October 2006 Issue No 25

MoU signed for Public Health in Complex Emergencies Partnership, September
The Public Health and Complex Emergencies (PHCE) Partnership has been formalized by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the five partner organizations which are committed to building the capacity of the humanitarian community to respond more effectively to the health needs of refugees and internally displaced persons around the world. The PHCE Partners are Makerere University Institute of Public Health, Uganda; Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon; Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Thailand; World Education , Inc. (WEI) based in USA; and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) also based in USA.. The members of the PHCE Partnership work together to develop and deliver high quality training programs for humanitarian workers worldwide, especially in Africa, Middle East and Asia. The MoU outlines the terms of cooperation for the PHCE Partnership, such as PHCE course administration & implementation, joint development of funding proposals, curriculum review, regional and global promotion of PHCE courses, and evaluation.

PROMISE country coordinator’s meeting, 1 October, Manila
ADPC’s Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia (PROMISE) held a PROMISE country coordinator's meeting for discussion on programmatic reporting (project finance, reporting, project management and administrative procedures) and Monitoring & Evaluation in Manila. Representatives of all program partners from five program countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam) attended the meeting. PROMISE, funded by the office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), USAID, is being implemented by ADPC’s Urban Disaster Risk Management (UDRM) team.

First PROMISE annual working group meeting, 2-4 October, Manila
ADPC’s Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia (PROMISE) program had its annual Working Group Meeting (WGM) in Manila. The meeting covered the status, implementation, and monitoring of PROMISE, and had planning workshops for the second year of the program. Representatives from the five country partners and from the five demonstration cities presented status reports on hazard and (participatory) vulnerability assessments conducted so far. Other invited guests provided technical support to country partners. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), country representatives from the five demonstration sites also attended the WGM. PROMISE, supported by the office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), USAID, is being implemented by ADPC’s Urban Disaster Risk Management (UDRM) team, which organized the WGM in the Philippines, one of the five program countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam).

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC assess disaster risk management policy and institutional framework, 2-13 October, Indonesia
ADPC is on mission to Indonesia to conduct an assessment of Indonesia’s disaster risk management policy and institutional framework. The assessment will 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 policies and institutional arrangements in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand and is based on a framework developed by ADPC in collaboration with USAID. The results of the study will be shared with relevant national authorities.

CCOP-ADPC-NGI planning meeting for preparation of proposal on tsunami risk assessment and mitigation,
4-5 October, Bangkok
ADPC, the Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programs in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP), and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) convened a meeting to detail the proposal on Tsunami Risk Assessment and Mitigation-Phase 2, for submission to the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The meeting was attended by delegates from Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The project proposal is a follow-on to the project, implemented by CCOP, NGI, and Thailand's Department of Mineral Resources in 2005 on tsunami risk reduction measures with focus on land use and rehabilitation.

ADPC signed MOU on Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan (CDMP), 6 October, Bangkok
ADPC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bangladesh delegation including representatives of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management under the Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan (CDMP) in the presence of H.E Mr. Shahed Akhtar, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Thailand.

The RECLAIM agreement, 6 October, Bangkok
The signing of the agreement for implementation of the Regional Capacity Enhancement for Landslide Impact Mitigation (RECLAIM) phase II between the Government of Norway, represented by H.E. Mrs. Merete Fjeld Brattested, Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary, The Royal Norwegian Embassy and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center represented by Dr. Suvit Yodmani, Executive Director took place at The Royal Norwegian Embassy, Bangkok.

ADPC developed the Asian Program for RECLAIM in collaboration with the Norwegian Geo-technical Institute (NGI) to promote dialogue between decision makers and professionals on the theoretical and practical aspects and to promote practices of landslide hazard mitigation in target countries. It is expected that the “at-risk” communities living in landslide hazard prone areas will certainly benefit from these program activities, which are designed to be implemented over three-years involving national partners from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Regional Early Warning System Program: Ambassadors meeting on the establishment of the End-to-End Multi-Hazard Early Warning System in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, 9 October, Bangkok
ADPC convened a meeting of Ambassadors of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam as a follow-on to the meeting of early warning national focal points of these countries on regional cooperation on multi-hazard early warning, held in July 2006 in Bangkok. The meeting sought guidance for the implementation of the regional program approved by national focal points in the July 2006 meeting; sought policy support for the recommendations of the July meeting, especially to obtain funding support from the UN Regional Tsunami Trust Fund for phase 1 program implementation; and request Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide periodic program status reports to UNESCO/IOC and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Climate Risk Management: ADPC to conduct exploratory mission to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for new initiatives on climate risk management, 10-15 October, Mongolia
ADPC is on mission to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to explore the possibility of undertaking a climate risk management initiative. ADPC experts will participate in a series of presentations and meetings with International Relations and Cooperation Division and National Emergency Management Agency in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A background document and a project proposal will be developed based on the mission findings and feedback from the partners. This is a mission to expand ADPC’s activities to disaster-prone countries of Asia. ADPC is currently implementing climate forecast application project in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC convenes local working group, 10-17 October, Cambodia
ADPC will be on mission to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, Cambodia to convene the local working group on the project titled “Enhancing Community Resilience to Natural Disasters.” The terms of reference of the working group and the project work plan will be discussed and finalized with stakeholders at the meeting. ADPC will also conduct site visits to do a profiling of Sihanoukville, the pilot province for this project. During the mission, a pilot site at the commune level will also be selected.

