7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

7-2 The Governance Structure of IRP
IRP currently consists of 12* goverments, UN agencies and international organizations
including ADRC (as of March 2008). IRP focuses on the following three functions as priority
activities on recovery that are respectively based in Kobe, Turin, and Geneva: a) Knowledge
Management and Adovocacy (Kobe), b) Training and Capacity Building (Turin), and c)
Enhanicing Recovery Operations (Geneva).
As described in the Terms of Refernce, IRP Kobe bears the Secretariat function and is
responsible for convening the IRP steering committee meetings as well as disseminating IRP
activities and outcomes.

* IRP members: Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), Hyogo Prefectural Government,International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC),
International Labour Organization (ILO), Ministry of Foregin Affairs ofItaly, Cabinet Office of Japan, Swiss Agency for Development andCoordination (SDC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), United
Nations Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction(UN/ISDR), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UN/OCHA), and The World Bank.

7-3 Activities of IRP in 2006
7-3-1. IRP Side Event in the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
During the First Session of theGlobalPlatform forDisasterRiskReduction (GP/DRR) held on 5-7 June2007 in Geneva, IRP Secretariat incooperation with ADRC, organized aside event together with the governmentof Japan and the UN/ISDR Secretariat,
which focused on ways to contribute tobetter disaster recovery. It was attended by about 80 people from IRP partners, ADRC,

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

international & regional institutions, governments, and NGOs.
H.E. Mr. Makio Miyagawa, Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Japan to theUN in Geneva, delivered the opening address. He spoke not only about Japan’scontributions to international disaster cooperation efforts aimed at promoting the HFA but
also about the achievements of the IRP, such as its organization of the International Forumon Tsunami and Earthquake, its development of recovery support tools, and its launch ofthe earthquake disaster risk reduction project for the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC). Many participants expressed great expectations for the IRP’s rolein facilitating a smooth transition from emergency response, rehabilitation, andreconstruction through long-term recovery. Furthermore, Mr. Satoru Nishikawa, thenDirector for Disaster Preparedness, Public Relations and International Cooperation in theCabinet Office of Japan noted that the IRP is expected to function as a catalyst for betterrecovery by creating and sharing expertise and know-how with relevant institutions andpersons in need of such information. He concluded the meeting by expressing the need tofurther promote these activities to avoid making the mistakes of the past and to work withstakeholders to contribute to sustainable development.
Also at the plenary meeting on the last morning of the event, Mr. Anil K. Sinha,
Program Advisor of IRP gave a briefing on the IRP’s main activities since its
establishment.

AgendaChairperson: Ms. Kathleen Cravero,Assistant Administrator and Director, BCPR/UNDP
Co-chair: H.E. Ambassador Makio Miyagawa
The Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in Geneva

Opening Remarks: H.E. Ambassador Makio Miyagawa

Key Remarks: ‘ISDR context & the IRP’Ms. Margareta Wahlström
ASG and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, UN/OCHA(on behalf of ISDR secretariat)

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities‘From disasters to reduced vulnerability – the recovery opportunity ’
Ms. Kathleen Cravero‘Strengthening Recovery Capacity in the SAARC region’
Mr. PG Dhar Chakrabarti
Director, SAARC Center for Disaster Management‘Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) – an emerging tool for better recovery’
Mr. Ricardo Zapata-Marti
Focal Point on Disaster Evaluation, Disaster Unit, United Nations Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

Discussion
First DiscussantsMr.

AlfredoLazarte-Hoyle,

Directoradinterim,

CrisisResponseandReconstruction Programme, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Ms. Cynthia Burton, Senior Officer, Post Disaster Recovery, Disaster Preparedness
and Policy, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies(IFRC)

Concluding Remarks: Mr. Satoru Nishikawa
Vice-chairperson of IRP Steering Committee,Director, Cabinet Office of Japan

7-3-2.

Regional Recovery Forum at theSecond Asian Ministerial Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction
The Second Asian Ministerial Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction was organized in New Delhi,
India on 7 - 8 November. The conference, following
the Beijing conference in September 2005, aimed to review the Asian countries’ efforts toimplement the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) which was adopted at the WCDR
2005 in Kobe.

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

Some500

peopleattended,including ministers and cabinet-level
officials

inchargeofdisastermanagement from across Asia, as well as
representatives from the UN, regionalorganizations, academic institutions, andNGOs from about 50 countries. They
eagerly discussed disaster management
activities in Asia at high-level roundtables, technical sessions, and side events.
On the second day of the conference, theDelhi Declaration 2007 was adopted to further promote the HFA. Kuala Lumpur wasselected as the venue for the next conference in 2008.
Given that the International Recovery Platform faciiltates cooperation withregional organizations as one of its strategic objectives, it organized a regional forum
entitled “Beyond Lessons Learned from Post-Disaster Recovery” on the morning of 8
November. Mr. Reddy of the National Disaster Management Authority of India served aschairperson while Dr. Ian Davis, UK Cranfield University Visiting Professor, served as
the panel discussion moderator.

