November 2006 Issue No 26

ADPC's Public Health in Emergencies (PHE) team leader, Mr. Jonathan Abrahams was in Manila for the period 17-20 Oct to participate at the "Asia Pacific Meeting on Health Emergencies and Human Resource Development" organized by the World Health Organization.

Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction for Cities (EVRC), 23 Oct-6 Nov, Bangkok
The Government of Netherlands and UNDP-South-South Cooperation (SSC) unit supported the course on Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction for Cities (EVRC). This was the pre-symposium course of Asian seismological commission annual assembly proceedings. 40 participants from around 12 countries participated at the two-week course.

Community-Based Basic Emergency Response Course (C-BERC), 28 Oct-4 Nov, Thailand
ADPC's Public Health in Emergencies (PHE) team under the UNDP Early Warning Systems (EWS) project together with the UNDP EWS team conducted C-BERC at Pranburi (28-31 Oct) and Songkla (1-4 Nov).

Capacity building in Asia using Information Technology application (CASITA) final workshop, 4-5 Nov, Bangkok
Representatives from 15 universities from the CASITA network and also technical partners ITC-Netherlands and Bonn University-Germany participated at the CASITA final workshop.

34th Regional course on Disaster Management (DMC-34), 6-24 Nov, Bangkok
ADPC is conducting the DMC-34 with the objective to:
* develop effective strategies and systems for disaster prevention, mitigation,
response and recovery;
* apply risk management processes in order to identify, assess and deal with
disaster risks;
* utilize an emergency coordination center to manage disaster events;
* assess key implementation issues and requirements in disaster management.
The DMC aims to provide comprehensive disaster management knowledge and skills to enhance the capabilities of executive managers with key disaster management responsibilities. Participants are encouraged to develop key skills and adopt proactive attitudes through participation in interactive lectures and reflection on a range of key issues raised during discussions and practical activities. The next DMC-35 is scheduled in May 2007. For more information, please contact adpc@adpc.net.

Regional Early Warning System: Series of training on applying Incident Command System (ICS) in disaster management, 7-18 Nov, Sri Lanka
ADPC together with the US Department of Agriculture and US Forecast Service under the US IOTWS program is conducting a series of training programmes for Sri Lankan officials on applying the Incident Command System (ICS) in disaster response. The trainings targets units of the bureaucracy whose operations will benefit from ICS application. The schedules are:
7-8 Nov: ICS Finance/ Admin Section Chief Course
9-10 Nov: ICS Logistic Section Chief Course
14-15 Nov: ICS Operation Section Chief Course
16-18 Nov: ICS Incident Commander Course

Workshop on "Earthquake vulnerability and Multi-hazard risk assessment", 13-24 Nov
ADPC will participate at the National Center of Excellence in Geology of Pakistan (NCEG-P) in Peshawar, Pakistan. The workshop is organized by NCEG-P, ITC, the Netherlands, ADPC, supported by European Commission Humanitarian, Aid Department.

Workshop on "Typhoon-Resistant Construction", Nov, Vietnam
ADPC's Urban Disaster Risk Management (UDRM) team under the Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia (PROMISE) activities will conduct a workshop, develop awareness generating materials and a training manual with country partner, Centre for International Studies and Cooperation in Danang city. PROMISE is funded by the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) under the US Agency for International Development.

Disaster preparedness and response training course, 15-27 Nov, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
ADPC's Public Health in Emergencies (PHE) team is contracted by the German Red Cross to conduct a prototype training course on Disaster Preparedness and Response in Public Health Districts in the Aceh Province, Indonesia, with funding from GTZ. The purpose of this training is to develop and improve the capacities of public health authorities (provincial and district levels) to prepare for and respond to disasters and emergency situations. From this consultancy, ADPC will also develop a standard training module on Disaster Preparedness and Response Planning in Health Emergencies.

Workshop on Phuket tourism risk management strategy, 21 Nov, Thailand
A half day workshop on "Phuket Toursim Risk Management Strategy" will be held in Phuket, Thailand. The workshop will be jointly organized by APEC International Centre for Sustainable Tourism (AICST), Department of Industry, Toursim and Resources and ADPC with funding support from AusAID. This is the third in a series of workshop organized to develop a Tourism Risk Management Strategy in Phuket.

The workshop participants will consist of Thai Government Officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and representatives from the tourism industry and the private sector. Prior to the workshop, a draft framework of the strategy will be prepared and shared with all Tourism Authority of Thailand (ToT) members for discussion at the workshop. Based on the inputs received from the participants, the strategy will be finalized before the fourth workshop, to take place in early 2007. The program of the 3rd Workshop includes:
· A review of activities to-date;
· Confirmation of risk priorities and actions;
· Response mechanisms & procedures;
· Recovery mechanisms & procedures;
· Discussion on a framework for Tourism Risk Management Strategy.

4 Training courses under "Capacity and Institutional Development for Disaster Risk Management in Indonesia (CID)", 25 Nov-15 Dec, Indonesia
ADPC's training resource group (TRG) is working as a subcontractor for InWent Germany to organize four courses, two in Jakarta and two in Kupung province in Indonesia; commissioned by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The main goal will be to contribute to medium to long term disaster risk management through capacity building activities.
The general expected outcomes in the context of a multi hazard approach will be:
1. organizational and professional capacities of relevant institutions for disastrer risk management in Indonesia are strengthened (national, provincial, district-level, communities) by human resource development programs;
2. decision makers have an increased knowledge about new concepts in disaster risk management and are able to implement it in planning concepts of their own institutions accordingly;
3. the role and perception of the press relation officers and media representatives with regard to DRM are improved through practical training measures.

Regional Early Warning System: ADPC to convene workshop on 'Enhancing coastal community resilience to natural disasters in Vietnam', 26-28 Nov
Under the DANIDA-funded, "Enhancing community resilience to natural disasters in Southeast Asia" project, ADPC will convene a workshop in Hanoi. The workshop aims to: 1) present information on proposed demonstration sites and the impacts, lessons learned from the last episode of typhoons, floods; 2) identify key activities for the implementation plan based on the experiences of the last major occurrence of coastal disaster, for the Programme on Enhancing Community Resilience to Natural Disasters in Vietnam; 3) brainstorm on the different components of this implementation plan and obtain strategic guidance from the key stakeholders. Vietnam's National Hydrometeorological Service (NHMS) is the primary partner for this workshop.

ADPC will conduct a training workshop on damage and loss estimation in Nov funded by the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV-The Netherlands).

Workshop under ProVention-Consortium Applied Research Grant Phase II;
6-8 Dec
Under the ProVention Consortium Applied Research Grant Phase II, a Workshop on 'Innovative Initiatives in Disaster Reduction' Applied Research by Young Professionals in South, South East & East Asia and Grantee Dialogue to be held on 6-8 December, 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The main purpose of the event is to provide grantees opportunity to meet and share among themselves and interested audiences the experiences in conducting research work in their countries and present the applied research results. Moreover, the event will also be a forum for discussing further work by grantees and possible ways in which ProVention Consortium and ADPC can assist with dissemination of results and follow up actions. The event will also provide grantees with the opportunity to provide feedback on the operation of the grants program and suggestions for improvement for further rounds.