Climate Risk Management: ADPC conducts workshop under the Flood Forecast Technology for Disaster Preparedness project, 15-25 October, Bangladesh
Under the Flood Forecast Technology for Disaster Preparedness in Bangladesh (also known as Climate Forecast Applications in Bangladesh II), ADPC will conduct a mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh in order to verify the flood forecasts issued through the project and to finalize arrangements for the forthcoming project workshop on 5-7 November 2006. A follow up visit will be made on 4-10 November 2006 to organize the project workshop and to visit the project pilot sites. 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 are the partners in this project. During the first mission, demonstration sites for the joint ADPC-FAO project entitled “Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Change” will also be visited to evaluate the impacts of adaptation practices.

CBDRM course for Tajikistan, 16 - 22 October
ADPC’s Training Resource Group (TRG) will facilitate the Community-based Disaster Risk Management course in Garno, Tajikistan. The course is being organized in partnership with Focus Humanitarian Assistance, Tajikistan.

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC to conduct assessment and documentation activities related to coastal community resilience, 19-24 October, Tamil Nadu
ADPC will be on mission to Tamil Nadu, India to conduct assessment and documentation activities related to coastal community resilience. The expected outcomes of this mission include 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 which should 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.

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC to facilitate planning meeting for third Tsunami Alert Rapid Notification System (TARNS) workshop, 23-25 October, Thailand
ADPC will facilitate the planning meeting for the third Tsunami Alert Rapid Notification System (TARNS) workshop at the National Disaster Warning Center in Thailand. The objective of the meeting is to prepare simulation scenarios for the actual workshop in January 2007. The meeting will be attended by several agencies including the US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Thailand Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Regional Early Warning System Program: Technical experts meeting to detail the regional research support to national meteorological and hydrological services on severe weather forecasting, 24-28 October, Bangkok
Technical experts from Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi and ADPC will meet in Bangkok to detail the work plan to establish the regional research center in severe weather forecasting at ADPC. This meeting is a follow-on to the meeting of early warning national focal points of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam on regional cooperation on multi-hazard early warning, held in July 2006 in Bangkok. The regional research support in severe weather forecasting, initially supported by DANIDA, aims at increasing the confidence of severe weather forecasts and enhancing lead time.

Climate Risk Management: ADPC to conduct Climate Forecast Applications project,
25 October-3 November, Vietnam
Under the Climate Forecast Applications (CFA) project, ADPC will visit Hanoi and Quang Tri province in Vietnam to conduct the following activities: 1) identify constraints and opportunities in the generation of downscaled climate information; 2) document existing forecast products and on-going research in targeted provinces, districts, and communes; 3) understand the relevance of forecast information for decision making; and 4) document decision calendars. The primary partners in this project are the National Hydromet Service, Quang Tri Department of Science and Technology, and District Storm and Flood Control Committee. The CFA project in Vietnam is supported by the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

Community Self -Reliance and Flood Risk Reduction, Cambodia (ADB TA)
The ADB funded Technical Assistance on Community Self Reliance and Flood Risk Reduction, implemented by the Disaster Management System (DMS) team of ADPC along with the Department of Hydrology and River Work, Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia, is currently in its second phase, where two selected NGOs in Cambodia namely Church World Service (CWS) and Chamroen Chiet Khmer (CCK) are implementing a pilot project of 9 months duration starting from July 2006.CWS is implementing the pilot project in 9 villages in 2 districts of Svay Rieng Province and CCK is implementing the project in 7 villages in 2 districts of Takeo Province. The NGOs will be carrying out community-based flood preparedness and mitigation works in selected villages using the Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy developed by ADPC in the first phase of the project. Regular field visits would be undertaken by the project team of ADPC to monitor and evaluate the progress of pilot projects. A tripartite meeting between Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia, Asian Development Bank and ADPC is being scheduled for mid of October to review the progress of the project and decide on the future strategies for the sustainability of the work initiated under the TA.

6th General Assembly of the Asian Seismological Commission and Symposium, 7-10 November, Bangkok
The sixth General Assembly of the Asian Seismological Commission and Symposium on Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation in joint collaboration with Asian Seismological Commission (ASC), Thai Meteorological Department (TMD), National Earthquake Committee of Thailand (NECT), Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) and ADPC will be held in Bangkok.

ADPC Executive Director, Dr. Suvit Yodmani is appointed the Minister of Tourism and Sports, in the Royal Thai Government

Dr. Suvit Yodmani, the Executive Director of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center has stepped aside from his current position, after being honored with an invitation by the Royal Thai Government to join the new interim administration’s cabinet as the Minister of Tourism and Sports. Dr. Suvit will assume the position of Senior Advisor during his time with the Royal Thai Government. ADPC welcomes Dr. Bhichit Rattakul as Acting Executive Director for the coming year, after which Dr. Suvit will return to ADPC as the Executive Director in 2007.

Dr. Bhichit Rattakul has over 20 years of experience in policy and management directing posts and is a former Governor of Bangkok. For the past year he has been the Senior Advisor to ADPC and has been coordinating the UNDP and World Bank supported disaster preparedness programmes in Thailand. Dr. Bhichit completed his undergraduate studies at Chulalongkorn University and his Master’s and Doctorate at Brigham Young University, Utah, USA.
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