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Activity Report

30 September 2024


Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), in cooperation with the Cabinet Office of Japan and the Viet Nam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority (VDDMA), will hold the Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2024 (ACDR2024) at the Hanoi Club Hotel in Hanoi on 12-13 November 2024.


The theme of ACDR2024 is "Proactive Solutions and Anticipatory Actions for Sustainable Resilience to the Climate Crisis."

The Please register to attend in person or online at the following website.


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ACDR2024: https://acdr.adrc.asia/

(2024/09/30 15:00)

30 September 2024


ADRC will co-organise a partner event at the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR) 2024 on 17 October 2024, entitled "Urban Resilience of Metropolises: Incorporation of Multi-Sectoral Spatial Risk Assessment in City Planning for Investing in Resilient Metropolises, and Augmenting Local Solutions to Disaster Risk Reduction/ Build Back Better with Space Satellite Services" with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Sentinel Asia, and other stakeholders.


There is an urgent need to address the root causes of increasing urban disasters by identifying better ways to incorporate disaster risk reduction into urban planning and infrastructure planning processes. Further, to respond effectively to unexpected scales of disaster, it is important to have rapid access to geographical information and to disseminate risk information.


This panel discussion will serve as a platform for various practitioners and experts to share experiences and best practices in addressing the above needs.

We look forward to the participation of APMCDRR participants in this event. For more information, please visit the website below.


<ADRC's Partner Event at APMCDRR 2024>

https://bit.ly/APMCDRR2024-PE20241017

(2024/09/30 15:00)

7 September 2024 (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)


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As part of the "Joint Development of Citizen Empowerment Program for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia" project, conducted by the Kansai University of International Studies (KUIS) with funding from the Toyota Foundation, the ADRC team participated in a community-based disaster management drill utilising ICT in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, 7 September 2024. ADRC served as a supporting organisation for the implementation of the project.


The drill targeted the Jogoyudan community along the Code River in Yogyakarta City, which is vulnerable to disasters such as flooding and cold lava flows from volcanic ash. KUIS and the local University of Atma Jaya Yogyakarta (UAJY) coordinated with the provincial/municipal disaster management agency (BPBD) and the community. Students from KUIS and UAJY actively participated in the drill activities. Although the short preparation time limited sufficient coordination efforts, each party cooperated in the evacuation drills and devised activities such as supporting and evacuating the injured, pregnant women and physically disabled persons.


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It was conducted using the community disaster information sharing system (geoBingAn + WhatsApp system) launched by the ADRC in the ASEAN project in Malaysia last year (See ADRC Highlights Vol. 368 and 370). By registering via WhatsApp, which people use every day, the system enables simultaneous broadcasting to the registrant's WhatsApp and collection of information in the form of text, photos and videos from registrants via WhatsApp. It is an easy-to-use system that enables two-way information exchange on WhatsApp.


In addition to information sharing via radio, which BPBD normally uses, information was uploaded by the participants through WhatsApp as needed. BPBD and the community members found the system through WhatsApp to be a very convenient and user-friendly platform for information sharing, as they were already familiar with using WhatsApp. Even after the drill, BPBD asked some questions about future collaboration and expressed interest in continuing to use this system.


As noted above, due to the limited preparation, the local government officials were not able to fully utilise the system during the drill. The results of the ICT-utilised drill were reported at the international workshop "Asian Conference on Civil Disaster Reduction and Response (ACDRI)" under the Toyota-funded project. The ICT-utilised disaster risk reduction event will be continued in the next activity with universities in Malaysia.

(2024/09/14 15:00)

19 August 2024


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According to Dr Hak Mao (Director, Department of Climate Change) and Mr Sem Savuth (Vice Chief, Climate Change Information Management, Department of Climate Change), 44% of all communes in Cambodia are vulnerable to the increasing frequency and intensity of flood, drought, and storm due to climate change. By 2050, when sea-level rise is projected to reach 1,302mm, about 242km2 of coastal areas in Cambodia will be inundated, resulting to an estimated economic loss of USD304 million. If the government does not offer additional action to combat the impacts of climate change, the planned GDP for 2050 will be 10% lower.


