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
October to December 2007 are: implementing
the small-scale mitigation projects for each
city, planning for the conduct of national
courses, and development of case study
material.
In this Issue:
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
-
BANGLADESH – BDPC conducted a
national training course on Urban
Governance and Disaster Risk Reduction
jointly with the National Institute of
Local Government (NILG) from September
30 to October 2. The main purpose of the
course was to build capacities of the 22
participants for better understanding of
governance issues in relation to
disaster risk reduction at local level.
PROMISE-Bangladesh team prepared the
course outline in line with the regional
course curriculum and in consultation
with NILG faculty. Mr. Arambepola of
ADPC was present to give opening
remarks.
PROMISE-BD team organized a review
meeting with City Corporation officials
on October7 to share the progress of
implementation of small scale mitigation
projects. Mr. Rezaul Karim, City
Planner, Mr. Yakub Nobi, Executive
Engineer, Mr. Abu Sadat Md. Tayab,
Assistant Engineer and other engineers
were present in the meeting. The City
Planner assigned Mr. Abu Sadat for
providing all sorts of technical support
to PROMISE. Following that meeting Mr.
Sadat visited the project site on
October 9, and assured to prepare the
technical drawing of latrine for school
cum shelter.
There were two main advocacy activities
this month. PROMISE-BD team prepared
the script for the school simulation
with the help of Mr. Kishor of CPP.
Other arrangements have been made,
pending setting the date for the event
after consultation with the school
authority. PROMISE-Bangladesh team is
also organizing the media orientation
for the 3rd week of November.
Some15 to 18 participants are expected
to attend the course.
-
PAKISTAN –PROMISE-Pakistan team
in collaboration with SAFWCO, the local
NGO partner, celebrated International
Disaster Day at a local hotel in
Hyderabad. District Government
representatives, civil society
organizations, Ms. Nuzhat Pathan
(Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh
Province), members of Provincial
Disaster Management Authority, and 250
community members participated in the
event. Featured speakers were: Mr.
Suleman G Abro, CEO, SAFWCO; Dr.
Bakhshal Khan Lashari, Professor, Mehran
University of Engineering and
Technology; and Mr. Masood A Mahesar,
Country Coordinator, PROMISE-Pakistan.
The terms of partnership for the
small-scale disaster mitigation projects
were signed by all the community members
concerned, and can be started as soon as
ADPC approves the proposals. The
Ramadhan observance in October put a
pause in some of the activities. The
updates on the report on ‘Participatory
Hazard Mapping and Vulnerability and
Capacity Assessment’ are under process.
A disaster management orientation
program for school children was
organized in Government High School,
Qasimabad. Thirty-five (35) boys
participated, and learned the basic
causes of the disasters and their
effects of human lives and livelihoods.
Two meetings were held with Taluka
Municipal Administration Latifabad to
discuss city action plan. The plan was
updated with local Government
perspective. The city action plan is
expected to be finalized through a
consultative workshop in December 2007.
-
PHILIPPINES – CDP and the Dagupan
City TWG made a formal
presentation of the Project PROMISE to
the Sangguniang Panlungsod on October 2. The Sangguniang Panlungsod or city council is the local
legislative body that passes ordinances
and resolutions (laws of local
application).
The achievements of PROMISE Philippines
were shown, and emphasis was made on the
importance of the involvement of the
city council in the previous year in
making of the City Resolution 5469-2006
making July 16 the Disaster Preparedness
Day. The need for additional
resolutions and ordinances that would
support the sustainability of the CBDRM
in Dagupan City was also highlighted.
Specific mention was made on the need of
a resolution to institutionalize a
24-hour Emergency Operation Center (EOC)
office for the City with regular staff
and a physical facility, and to
officially adapt the DRM and CDCC Manual
drafted by the TWG. Vice-Mayor Belen
Fernandez, the Chair and convenor of the
Sanggunian, advocated to the councilors
to draft the ordinance on the EOC.
