Ambassadors Meeting on Establishing End-to-End Multi-Hazard
Early Warning System in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia
9 October 2006, Bangkok, Thailand

Background

As a follow-up to the meeting of early warning national focal points of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam in July 2006 in Bangkok, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, as facilitator of the early warning arrangement involving these participating countries, convened a meeting of ambassadors to seek:

1.       Guidance for moving ahead with the implementation of the regional program that was approved by national focal points;

2.       Support to the recommendations of the July 2006 meeting, in particular to request assistance from the UN Regional Tsunami Trust Fund for the first phase implementation of the regional program; and

3.       Concurrence from the Royal Thai Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide periodic program status reports to UNESCO/IOC and WMO, for information.

The meeting was participated by ambassadors and representatives of the Embassies of Bangladesh, China, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, and Vietnam, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

Outcomes
The meeting:

1. Recognized that the regional multi-hazard early warning system is an initiative by Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam who own the system, with ADPC as facilitator;

2. Supported the recommendations of the meeting of early warning national focal points on regional cooperation in early warning arrangements in July 2006 in Bangkok, in particular:

   1. ADPC shall serve as regional tsunami watch provider to the participating countries;

   2. regional early warning arrangements should be built upon a multi-hazard framework, to be cost effective and sustainable;

   3.  support the incorporation of disaster preparedness and mitigation as integral part of the multi-hazard early warning system;

   4. that the regional program to establish the end-to-end multi-hazard early warning be implemented in phases, considering the resolution of the meeting in July 2006, seeking support from the UN Regional Tsunami Trust Fund to implement the comprehensive regional program;

3. Emphasized the need to invest in the ADPC-facilitated regional multi-hazard early warning system in terms of providing funding to be able to establish the system and be accredited according to UNESCO/IOC/WMO requirements;

4. Noted the need to establish close linkages and coordination with other regional and national centers in the Indian and Pacific Oceans for networking, data sharing and information exchange;

5. Noted the need to mainstream disaster risk education into school curricula; and

6. Noted the need to enhance public awareness of ADPC-facilitated programs in disaster management and early warning through the media and appropriate channels.