Disaster Mitigation
in Asia

30 April 2007
Issue No. 46

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 activities from April to June 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 for April and May 2007:

·         BANGLADESH – BDPC conducted two ward-level CBDRM courses during the reporting month at Wards 40 and 9.  The emphasis of the course is on community risk assessment and the development of community action plans for reducing their vulnerability. With the assistance of BDPC and the respective Ward Disaster Risk Management Committees of each ward, three trained change agents (CAs) facilitated each of the courses.  Two action plans were developed as course outputs. 

BDPC conducted a school awareness event under the school safety program on April 19 at the South Potenga City Corporation High School in Ward 41. The main purpose of this event was to create awareness about the importance of having school disaster management plan.  There were around 500 participants coming from students, teachers, members of the school management committees, and representatives from different Community Based Organizations. Sessions included presentations on the activities planned for school safety program, hydro-meteorological hazards, vulnerabilities of school buildings and students during disaster, and measures for school disaster risk.  Next months activities are the conduct of CBDRM and school awareness events in other wards.

·         PAKISTAN – AKPBS(P) shared the updated hazard and vulnerability study with the Sub District Nazim (Administrative) Latifabad Hyderabad and DCO Hyderabad.  In the same meeting, the DCO was requested to support the PROMISE targeted communities through Citizen Community Boards (CCBs).  PROMISE Pakistan conducted feasibility studies and needs analysis for the demonstration projects.  In consultative meetings with communities and local NGOs, options were identified for the demonstration project interventions.  Possible projects include earth filling in the low-lying colonies/areas, communal latrines, storm water drains, rehabilitation of pumping stations will be executed.  The community will be mobilized to contribute in kind to the construction/ installation work of demo projects.

Under the capacity building component, Ms. Mahrunnisa, Assistant Program Officer, attended the first regional course on hydro-meteorological risk assessment and community preparedness, organized by ADPC in Thailand.  AKPBSP organized an orientation session for the members of Disaster Management Committees to orient the members on the roles, responsibilities, and coordination mechanism in the committee.  Finally, on April 21, PROMISE Pakistan organized a school festival in High School Hali Road Hyderabad.  Lectures on the Disasters, PROMISE and role of students in the preparedness activities were delivered to the students.

·         PHILIPPINES – CDP and Dagupan City’s Technical Working Group (TWG) reviewed the draft CDCC Manual, shared their CBDRM experience with another city, and are continuing preparations for upcoming emergency drills.  In a workshop on April 10, the TWG and the Country Project Coordinator Ms. Luneta scrutinized and agreed upon the structure of the CDCC and the early warning and monitoring system.  

On April 11, the TWG headed by Mr. Robert – Erfe Mejia the Deputized CDCC Officer and Mrs. Emma Molina the Focal person of Dagupan PROMISE Project along with Ms. Mayfourth Luneta the Project Coordinator met with the City Mayor Rey Bautista and discussed about the prevalent DRM practice in Baguio, after which the actual sharing of CDCC’s followed. Baguio CDCC and the Emergency Medical Services explained their structure and usual work for DRM especially on Emergency Services.  Then Dagupan also shared their experience on Disaster Risk Management highlighting the Disaster Preparedness through Capability Building of the communities and the City.

On April 12, the TWG held a workshop with representatives of the eight pilot barangays to review the barangays’ early warning and evacuation plans for the coming drill. The TWG members were assigned to the eight barangays to facilitate the small group discussions to look into the plans and see what is lacking and what needs to be improved. The selected sites for the flood markers were also reviewed and noted.  In the afternoon there was an orientation for Bantay Dagupan (network of civic volunteer organizations) and for PATRIMA (tri- media network of Dagupan City) on the PROMISE Philippines project and on the Drill scheduled for the last week of May.  The project Coordinator facilitated the meeting and asked the commitment of the group not only for the drill but for disaster preparedness for the city. There was an inventory on what the organizations can offer (like vehicles, manpower, skills).

On April 18, the TWG and CDP met with Ms. Maris Palencia, the emergency drills consultant. They discussed the initial drill plan and the scope and area of the drill.  The next step for next month will be a table top exercise along with the use of two-way radios to see the communication flow within the 8 barangays as well as in the city, then the actual drills for Dagupan City.

Next month’s activities are the emergency drill, preparations for Disaster Preparedness Day on July 16, preparations for various events on public awareness and sharing of DRM experiences, and preparations for the advanced training on Medical First Response.

·         SRI-LANKA – Sarvodaya continued organizing communities towards establishing a networking meeting of collaborating volunteers of the Early Warning System from communities upstream and downstream of Kaluganga River in the cities of Kalutara and Rathnapura.

·         VIETNAM – CECI conducted four CBDRM training classes the at the community level (section clusters) in the three of the most vulnerable wards identified in the PVCA. Almost a hundred persons representing community representatives such as head of sections, representatives of community based organizations attended the three-day training on CBDRM where they were familiarized with key concepts and produced a disaster preparedness plan for their section clusters. Identified change agents (local trainers) also joined and facilitated these training classes.