Two major networking activities happened
in October. Ms. Luneta attended the
Asia Pacific Regional Workshop in School
Education and Disaster Risk Reduction on
October 8 to10. The workshop promoted
DRR for children, and risk assessment
with children. During the parallel
sessions she promoted
PROMISE-Philippines highlighting DRM and
Local governance. Participants from
Bhutan and Germany were interested in
the strategy used and expressed interest
in future collaboration. Ms. Luneta
attended the National Training Course on
Landslide Risk Management on October 17
to make a presentation on the process of
CBDRM in Landslide Management. She
shared the process used in Dagupan City
under PROMISE Philippines. The course
was organized by the University of the
Philippines and Saint Louis University
under the Asian Program for Regional
Capacity Enhancement for Landslide
Impact Mitigation (RECLAIM).
-
SRI LANKA – Sarvodaya had
meetings with the Disaster Management
Centre to discuss the details on the
establishment of an Emergency Operations
Center in Kalutara. PROMISE Sri Lanka
team also held several discussions with
responsible officers of Sarvodaya to
brief them on the small-scale disaster
mitigation projects and finalize the
procedure for doing them through the
grassroots-level Sarvodaya Structure. A
third Community-Based Emergency Response
Course (C-BERC) was conducted on October
1 to 5 for 25 persons from Kalutara
District. The 5-day program was
conducted with Medical Teams
International. With the completion of
this training, the number of persons
trained as medical first responders
increased up to 50 from Kalutara. They
will sign up an agreement with SCDMC to
confirm their agreement to join EOC
Kalutara and come to the field in a
disaster when there is a need. A
meeting was held with SLILG to discuss
the upcoming national course on
Governance and Disaster Risk Reduction.
The date is tentatively set for November
16 to 20. Preparation of the training
modules has begun. A public awareness
program was conducted October 20 at
Deshastra Balika Vidyalaya, Kalutara.
The program was a joint effort of
several organizations that targeted the
people who live in the coastal area.
Majority of the participants were
affected by the 2004 tsunami. PROMISE
Sri Lanka team conducted an awareness
program on Disaster Management with
contribution from the Disaster
Management Centre – Kalutara.
-
VIETNAM – CECI and the
Construction Department finalized the
guidelines on safe construction
techniques. The guidelines are now
being translated to Vietnamese. Three
community meetings were conducted in
three wards from October 23 to 25 to
disseminate CBDRM knowledge and safe
house construction techniques and
validation of the ward disaster
preparedness plan. A total of 150
persons including chief of the sections,
community-based organizations and
residents attended the one-day training
and meeting delivered by the Change
Agents who attended the TOT last month.
Revisions on the Community Based
Disaster Preparedness Plan are being
done based on the information gathered
in the community meetings.
A list of community-based small scale
projects were submitted to ADPC team for
their comments and approval. These
projects included structural and
non-structural subprojects as upgrading
an inter-field dyke for agriculture
production, improvement of flood drains
and evacuation routes, and community
awareness-raising and support of
emergency facilities under the City
level Emergency Response Plans. PROMISE
Vietnam is finalizing the proposal to
submit to ADPC as requested. In
addition, CECI will use the remaining
fund for typhoon Xangsane to invest more
in the subprojects proposed by the
community and extended the project
support to the non-project areas in the
remaining three wards of Cam Le
district.
Three classes of the Community- Based
Emergency Response Course were conducted
for emergency response teams of three
wards. These classes followed the same
three-day training modules and materials
of C- BERC as previously provided by
ADPC trainers (DM in Vietnam, Diseases
Precautions, Emergency Incident,
Principles of Patient Assessment, Basic
Life Support & CPR, Bleeding, Shock,
Lifting and Moving Patient, Fracture,
Sprain, Dislocation and Triage). In
total around 62 persons attended the
training, the majority are men (70%),
and were given Certificates of
Completion. Da Nang City Red Cross
trainers, who acted as Assistants for
ADPC trainers, delivered these
trainings. As commented by participants
and district as well as ward
authorities, C-BERC training was very
essential and practical so they proposed
to have more training classes given to
sub committee for storm and flood
control at section cluster level.
