October 2006 Issue No 25

ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX), Tak Mau City, Kandal Province, 27-28 September, Cambodia
ADPC’S Disaster Management Systems (DMS) team participated in the ASEAN regional disaster emergency simulation exercise (ARDEX) in Tak Mau City, Kandal Province, Cambodia. The exercise was organized by the ASEAN Disaster Management Committee (ACDM), in collaboration with the National Committee on Disaster Management (NCDM). In addition, ADPC is also sponsoring five officials from Vietnam–one from DDMFSC, Vietnam and two each from the An Giang and Dong Thap Provinces to participate in this exercise under the Flood Emergency Flood Strengthening (FEMS) project. The objective of this exercise was to provide guidance to the ASEAN and its partners to operationalize policy framework on disaster management and emergency response.

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC to facilitate Sri Lanka national workshop on coastal community resilience, 9-10 October, Colombo
ADPC was on mission to Colombo to facilitate a Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) workshop. The workshop made participants aware of the CCR initiative under the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System (IOTWS) program, establish a network for future CCR outreach activities, and get a feedback on the CCR guidebook which is being developed by USAID, ADPC (Program Integrator), and others. Over 40 government and non-government agencies working in the field of disaster management and coastal management participated in the workshop, including the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Disaster Management Center, Coast Conservation Department, IUCN, International Federation of the Red Cross, UNDP, various USAID projects, and others.

Community Based Emergency Response Course, 13-20 October, Phuket
Two batches of Community Based Emergency Response Course (C-BERC) will be delivered in Phuket. The course in collaboration with Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), Bangkok and ADPC will train search and rescue community committee members in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. As part of disaster risk management, this activity is going to be the next step of the UNDP-EWSP Project to develop and improve basic skills in saving life.

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC to facilitate planning meeting for third Tsunami Alert Rapid Notification System (TARNS) workshop, 23-25 October, Bangkok
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 Course on Earthquake & Tsunami Vulnerability Reduction, 24 Oct- 6 Nov 2006, Bangkok
A regional course on Earthquake & Tsunami Vulnerability Reduction focusing on the use of Spatial Geodata (EVRC-6) will be held in Bangkok in partnership with ITC, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), ADPC, UNDP and United Nations University (UNU). 40 participants (20 ITC alumni, 6 with UNDP scholarships, 6 with UNU Scholarships, 8 Thai-paying) are expected to attend the workshop.

CASITA workshop, 4-5 November, Bangkok
Final workshop of the Capacity Building in Asia using Information Technology Applications in Disaster Management (CASITA) Phase 2 Project will be held in Bangkok, Thailand. The final workshop is being jointly organized by the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Thailand. The activity is being implemented under the project CASITA Phase 2 with funding support from the European Union (EU) and the Government of The Netherlands.

During the workshop, the outputs of CASITA 2 project will be shared with the wider CASITA network universities and institutions established in the first phase of the project. The core project team and selected universities will review the outcome of the project. The participating universities will review the progress made during CASITA 2.

In addition to the presentation of the project outputs (course materials and outcome of research studies), the following will be presented and discussed during the final workshop:
• Lessons learned from the activity
• Effectiveness of distance education program
• Strategies for sustainability

Regional Early Warning System Program: ADPC and US agencies to conduct series of training on applying Incident Command System (ICS) in disaster response (October-November)
ADPC in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture and US Forecast Service will conduct a series of trainings for Sri Lankan officials on applying the Incident Command System (ICS) in disaster response. The trainings are targeted to units of the bureaucracy whose operations will benefit from ICS application. The schedule of the training are as follows:
ICS Planning Section Units Leader Course
16-20 October 2006
Heritance Ahungalle, Hikkaduwa

ICS Planning Section Chief
25-27 October 2006
Taj Samudra, Colombo

ICS Finance/ Administrative Section Chief Course
7-8 November 2006
Hilton Hotel, Colombo

ICS Logistics Section Chief Course
7-8 November 2006
Hilton Hotel, Colombo

Flood Emergency Management Strengthening (FEMS) Project (19-24 October)
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 for this period:

National Experience Sharing Workshop in Phnom Penh on 19 October, and in Hanoi on 24 October.
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 of the workshop are:
• The National Mekong Committees
• Representatives from Flood Management & Mitigation Program (FMMP) of MRCS
• Cambodia and 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, Health, Water Resources Management, Military Operation)
• National Red Cross Societies in Cambodia and Vietnam and IFRC
• International organisations and Civil Society Organisations (UNDP , WFP , WHO , UNICEF , Oxfam-GB , Care , Save the Children , and GTZ Country Office)

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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