The house construction program contributed by CECI to the PROMISE Viet Nam project was going into its final stages.  Some follow up was being done to incomplete houses. This month one more household was selected, bringing the total houses rebuilt in Cam Le district to 22 houses. Technical surveys for house design and cost estimate was completed. The final design drawing and cost estimate were expected to be available early the following month.  Finally, work is continuing on developing the guidelines and a poster for safer house construction techniques.

A. FROM THE REGION

(1) ADPC signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Mineral Resources of Royal Thai Government, 24 April 2007, Bangkok

This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) confirms an understanding describing the terms of collaboration between ADPC and DMR on areas of common interest to both parties and exchange of knowledge & information in the fields of geological and geo-technical hazard risk management in general and the Asian Program for Regional Capacity Enhancement for Landslide Impact Mitigation (RECALIM) implemented by ADPC, in particular.  The MOU was signed between ADPC Executive Director a.i. Dr. Bhichit Rattakul and DMR, Director General, Mr. Apichai Chvajarenpun.

(2) Landslides hit Kyrgyzstan and China, April 2007
(based on reports from AlertNet)

Mudslides caused by heavy rains have hit southern Kyrgyzstan on April 17 and 22.  More than 300 homes were damaged, many households are affected by floods, and evacuations were carried out in some places.  The second mudslide occurred on the night of April 22 in Jalalabad province.

In China, a landslide caused by rain hit Heyuan in Guangdong province on April 26 that killed three people.  Sudden torrential downpours in Guangdong destroyed more than 1,300 houses and forced 20,000 people from their homes, the official Xinhua agency reported late on Tuesday.  

(3) Holiday flash floods kill 37, 14 April 2007
(based on reports from The Nation, Bangkok Post, Reuters)

The death toll in a flash flood that swept away holidaymakers in southern Thailand reached 35.  About 100 people were swimming in the Prai Sawan, Sairung and Lam Lok waterfalls in Trang province, when the flash flood hit.  The flash floods, triggered by heavy rains, swept over the waterfalls, the Health Ministry's Relief Centre said.  Most of the victims were swimming below the Sai Roong and Prai Sawan falls during a long weekend holiday for the new year Songkran festival.  The dead included thirteen children.  The waterfalls are a popular destination for local families at holiday times.  The governor announced that flood-warning sirens will be installed at Trang's Sairung and Prai Sawan falls.  Meanwhile, the weather bureau forecast heavy downpours for many areas in the lower South, and told residents of Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun to brace for flash-floods.  In Satun, Governor Kwanchai Wongnitikorn ordered officials to inspect all waterfalls in Khuan Don, Khuan Ka Long and Langu districts as well as Ma Nang sub-district to check their safety. 

(4) Quake in Solomon Islands, 2 April 2007
(based on reports from AlertNet and OCHA)

A powerful South Pacific earthquake of at least 8.0 magnitude sent a tsunami wave into the Solomon Islands archipelago.  The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii placed the quake's centre 350 km (220 miles) north-west of Honiara when it struck at about 6:40 a.m. (2040 GMT on Sunday).  The initial tremor was followed around seven minutes later by a second one, centered further west, of magnitude 6.7, USGS said. 

The water measuring around 3m high in places has completely wiped out a number of the coastal communities, caused substantial damage, triggered a series of landslides on Mono Island, left many homeless, damaged schools, and left many without access to clean water after the water tanks collapsed falling down the hill.  Fifty-two people were killed and some are missing.  Aerial surveillance shows that the worst-affected areas are the southern coast of Gizo, Simbo Island and the central southern coast of Choiseul between Moli and Posarae and Sasamungga. 

(5) Flooding in Afghanistan
(based on reports from BBC)

Avalanches and floods have killed 88 people in Afghanistan in mid March.   Hundreds of homes were destroyed after heavy Late-winter rain and melting snow combined to trigger floods and landslides in the mountain valleys in the south western interior. The river breached embankments for several nights, flooding more houses and forcing families to evacuate to higher ground.  In several parts of Afghanistan whole villages were washed away as the waters inundated 19 out of 34 provinces.  The UN estimates over 20,000 people across the country have been affected.  Afghanistan has been suffering from drought for most of the past decade so that despite the damage, the majority of Afghans have welcomed these heavy rains and are looking forward to a good year for farmers.

 

B. CALLS FOR SUBMISSION

(6) Call for abstracts: 6^th Annual International Conference and Exhibition on Geographical Information Technology and Applications

This year’s MapAsia conference will have the theme “Maponomics – Economic Growth Thorough Geo-Information Technology”.  The conference aims to promote discussion on two-pronged economic growth backed by application and usage of GIT.  This type of approach to economic growth enables the expansion of economic activities in a given community thereby raising living standards of individuals and second, that aids private industry to reap more benefits through geo-technologies and adding to the countries’ national income.  Multiple aspects of GIS-linked economic growth would be the part of deliberations at Map Asia 2007.  Technical sessions include Disaster Management, Health and Human Services, Land Information Systems, Marine and Coastal GIS, Natural Resources Management, and Urban and Town Planning.  Deadline for abstracts is 15 May 2007.  For inquiries, contact Saurabh Mishra, +91-981-0668329, papers@mapasia.org.  To submit an abstract online,
click here: http://www.mapasia.org/2007/submitabstract.htm.