Preparations have started for the
drawing competition on Disaster
Preparedness and living Environment
Protection to the target of 4th
and 5th grade pupils of
school in the three project wards. A
draft plan was developed. Collection of
information on number of classes and
schools and collaboration with the
District Education Department is in
process.
The PROMISE Vietnam team participated in
the Communities Disaster Prevention Tour
on October 4 to 10. The tour was
organized for DIPECHO project partners
to different projects from the South to
the Central of Vietnam. PROMISE Vietnam
sent Ms. Duong Thi Hoai Trang, PROMISE
Project Coordinator, Ms. Marie France
Biron, Urban Planning Volunteer, Ms.
Duong Thi Hoan, Economic Department of
Cam Le district, and two Vice Chairs of
two vulnerable wards, Mr Nguyen Tuong
and Nguyen Quang Vinh to join the study
tour. PROMISE Vietnam also hosted one
stop of the tour at the wards under the
PROMISE project and visited an example
of its safer house program for promotion
of application of safe techniques in
house construction practices.
A. FROM THE REGION
(1)
PAG-ASA issued La Niña notice
(based on reports from PAGASA)
The notification was issued by the
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)
on September 21 based on recent present
oceanic and atmospheric patterns, and will
be confirmed if the patterns persist up to
November. A weak La Niña episode is also
suggested by their dynamic and statistical
models to strengthen and persist to the
early months of 2008. PAGASA will continue
to monitor the phenomenon and give updates.
(2) Centre for Risk Management of Natural
Hazards in Iran
A Regional Centre for Risk Management of
Natural Hazards opened in Mashad, I. R. of
Iran, as a specialized agency of the
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
ECO is an Asian intergovernmental
development and trade cooperation body of 10
countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan,
Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan. The objective of the Centre is
to promote cooperation between ECO members
for effective risk management, especially in
the fields of meteorology, climatology and
hydrology. Until the Centre’s statute as an
ECO specialized agency enters fully into
force, the Iranian Meteorological
Organization will be in charge of the
Centre. For more information, contact:
Seyed Mohammad Sadati Nejad (msadatinejad@tehran.un.org.ir)
or check out:
http://www.ecosecretariat.org.
(3) An earthquake early warning wristwatch
Citizen and Rhythm Watch developed a device
that combines an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW)
receiver and an analog watch. The Seismic
watch functions as an ordinary watch until
it receives the EEW, which calculates the
seismic intensity and arrival time of the
earthquake in relation to the watch location
based on this data. The hour hand will
speed up based on the seismic intensity
estimation, while the minute and second
hands give the countdown time to the
earthquake arrival. The wearer is alerted
of an imminent earthquake with an audible
alarm and, fittingly, a vibrator. This EEW
capability is only available in Japan. The
watch is available in a men’s model due to
the built-in receiver. Citizen hopes to
downsize the watch in the future to produce
a lady’s model, and to make a clock model
for the home. To read more, please go to
http://www.gizmag.com/go/8168/ .
(4) India's tsunami warning centre up and
running, October 1
(based on a report from SciDev.Net)
India's tsunami warning centre in Hyderabad
became operational on October 1, less than
three years since the country's southern
coast was devastated by the Asian tsunami.
The center is located at the Indian National
Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),
and operates 24/7. It receives data via
satellite from six ocean buoys — four in the
Bay of Bengal and two in the Arabian Sea —
equipped with water pressure sensors to
detect any rise in water levels. To read
more, please go to
http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3941&language=1.
(5) Typhoon Lekima hits Vietnam, October 3
(based on reports from AlertNet, CRS, IFRC,
and USAID)
Typhoon Lekima, packing winds of up to 120
kph (75 mph) blew into Vietnam on October
3. Vietnam evacuated 400,000 people before
Lekima hits its central coast. The loss of
life was minimal thanks to the mass
evacuations, sentiments from both the Deputy
Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and Irja
Sandberg, IFRC representative in Viet Nam.
