News : ASEAN, UN and World Bank to collaborate in reducing disaster risk : 18th May
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR), with the World Bank and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced a joint cooperation, during the Bali Disaster Risk Reduction Forum.

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Event : 2009 Global assesment report on disaster risk reduction launch : Bangkok, Thailand : 25th May
The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction launched for the first time internationally in Bahrain on 17-18 May by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki -moon will be launched regionally in Bangkok on 25 May 2009, at the United Nations Conference Centre, in presence of senior officials from the Regional Organisations, Government of Thailand, senior representatives from the UN Agencies, International Financial Institutions, and the Civil Society, followed by a discussion on the implications of the Reports? findings for the Asia and the Pacific.

Event Detail and Agenda

Video : Global assesment report (GAR)

Publication : Estimating the recurrence interval and behavior of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean via a survey of tsunami-related sedimentation
This symposium report focuses on mitigation strategies for tsunami disasters, tsunami warning systems and historical and pre-historical tsunamis associated with earthquakes in the Indian Ocean. The results of the project, upon which this symposium was based, have enabled the transfer of the methodologies and techniques employed in sedimentation surveys to related research. The symposium of the same name was held in Tsukuba International Congress Center, Epochal Tsukuba, Japan, 18-19 March 2009.
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Publication : City profile: climate and disaster resilience
This study makes a comparative analysis of 15 cities in the Asian region, including some megacities, medium sized cities, and smaller cities, in their capacity to absorb stress, to manage it and recover from it. The scope of this study is limited to climate-induced disasters (hydro-meteorological disasters) such as cyclone, flood, heat wave, drought and heavy rainfall induced landslide and building resilience against them.

Through data collection and questionnaire analysis, a Climate and Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI) establishes a city resilience mapping that has different coponents of physical, social, economic, institutional and natural aspects. This study makes policy suggestions based on these findings.
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Publication : Indigenous knowledge: disaster risk reduction, policy note
This policy note aims to provide a directional path for mainstreaming indigenous knowledge in disaster risk reduction by national authorities and ministries of disaster management, ministries of education, institutions of higher education in disaster management, and international and national NGOs in Asian countries. It addresses thematic areas such as: climate change and food security, rural development, urban risk reduction, gender and inclusion, mountain ecosystems, coastal zones, river basin management, water resource management, and housing.

This policy note was developed with supports and comments from different professionals and practitioners in the field of disaster risk reduction. It was discussed in the International Workshop in Kyoto in July 2008, followed by the Side Event in the Kuala Lumpur Ministerial Meeting in December 2008.
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Meeting of the ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP), 23-24 Mar 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand
The first meeting of the IAP in 2009 will focus on preparations for the Second Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, which will be held in Geneva Switzerland in June 2009. In addition the meeting will include talks on the follow-up action to the Third Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which called on the ISDR Asia Pacific Office in consultation with the IAP to develop an Action Plan to the Kuala Lumpur Declaration. The meeting will also finalize action on its role as the operational arm of the Asian Regional Platform and review recommendations and agreements reached within the partnership to-date. This will include a discussion under the three IAP working groups that had been suggested to put into action various core function of the Asia Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. For more details

Joint launch by the UN/ISDR Asia Pacific and ASEAN Secretariat of an ASEAN Regional Drawing Competition on “Safer Community – Hospital, School and House of My Dream” on the occasion of the 2008 ASEAN Day for Disaster Management & International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, 8 October 2008.
Deadline for contribution: 15 August 2008
See modalities of submission and details about the competition

Regional Orintation Workshop on the HFA Progress Review, 25th April 2008 Bangkok
The UN/ISDR secretariat in Asia and Pacific and the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok, will jointly organize the above orientation workshop on the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) Progress Review Process in Asia. The workshop will introduce to National HFA Focal Points and UNDP programme officers from selected countries in Asia the process of monitoring, evaluating, and reporting progress in achieving the five priorities of action of the HFA. The workshop will discuss why monitoring progress in disaster risk reduction at the country level is important and how the information will inform the 2009 Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. It will also provide opportunities to get familiar with the review methodologies and how to involve national stakeholders in the process. The workshop is supported by the funding of European Union.