The Program for Hydro-meteorological
Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in
Asia (PROMISE), funded by USAID/OFDA,
commenced from October 2005. Through
consultations with a number of ADPC
partners, five project countries have been
selected – Bangladesh, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam – for
implementing demonstration projects in each
country in a highly vulnerable city with
recent history of hydro-meteorological
disasters. Other components of the program
consist of capacity building, risk
management advocacy, networking and
dissemination initiatives in the selected
countries. The objective of the program is
to contribute towards reduction of
vulnerability of urban communities through
enhanced preparedness and mitigation of
hydro-meteorological disasters in South and
Southeast Asia. The main focus from January
to March 2007 are local-level skills
training, planning for the conduct of
national courses, and implementing the
small-scale mitigation projects for each
city.
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
BANGLADESH – BDPC conducted
community-level planning workshops during
the reporting period. The workshops were
conducted with the participation of Ward
Commissioners, members of the Ward Disaster
Risk Mitigation Committees (WDRMCs), Change
Agents (CAs), community elites, NGO
personnel and people from vulnerable
communities. The main objective of these
workshops was to prepare community level
action plan. Community-level mock exercise
events were organized with the participation
of Change Agents/ Volunteers and member of
the Ward Disaster Risk MitigationCommittee (WDRMC).
The IEC materials (flip chart, pocket
calendar and annual calendar) have been
designed and production will commence by the
start of February. The Hazard,
Vulnerability and Risk Assessment was
completed for the select wards of
Chittagong. Based on the output of CRA and
Baseline Survey, six community-based
projects for improving community
preparedness and reducing vulnerability were
identified. This will serve as the guideline
for undertaking activities in the
implementation plan under Phase-2.
PAKISTAN – AKPBS(P) prepared the
draft report on Hazard Mapping and
Participatory Vulnerability Assessment. The
report also highlights a set of broad
recommendations to address the frequent
problems of floods and sewage treatment cum
disposal system. AKPBS(P) is currently
updating and finalizing the hazard and
vulnerability study. Activity Workshops
and community meetings were organised for
developing proposals of small-scale
mitigation projects.
PHILIPPINES – CDP and Dagupan City’s
Technical Working Group (TWG) officially
turned over in ceremonies certificates of
appreciation and the equipment requirements
of the community-based disaster mitigation
plans of the eight barangays of the project.
The ceremonies were attended by city
officials, barangay officials, barangay
residents, communication specialist Kevin
Donahue of USAID. The event was covered by
local media. Next tasks and activities are
on planning for the next phase of
small-scale mitigation projects, and a
seminar on use and maintenance of equipment.
The TWG and CDP ran a series of meeting for
the finalization of contracts and mechanics
of livelihood alternatives for socioeconomic
mitigation. Among the approved livelihood
alternatives are buy-and-sell of recycled
materials, a community drug store (botika sa
barangay), rice retail store, and local
transport (bicycle with side car). The
start of the projects was inaugurated in
ceremonies on 24 January 2007 and covered by
local media. Calendars that featured the
winning posters and slogans from the July
16, 2006 Disaster Preparedness celebration
were distributed to each barangay.
SRI-LANKA – Sarvodaya organized
awareness raising programs regarding
disaster mitigation for school children and
other community members as a continuation of
the December National Safety Day
activities. Activities included a
children’s painting competition on disaster
awareness for different age groups. Their
partner the National Building Research
Organization, has collected additional
primary and secondary data for undertaking
hydrological modelling of the study area.
VIETNAM – CECI in collaboration with
the People’s Committee of Cam Le district
implemented the house construction programme
in an effort to help the victims of Typhoon
Xangsane. This activity is expected to be
completed before Vietnamese New Year on 15
February 2007. The house construction is
funded by CIDA and the Canadian government
for the Xangsane typhoon relief programmes.
The design of the houses is based on house
construction models that resulted from the
PROMISE-Viet Nam training and workshop on
safer construction techniques held last
month. The engineer of Cam Le district also
participated in the conduct of last month’s
training of masons and builders, and in
developing the cost estimates for the
construction. The main activity for next
month is the preparations for CBDRM training
at community level.
A. FROM THE
REGION
(1) Indonesia landslide killed 24, 11
January 2007
(based on reports from BBC, Reuters, and
YTBI)
After heavy rain, floods and landslides
struck District of Sangihe Isle, Province of
North Sulawesi, Thursday, 11 January 2007.