Government reports said Typhoon Lekima that
blew in on Wednesday night and its aftermath
caused damage in nine northern and central
provinces. The homes of hundreds of
thousands of Vietnamese villagers were
underwater after days of some of the worst
flooding in decades that killed up to 67
people. Please go to the CCFSC-NDMP site
for updated figures from joint assessments
on the damage:
more >>
The Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC) donated
household. On October 9, U.S. Chargé
d’Affaires Jonathan M. Aloisi declared a
disaster due to the typhoon and associated
flooding, and in response, USAID/OFDA
provided $100,000 through the U.S. Embassy
in Hanoi to IFRC to support the provision of
emergency relief supplies, including water
containers and mosquito nets. In order to
replenish relief stocks and continue
responding to people’s needs, the
International Federation released 200,000
Swiss francs ($170,000 USD or € 120,000)
from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund on 7
October. The International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is
appealing for 3.2 million Swiss francs ($2.7
million US/ €1.9 million) to help the most
destitute people affected by Typhoon Lekima
in flood-ravaged central Viet Nam. Before
reaching Vietnam, the typhoon made landfall
late on October 2 near China's beach resort
of Sanya, trapping tourists and forcing the
evacuation of over 225,000 residents and the
return to port of over 20,000 fishing boats.
B. CALLS FOR SUBMISSION
(6) Call for presentations: 18th World
Conference on Disaster Management
The Canadian Centre for Emergency
Preparedness (CCEP) is calling for
presentations for the conference that will
be held at the Metro Toronto Convention
Centre, Toronto, Canada from June 15-18,
2008. The conference theme is: Resiliency -
Individual, Community, Business.
Presentations should fall into one or more
of the following categories: Real
Events/Lessons Learned; Emerging Trends in
Disaster Management ; The Human Element in
Disaster Management; Technical
Issues/Threats; Disaster Management
Principles & Practices; and
Academic/Research and Development.
Presentation abstracts must be submitted by
December 2. For more details, please visit
http://www.wcdm.org/ or contact Adrian
Gordon at (905) 331-2552 Ext: 221 or email:
agordon@ccep.ca.
(7) Deadline for PERISHIP Hazards
Fellowships Applications Extended to
February 1, 2008
The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) and
the Natural Hazards Center are seeking
applications for the National PERISHIP
Fellowship Program, which will award up to
six dissertation fellowships for work
related to natural and human-made hazards,
risk, and disasters. The deadline for
applications is February 1, 2008. Up to 6
grants of up to USD 10,000 each will be
awarded in 2007/2008 to doctoral students to
support their dissertation work on natural
and human-made hazards, risk, and disasters
in any relevant field of the natural and
physical sciences, social and behavioral
sciences, specialties in engineering, or
interdisciplinary programs such as
environmental studies. The grants are
flexible and can be used for data
collection, travel for field work, or for
presentation of findings at meetings,
purchase of software, data entry assistance,
statistical analysis services, or a
combination of these or other similar
purposes (but, NOT for stipends or
tuition). Submit application materials in
digital form (in PDF only, as a single file)
by 5:00 pm EST on February 1, 2008.
Applications should be sent to
periship@riskinstitute.org. Hardcopy
applications will not be accepted. Awards
will be announced in May 2008. For complete
information,
go to
http://www.cudenver.edu/periship/.
C. CONFERENCES AND COURSES
(8) The 4th Sentinel Asia Joint Project Team
Meeting (JPTM4)— Manila, Philippines:
September 5-7, 2007
The fourth Joint Project Team Meeting
(JPTM4) for establishing the Disaster
Management Support System in the
Asia-Pacific region was held at the Dusit
Hotel Nikko, in Manila, the Philippines from
September 5 to 7, 2007. It was attended by
84 people representing 45 organizations from
17 countries and 6 international
organizations. For more details please
go to:
http://www.aprsaf.org/text/wg_meeting_philippines.html.
