Activity Report

2009/08/17-18 (Bangkok, Thailand)

ADRC organized a regional workshop as part of the "ASEAN Cooperation Project on Capacity Building for Local Government Officials on Disaster Management" in Bangkok, Thailand on 17-18 August 2009 with precious support from Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) of the Thai Government.

ADRC has been implementing the JAPAN-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) Project "the Capacity Building for Local Government Officials on Disaster Management" since August 2008. In implementing this project, ASEAN member countries have been divided into the following three groups:   

•First Year Group (August 2008 - March 2010): Cambodia,
                                                                             Lao PDR and Vietnam;
•Second Year Group (May 2009 - December 2010): Brunei
           Darussalam, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand; and
•Third Year Group (February 2010 - September 2011): Indonesia,
                                                                 Myanmar and Singapore.
The workshop in Bangkok was attended by countries of all three groups so as to achieve the following objectives:  

   (1)  To better understand the concept and direction of
          this project in ASEAN;
   (2)  To facilitate information sharing on the implementation of
          the project; and
   (3)  To help improve the conduct of the project by learning from
          the countries that has undertaken the project.
 
In the Introductory Session, ASEAN Secretariat and ADRC made presentations on the JAIF Project and the progress in this project made to date respectively. In the subsequent sessions, the representatives of each group presented the progress in this project made so far and relevant issues followed by lively discussion and exchange of ideas among participants.

 (2009/08/17 17:30)

17-19 August 2009 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

ADRC, with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), conducted the third year of the "NGO Training for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia" Project from 17 to 19 August 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This year, as the final year of this project, the programme aims at developing a disaster risk reduction tool booklet as an outcome of this capacity development project. Six first-year participants, ADRRN secretariat and ADRC gathered in Kuala Lumpur to further discuss on the booklet, as well as to hold a workshop on disaster risk reduction tools and methodologies.

The workshop held on 18 August was attended by 20 people in total including a Malaysian government official, NGO officers based in Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, and a JICA officer. In the workshop, six first-year participants introduced and shared tools and methodologies which they learnt mostly through this project, focusing on how they applied them in their disaster risk reduction activities.

The workshop participants provided the first-year participants various questions and inputs such as tools' impacts to communities, application of community based disaster risk management tools in Malaysia, integration of local government officials into community projects and management of disaster memorial centers.

The first-year participants and ADRC will elaborate the tool booklet reflecting the inputs gained from the workshop and publish it by the end of this year.

(2009/08/27 17:40)

11-14 August 2009 (Incheon, Republic of Korea)

ADRC participated in this year's second meeting of the ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) held in Incheon Metropolitan City, the Republic of Korea on 13-14 August 2009. The meeting discussed the follow-up action to the Second Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), which was held 16-19 June 2009, the finalisation of the Kuala Lumpur Action Plan on DRR, and preparations for the Fourth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR), which will be held in Incheon Metropolitan City on 25-28 October 2010.

Dr. Yeon-Soo Park, Vice Administrator, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Republic of Korea, put forward his comprehensive proposal for the fourth AMCDRR in a very positive manner. He also detailed preparatory steps to be taken by various partners, i.e. member state governments, international organisations and other institutions.

Furthermore, participating organisations shared information on their recent attempts to follow up on the HFA midterm review, Kuala Lumpur Action Plan, etc. ADRC Executive Director Mr. Atsushi KORESAWA presented some of the ADRC's ongoing and future activities by putting a stress on the Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2010 (ACDR 2010) to be held in Kobe city, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan from 17-19 January 2010, back to back with other relevant meetings such as the IRP Recovery Forum. He also informed the participants that details of such events would be provided in due course on the website of ADRC.

In addition, ADRC had a chance to participate in the opening ceremony of the UNISDR Education and Training Institute for Urban Risk reduction and the UNISDR Northeast Asia Office, which was held on 11 August and the conference on "Building a Local governance Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction" jointly hosted by UNSIDR and Incheon Metropolitan City.

(2009/08/25 17:40)