partners in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as part of the SHOUHARDO project Phase I. ADPC will provide technical assistance to the Strengthening Household Abilities to Responding to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) project with funding support from CARE Bangladesh.

Partnership with Save the Children under Lao-Australia NGOs cooperation agreement, 27 Nov-5 Dec, Lao PDR

ADPC’s Disaster Management Systems (DMS) team, in partnership with Save the Children Australia based in Lao PDR, will undertake a mission to Sayaboury province, Lao to gather base line information in Sayaboury, and to design two one-year projects on "Disaster Risk Education for Children Pilot Activity" and "Tools for Disaster Risk Assessment Pilot activity". Both the projects are to be implemented in Sayaboury District of Sayaboury province from February 2007 to January 2008. They will serve as the start up activities for the long term (5-year) project on Sayaboury Integrated Hazard Mitigation Project to be undertaken in the middle of 2007. The key output of the November mission will be a detailed project design for the two one-year project, specifying individual activity to be undertaken together with a realistic time line and clear roles and responsibilities of the implementing partners as well as the project stakeholders. All the projects are to be funded by AusAID, under the Lao-Australia NGOs Cooperation Agreement.

Regional Early Warning System: Enhancing coastal community resilience to natural disasters, 29 Nov-29 Dec, Vietnam

ADPC will conduct a mission to Nam Dinh and other project sites in Vietnam, under the DANIDA-funded “Enhancing community resilience to natural disasters in Southeast Asia” project, to conduct activities, namely 1) accomplishing the site profiling; 2) constitute local working groups; and 3) to carry out training needs assessment. Vietnam’s National Hydrometeorological Service (NHMS) is the primary partner for this workshop.

Climate Risk Management: ADPC to lead workshop on flood forecasting, 4-6 Dec, Dhaka

Under the flood forecast technology for disaster preparedness in Bangladesh II project, ADPC will convene a workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh to share the progress made with the partners and to prepare future work plans for 2007. Project partners, namely the Department of Agriculture Extension, Bangladesh Water Development Board, Disaster Management Bureau, Institute of Water Modeling, Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services and CARE Bangladesh will participate in the workshop.