C.   CONFERENCES AND COURSES

(7) Call for Applications: IAEM Scholarship

The International Association of Emergency Managers awards scholarships to full-time students pursuing any level of degree in emergency management or a closely related field, and the association is now requesting applications.  The application is due 16 May 2007, can be downloaded
here: http://www.iaem.com/resources/scholarships/documents/
2007scholarshipapplication.pdf.

 (8) Workshop on the Physics of Tsunami, Hazard Assessment Methods and Disaster Risk Management – Trieste, Italy: 14-18 May 2007

Organizer: The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. This workshop will relate the evaluations of flood hazards to the protection of nuclear installations and other critical infrastructure facilities. Different methods of hazard analysis will be assessed, as will experience of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and flooding events in nuclear facilities.  For more information, click here: http://www.ictp.it.

(9) River Basin Management 2007 – Kos, Greece: 23-25 May 2007

Organizer: Wessex Institute of Technology. The conference will communicate recent advances in the overall management of riverine systems, including advances in hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, environmental protection, and flood forecasting.  To learn more,
visit: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2007/rm07/.

D.  USEFUL RESOURCES

(10) ‘Social aspects and stakeholder involvement in integrated Flood Management’ by the World Meteorological Organization, 2006

The main objective of the publication is to help understand full range of social issues involved in flood management and the need for stakeholder involvement in IFM and to help make society more resilient to flood risks while recognizing and deriving benefits from floods. The publication is primarily aimed at flood managers, but it also provides information useful for policymakers, river basin managers, practitioners, civil society, NGOs and national, state, district and local government officials responsible for integrated flood management (IFM). The multidimensional nature of flood management options is presented as stemming from constraints, risks, uncertainties and conflicting objectives.  Disaster management options are proposed as not only fulfilling technical criteria but should also address broader socio-political issues.  The publication can be found here: http://www.adpc.net. 

(11) “Tsunami Risk Reduction Strategies for Urban Planning and guidelines for construction’ by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, 2006 

This handbook is aimed at reducing the risks caused by tsunamis using appropriate urban and construction planning strategies.  It seeks to promote site analysis methodologies based on hazard assessments, vulnerability assessments, and evacuation time.  It provides specific guidelines for urban planning, construction design and tsunami engineering.  The publication can be found here: http://www.adpc.net. 

(12) SL Indian Ocean tsunami warning project
(based on reports from The Sunday Island)

LIRNEasia and Sarvodaya conducted a community disaster warning pilot project evaluating the suitability of ICT in the last mile of a national disaster warning system for Sri Lanka and its possible extension to other developing countries.  Addressable satellite radio sets were found to be the best alerting technology. Java enabled mobile phones which has a wake up siren came next. The GSM based remote alarm device developed locally by Dialog Telekom, MicroImage and University of Moratuwa followed closely that has both light and siren.  Findings of this project were discussed by community leaders and international experts at a workshop on "Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning with a Focus on Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems" at the Sarvodaya Headquarters in Moratuwa last March 28.  International Development Research Centre of Canada had funded the project launched in January 2006. 

The project simulations had been carried out in 32 villages with various kinds of communications equipment providing features such as early warning wake-up, addressability and provisions of information in three languages (English, Sinhala and Tamil).  Difficulties had been experienced in communicating disaster warning to villages when mobile and fixed CDMA telecom networks were not functioning in conflict conditions. Also, the importance of not leaving newspapers on top of sensitive electronic equipment which can overheat and shutdown had been noted. The VSAT based warning system had not run well in the tests.  The project objective was not to declare a winner among the technologies, but to find out how they could be improved to perform reliably in the difficult conditions of Sri Lankan villages. The findings are now in the hands of developers who are making improvements to the equipment so that they will perform better in Sri Lanka and in other countries interested in these applications.

(13) “Natural Disaster Reduction” by Sinha, 2007 

This book by Dilip Kumar Sinha uses the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami as a starting point to analyze the dynamics of disasters in South East Asia, the effects of climatic changes and geographical conditions in the region, the development of early warning systems and the principles of risk management in an era of globalization.  The book has illustrative case studies and diagrams, and can be useful for institutions of risk management, government organizations and NGOs. 

(14) ADB Annual Report 2006

The Asian Development Bank's Annual Report 2006 is now available.  It presents the year's activities and includes a feature on ADB’s 40th anniversary.  The financial highlights include: US$7.4 billion approved for 80 loans for 67 projects; and US$5.7 billion disbursed during 2006, up from US$4.7 billion in 2005.  The operational and institutional highlights include: its first private sector projects in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan; core sectors identified for future assistance are road transport, energy, urban infrastructure, rural infrastructure, education, and financial services; a new medium-term strategy to guide ADB operations up to 2008; and a new regional cooperation and integration policy.  The report is found
here: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Annual_
Report/2006/default.asp.