When this information was presented at the 3rd Webinar series on Climate Change Projection for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia-Pacific Region on 19 August 2024, panelists and participants were interested to know about climate change countermeasures as well as the challenges in Cambodia. In response, Dr Mao and Mr Savuth said that like other countries in the region, Cambodia enacted policies and regulations to adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts. Some of the climate change countermeasures are aimed at: i) increasing the current 62% usage of renewable energy to 70% by 2030; ii) ensuring that 70% of motorcycles and 40% of cars are EVs by 2050; and iii) planting of one million trees annually until 2050 to achieve 60% forest cover. The main challenge, however, is that these are broad actions that don't project specific impacts caused by climate-related disasters, such as extreme flood or storm. In order to do this, downscaled climate data is essential. Currently, historical climate data in Cambodia is sparse. This problem is compounded by limited tools and technologies within the government to measure the impacts or to make accurate projections of climate change.


In view of these concerns, other panelists introduced some of the initiatives and tools for climate change projection that may complement the ongoing climate actions in Cambodia. Prof. MORI Nobuhito (Research Division of Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Disasters, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University) introduced the SENTAN Program, and the potential collaboration with Cambodia, for assessing the effects of extreme water-related events and analysing the changes of hazards with rising global surface temperature as downscaled to countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr NAKAEGAWA Toshiyuki (Head of Second Laboratory, Department of Applied Meteorology Research, Meteorological Research Institute of Japan Meteorological Agency) introduced tools using high-resolution models and supercomputers to project a future climate at the local level. Dr MURATA Akihiko (Head of First Laboratory, Department of Applied Meteorology Research, Meteorological Research Institute of Japan Meteorological Agency) introduced tools and methods for dynamical downscaling to simulate localised climate change. Mr MORI Noriyuki (Deputy Director, International Center for Water Hazard and Risk Management) introduced a comprehensive platform on water resilience and disasters that includes data-integration for hazard, damage, and socioeconomic factors. On this platform, various agencies provide their respective climate data for integration in order to effectively forecast the impacts and provide early warning to communities-at-risk.



In his closing remarks, Prof. TACHIKAWA Yasuto (Hydrology and Water Resources Research Laboratory, Kyoto University) emphasised the potential contributions of SENTAN Program (e.g., tools, technologies, and datasets) to climate change countermeasures that countries in Asia-Pacific region are undertaking. He hoped that the webinar will foster greater collaboration between SENTAN Program and Cambodia.

(2024/08/26 15:00)

24-25 July 2024 (online)


20240724_2.pngAPEC Vietnam organized an online workshop on "Improving the Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change" on 24-25 July 2024. This workshop comprised four thematic sessions, and ADRC moderated Session 1 on the topic Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific: Prospects and Challenges.


Five speakers presented in this session. The two speakers from Vietnam reported the climate-related challenges at the national and local levels respectively, such as sea-level rise that caused intense typhoons and frequent flooding. Other speakers presented the prospects of addressing climate-related challenges:


i) UNDRR reported that the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction provides guidance for integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction measures;
ii) Republic of Korea reported that new tools are now available to monitor and predict storm surges; and
iii) Australia reported its leadership in promoting strategic partnerships for coastal resilience in the Asia-Pacific region.


In Session 2 (topic: Scaling up efforts on strengthening resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change), ADRC made a presentation about "Utilizing climate change impact projection data to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities." ADRC, along with a number of research institutes and agencies, introduced its engagement in the Advanced Study of Climate Change Project (SENTAN4) in developing integrated hazard models on storm-and-flood hazards and water resources for the Asia-Pacific region. In particular, ADRC highlighted the utilization of downscaling tools to produce localized climate change impact projection data to inform adaptation and mitigation measures.


ADRC's participation in this workshop provided an opportunity to learn from other economies' experiences and actions in addressing climate-related challenges at the local level.

(2024/08/01 15:00)

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