(9) 2007 International Day for Disaster
Reduction, October 10
IDDR was marked in the following 17
countries of Asia and the Pacific:
Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China, Fiji,
India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Nepal,
Niue, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the
Philippines, Singapore, Tajikistan,
Thailand, Tuvalu and Viet Nam. Dr. Bhichit
Rattakul, ADPC’s Executive Director, a.i.,
gave the opening statement at the ceremony
of the Regional Workshop on School Education
and Disaster Risk Reduction from October 8
to 10, one of the key activities of the
celebration.
(10) ADPC at the UNSPIDER Workshop – Bonn,
Germany: October 29 to 31
ADPC made a presentation at the United
Nations International UN-SPIDER Workshop:
Space-based Information and Solutions for
Disaster Management and Emergency Response.
The presentation “Incident Command System
for Building Faster Responses to Disasters
Response in the Indian Ocean Countries” was
made by S.H.M. Fakkrudin. The workshop was
organized by the United Nations Office for
Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the German
Aerospace Center (DLR).
(11) 36th Regional Training
Course on Disaster Management – Bangkok,
Thailand: 5 – 23 November 2007
Organizer: Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center (ADPC). This ADPC flagship course
aims to facilitate effective strategies and
systems for disaster prevention, mitigation,
response and recovery, applying risk
management processes in order to identify,
assess and deal with disaster risk
assessment, utilizing an emergency
coordination center to manage disaster
events and assess key implementation issues
and requirements in disaster management. To
download the course brochure, please go to:
more >>.
(12) Asia-Pacific EcoHealth Conference:
Sustaining People and Places in a Changing
World – Basel, Switzerland: November 26-29,
2007
The conference will look at key issues
surrounding the interdependent relationships
of humans and their environments. It will
showcase the latest research and contribute
to the development of partnerships to create
new strategies in addressing looming
ecological crises. For details, please
visit:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/events/ecohealth2007/.
D. USEFUL RESOURCES
(13) Island Advantage: id21 Insights, Issue
#70
This issue of id21 #70 is about island
advantage. Read about disaster resilience of
the Chinese in the Solomon Islands:
http://www.id21.org/insights/insights70/art04.html
and of the Caribbean
http://www.id21.org/insights/insights70/art06.html.
To download the entire issue, please
go to:
http://www.id21.org/insights/insights70/pdf.html.
(14) e-Primer on ICT for Disaster Management
– APDIP-APCICT, 2007
This e-primer introduces policy makers and
development practitioners to the application
of different information and communications
technology (ICT) for disaster management,
with case studies from the Asia-Pacific
region. A key conclusion is that the
effectiveness of ICTs in reducing disaster
risks depends on how these ICTs are used.
The use of ICTs in disaster management
should not be seen as a choice between one
type of technology over another. A
multiplicity of communication channels and
technologies exist, and each can be suitable
in a particular situation. The challenge is
to identify suitable combinations of
technologies. The online pdf version is
available at http://www.apdip.net/news/ict4dm.
This e-primer is jointly produced by UNDP
Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme (http://www.apdip.net)
and the Asian and Pacific Training Centre
for Information and Communication Technology
for Development (http://unapcict.org/).
(15) Country Focus 2: India
This section is a focus on online resources
on the countries under the GUGSA project or
PROMISE program, both funded by USAID. The
countries that will be featured are (in
order): Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal,
Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and Viet Nam. Here is a list of online
resources on India:
-
India Country Study under the Good Urban
Governance in South Asia project funded
by USAID-India:
more >>
-
Safer Cities 11: Towards
Technological Hazards Risk Reduction in
Ahmedabad: School as effective
institutions for disaster awareness and
preparedness, December 2004:
more >>
-
“Megacities – megarisks,” by Friedemann
Wenzel, Fouad Bendimerad and Ravi Sinha.
Natural Hazards (2007)
42:481–491. For those with journal
subscription:
more >>
-
Disaster Preparedness for Natural
Hazards: Current Status in India
(2007) by ICIMOD:
more >>
-
ISDR Profile of India:
more >>
-
AlertNet’s profile of India:
more >>
-
EMI’s disaster risk management profile
of Mumbai:
more >>
-
ADB Portal on Bangladesh:
more >>
-
ADB Economic and Political Update on
Bangladesh, 2007 April:
more >>