Twenty-four are reported dead and ten
missing. Efforts to bring aid to some 4,000
displaced people were hampered by heavy
rains in the area, Tilla said. Sangihe is
2,200 km (1,400 miles) northeast of Jakarta
in the seas between North Sulawesi province
and Mindanao, a southern island of the
Philippines.
(2) Sri Lanka holds National Safety Day, 26
December 2007
The first commemoration of Sri Lanka’s
National Safety Day was held in Galle on
December 26 last year. The activities
included two minutes of silence observed
nationwide from 0925 to 0927 in remembrance
of all disaster victims; awarding plaques
for services of government officers; and
messages from H.E. the President Mahinda
Rajapaksha, Prime Minister Wicramanayake,
and the Minister of Disaster Management and
Human Rights Samarasinghe. The first
multi-hazard early warning tower was
inaugurated at Hikkaduwa, one of a planned
100-tower system to be operated by the
ministry.
B. CALLS FOR SUBMISSION
(3) Call for Applications: WAS*IS (Weather
and Society * Integrated Studies)
The National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) Societal Impacts Program (SIP)
announces a call for applications for the
2007 Summer WAS*IS workshop. WAS*IS is a
movement to fully integrate social science
into meteorological research and practice by
building an interdisciplinary community of
practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders
who want to learn and explore new tools,
methods, and concepts for more effective
socio-economic applications and evaluations
of weather products.
Applications are due Monday, March 26,
2007.
For more details, please contact
Eve Gruntfest,
ecg@uccs.edu, or Julie Demuth,
jdemuth@ucar.edu.
Visit
http://www.sip.ucar.edu/wasis/summer07/index.jsp
to read more about WAS*IS and to apply for
the 2007 Summer WAS*IS workshop.
C. CONFERENCES AND COURSES
(4) 4th International Conference on
Information Systems for Crisis Response and
Management - Delft, The Netherlands: May
13-16, 2007.
Organizer: International Community on
Information Systems for Crisis Response and
Management (ISCRAM). The conference will
tackle several critical issues, including:
disaster management and
internationalization, geographic information
systems in crisis management, advanced
information technologies for disaster
management, and modeling and simulation of
communication technology for disaster
mitigation and recovery.
For more information, see:
http://www.iscram.org
D. USEFUL RESOURCES
(5) Community Risk Assessment Resource -
Provention Consortium
Various community risk assessment
methodologies and case studies are available
from Provention website. This website from
ProVention provides approaches,
methodologies, tools, and case studies used
in Community
Risk Assessment activities. There are many
relevant issues as well as specific tools
applicable to participatory GIS processes.
The website can be found
here:
http://www.proventionconsortium.org/?pageid=43.
(6) Risk assessment and planning resources –
UCLA CPHD
The UCLA Center for Public Health and
Disasters (CPHD) has posted tools for
disaster managements: the Hazard Risk
Assessment Instrument (HRAI) to enable state
and local public health agencies to conduct
a risk assessment of their community, and a
guidebook designed to assist state and local
public health departments in developing a
comprehensive, all-hazards disaster plan
that includes the essential components
necessary in the event of an emergency or
disaster. The CPHD was established in 1997
to address the critical issues faced when
disaster impacts a community. Links to the
resources can be found on their
here:
http://www.cphd.ucla.edu/.
(7) "Hazards of Nature, Risks to
Development” by IEG
This report is the first-ever assessment of
World Bank assistance for natural disasters,
and a comprehensive review of disaster
preparedness and response, and of the use of
disaster forecasts. The report can be found
here:
http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/naturaldisasters/docs/natural_
disasters_evaluation.pdf.
(8)
"Successful Response Starts with a Map:
Improving Geospatial Support for Disaster
Management" by the National Academies of
Science
This report examines the current use of
geospatial data and tools in emergency
management and makes recommendations to
improve that use. From the National
Research Council of the National Academies,
this book can be purchased in hard copy, or
read free online here:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11793.html.
(9) "Stop Disasters!" – a game from UN/ISDR
The UN/ISDR produced an online game to
engage and teach children, ages 9 to16, how
to protect cities and villages against
natural hazards through disaster risk
planning and management. The online game
includes five natural hazard scenarios
(flooding, tsunami, wildfire, hurricane, and
earthquake) with different levels of
difficulty that require critical
decision-making and strategic planning. The
game is found here:
http://www.stopdisastersgame.org.
