Regional Workshop to Review Current Capacity Building Initiatives in Asia and the Pacific

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center is currently undertaking a study of key capacity building initiatives in Asia and the Pacific. The objective is to identify documents and assess the effectiveness of capacity building activities underway and recommend additional activities that will enhance the capacity of developing country institutions and individuals to effectively respond to disasters. The countries covered under the current study are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam,

A regional workshop scheduled for May 2005 will bring together representatives from a wide spectrum of organizations from the countries covered in the study. The workshop participants will review the effectiveness of the strategy of disaster management and recovery and also outline specific steps that can be taken to increase capacities of institutions in Asia to better respond to humanitarian emergencies. A survey was conducted prior to the workshop to seek further clarification and inputs from the different organizations in the study countries.

The project is implemented in collaboration with the School of Foreign Services at Georgetown University and the Institute of International Migration, USA, with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Latin American and African partners are: the Center for Latin American Studies, the African Studies Program and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.

For more details write to Mr NMSI Arambepola, Director and Team Leader UDRM Team at arambepola@adpc.net or Mr Rajesh Sharma, Project Manager at rajesh@adpc.net 

Workshop on Mitigating Damage to Health Facilities, Jakarta, Indonesia

Over 100 people are expected to participate in the “Workshop on Mitigation of Damage in Health Facilities” to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia at a date yet to be announced. The participants will be government officials from the Ministry of Health and representatives from donor and bilateral agencies, hospital administrators, engineers, architects and NGOs involved in the post-tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation program in Aceh, Indonesia. The workshop is being conducted in joint collaboration with the South East Asia Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO-SEARO) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center.

The main objectives of the workshop are to:

• promote the adoption of measures to mitigate damage to health facilities from natural disasters in the future, and

• integrate the concept of “vulnerability reduction” into reconstruction project planning following the tsunami.

The workshop agenda will cover Indonesia’s current legal and institutional framework, scientific capacities and resources, mitigation of damage to health facilities, a review of the WHO/WB guidelines for new facilities and a review of health reconstruction projects by participating agencies, how to integrate mitigation measures into rehabilitation and reconstruction project planning, and the need for technical support and guidance. Steps to ensure vulnerability reduction in future disasters, the role of engineering auditing firms and mitigation in the broader context of disaster reduction and preparedness in the health sector will also be part of the broader discussion.

Conclusions and recommendations from an upcoming WHO Global Lessons Learned conference in Phuket, Thailand on May 6-8, 2005 and will also be shared at the workshop and it is expected to shape rehabilitation efforts particularly in regard to health facilities in all the countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

For more details contact Dr Marcel Dubouloz, Director, Public Health in Emergencies Team at marcel@adpc.net