Pacific
prepares a Disaster Risk Reduction Framework for Action 2005-2015
The South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC) will host a Pacific
Regional Stakeholders Consultation Meeting in Suva on Wednesday 4 May 2005
as part of the preparations for the 12th Pacific Regional Disaster Management
Meeting to be held in Madang, Papua New Guinea, 6-8 June 2005. The consultation
meeting will consider a draft regional Disaster Risk Reduction Framework
for Action 2005-2015 that was prepared to reflect the outcomes of the World
Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe, Japan 18-22 January 2005). For
further details please contact Alan Mearns, Manager, Community Risk Programme,
SOPAC Secretariat. Email: alan@sopac.org,
Web site: <http://www.sopac.org/>
First Consultative Meeting
on National Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction in Africa,
Nairobi 21-23 April 2005
The consultative meeting was attended by representatives of existing national
platforms (NPs) for disaster reduction in Africa (Comoros, Republic
of Congo Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar; Ugand, Zambia) and candidate
countries (Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal) and two
regional consultants from South Africa and Ghana. UNDP/BCPR supported
the organization of this meeting and was represented by its regional advisor,
Dr. Kenneth Westgate. The meeting provided a fine opportunity for exchanging
experiences and lessons learned among NPs, as well as plans and activities
for the future establishment of NPs by candidate countries. In overall
terms, the experiences and initiatives undertaken by NPs were very illustrative
of the added value of these mechanisms for advancing Disaster Risk Reduction
at national and regional levels. One of the main outcomes of these discussions
is a concrete Plan of Action of African National Platforms for
disaster reduction for 2005, agreed by all representatives. Information
will be soon available on the ISDR Africa website. (http://www.unisdrafrica.org/)
Meeting in Mauritius for a
tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean
Representatives from Indian Ocean countries affected by the 26 December
2004
tsunami gathered in Grande Baie, Mauritius 14-16 April with other countries
and experts in early warning systems on the occasion of the Second International
Coordination Meeting for the Development of a Tsunami Warning and Mitigation
System for the Indian Ocean. Co-organized by the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO/IOC) and UN/ISDR, the meeting elaborated
plans for a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean and made progress
on the implementation of the system in the region. The meeting adopted
the "Mauritius Declaration" that complements the Paris Communiqué and
further outlines the way forward towards the development of the IOTEWS
. For further details refer to:http://ioc.unesco.org/indotsunami/mauritius05/mauritius05_outcome.htm
To know more about early warning activities, do not forget also to consult
ISDR’s new section on tsunami. http://www.unisdr.org/ppew/
SIDA seminar on Environment
and Disaster Risk Reduction
The Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA) and the Swedish
international Development Aid (SIDA) Regional Advisor for Humanitarian
Assistance in Bangkok jointly organized a one-day seminar in order to strengthen
the environment-disaster risk reduction agenda within SIDA. The seminar
was held on 27 April 2005, and was attended by SIDA professionals from
headquarters and embassies in South and Southeast Asian countries where
SIDA has development cooperation programmes. The workshop provided an opportunity
to identify challenges and possibilities for capitalizing on the synergies
between disaster risk reduction and sustainable development and natural
resource management.
For more information please contact Eva Mellgren (eva.magdalena.mellgren@sida.se)
and/or Glenn Dolcemascolo (glennd@pdc.org)
DIPECHO Regional Consultative
Meeting for South East Asia, Bangkok, 22 April 2005
The DIPECHO consultative meeting provided an opportunity to discuss DIPECHO
initiative in South East Asia. The meeting also provided for exchanges
of views amongst partners in the region on difficulties encountered in
developing a disaster risk reduction agenda and how to enhance collaboration
to respond to the priorities identified in the Hyogo Framework for Action.
The meeting brought together over 20 organizations and bilateral agencies,
active in this field in the region. The participants acknowledged the need
for continued interaction and referred to the ISDR Asia Partnership, initiated
by ADPC, ADRC, UNDP, UNESCAP, OCHA and the ISDR secretariat as a useful
mechanism to facilitate such dialogues.
For more information please contact Marc Gordon (ta02@echo-bangkok.org)
and/or Joe Chung and Christel Rose (joemchung@un.org, rosec@un.org)
WHO Conference on the Tsunami
Conference on Health Aspects
of the Tsunami Disaster in Asia
Phuket, Thailand 4-6 May 2005
Participants looked at the impact of the tsunami in the health sector and
at lessons learned on ways to integrate disaster reduction in the health
sector. Salvano Briceño recalled that the Hyogo Framework for Action
provides a clear focus on Risk Reduction in the Health Sector. He explained
how disaster risk reduction could be introduced into future health sector
policies and shared good practices such as theCADHI (Central American Network
for Disaster and Health Information) which has been implemented by a partnership
including PAHO/WHO, ISDR, the US National Library of Medicine and ECHO.
(http://www.crid.or.cr/crid/ing/index_ing.html).
OCHA and ISDR participated
in the 10th International Scientific and Practical Conference: "Vital
Problems of Natural and Technological Safety Regulations
in the XXI century" held in Moscow from 19-21 April
2005.
The conference gathered experts from EMERCOM of Russia, the Security Council
of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian
Scientific Society for Risk Analysis to discuss risk identification, risk
management, organisational mechanisms and safety regulations. ISDR made
a presentation on "natural" disaster data and trends, including
information on the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. The results
of the WCDR were presented as well its implementation and follow-up process.
The presentation was translated into English and Russian by OCHA-Moscow
and is available on the following OCHA website. : http://www.ocha.ru.
REMINDER: 2005 nomination process for the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster
Reduction
Join us in rewarding individuals and institutions from around the world
that contributed, through innovative practices and outstanding initiatives,
to reducing the risk and vulnerabilities of communities to natural hazards.
Nomination forms are available in English, French and Spanish at http://www.unisdr.org
and must be submitted to the ISDR Secretariat by 29 July 2005.
For further information on the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction,
please refer to http://www.unisdr.org/eng/sasakawa/sk-about-eng.htm or
contact rosec@un.org
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