AgendaThursday, 8 November 2007, 9:30 - 12:30
Venue: Suite 293, 2nd Floor, Hotel Ashok, New Delhi, India
C h a i r:
C o - c h a i r:
Rapporteur:

Mr. M Shashidhar Reddy, Member of the National Disaster
Management Authority of India NDMA, Govt. of India
Mr. Koji Suzuki, Executive Director
Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC)
Dr. Sanjay K. Srivastava
Deputy Director, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India

09:30-09:40

Opening Remarks and Key note address Mr. M Shashidhar Reddy

09:40-09:50

Remarks by Co-chair Mr. Koji Suzuki

09:50-10:05‘International Recovery Platform- a Global Catalyst for Better Recovery’
Anil K Sinha, Programme Advisor, IRP Secretariat

Part I: Cases Studies on Lessons Learned from Post-Disaster Recovery
10:05-10:20

Recovery from Floods
Mr. Aslam Alam, Deputy Team Leader (JS), Comprehensive Disaster
Management Programme (CDMP), Bangladesh

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10:20-10:35

10:35-10.50

Recovery from Tsunami
Ms. Zaha Waheed,Recovery Coordinator, National Disaster Management Centre, Maldives
Community and Gender Perspectives
Ms. Tharuka Dissanaike
Practical Action, South Asia Programme, Sri Lanka

10:50-11:05

Beyond Lessons Learnt: Post-Disaster Recovery in India
Dr. Ravi Sinha, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, India

11:05-11:15

Questions and Answers

11:15-11:45

Coffee BreakPart II: Panel Discussion
11:45-12:35‘Moving from Lessons Learned to Application and Practices’

Moderator: Prof. Ian Davis, Visiting Professor, Cranfield University, UK
Panelist 1: Mr. Al Panico, Head of Regional Office, International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Panelist 2: Mr. Bakri Beck, Deputy for Recovery, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation,
Indonesian National Coordinating Board for Disaster Management(BAKORNAS PB), Indonesia
Panelist 3: Mr. Maxx Dilley, Policy Advisor, Disaster Reduction Unit Bureau for Crisis
Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
Panelist 4: Mr. Amod Dixit, Executive Director, National Society for Earthquake
Technology (NEST), Nepal
Synthesis by the Moderator, Comments, Questions and Answers
12:35-12:45 Concluding Remarks

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

7-3-3.

Organizing a Session at the Second Caribbean Conference on
Comprehensive Disaster Management
IRPsecretariatandCDERAco-organised a session on recovery during
the2ndCaribbeanConferenceonComprehensive Disaster Management at
Bridgetown, Barbados, 10-14 December.
Thisconference

washostedby

theCaribbean Disaster Emergency Response
Agency (CDERA) in association with its partners, including IRP. This IRP Session on
Disaster Recovery Planning attracted 145 participants from the governments, UN
agencies, and organizations of CDERA participating countries and 7 other countries fromthe world.
The Conference, bearing the theme “Changing
Landscape of Caribbean Disaster Management – Vision
Becoming Reality”, is a high level forum for assessing theregion’s progress in disaster risk reduction and charting theway forward in building disaster resilience throughCDM. High ranking Government Officials from CDERA participating states addressed
key issues of CDM implementation in relation to the Caribbean Single Market andEconomy (CSME), safety and security within a single space in emergency management,and response and disaster management within the national development portfolio. Senior
representatives of the donor community as well as other CDM partners and sector leaders
spoke to a harmonized programming approach for the advancement of CDM.
The Conference also dwelled on sharing of experiencesand good practices in the areas of ICT applications, mitigation
and risk transfer applications, and disaster recovery planning. To
share good practices and lessons learned on the field of “Disaster１３２

7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

Recovery Planning”, representatives from the IRP Secretariat made presentations.
In the conference recommendations, it was advocated that recovery should beincluded to disaster legislation for better disaster management in the Caribbean region.

7-3-4.

International Recovery Forum – Capacity Development for Better

Recovery -The International Recovery Forum titled‘Capacity Development for Better Recovery’ wasorganized by the IRP Secretariat together withUN/ISDR Hyogo Office and JICA Hyogo–DisasterReduction Learning Center (DRLC) at JICA Hyogo
Center in Kobe, Japan. It was attended by about 200people.
IRP, following its recently formulated Strategic Framework which highlights theexpansion of network, has strengthened partnerships with regional organizations such asSAARC Disaster Management Centre and the CDERA. In the meantime, DRLC wasestablished to promote human resource development in high-risk, low-capacity
developing countries. To further enhance the implementation of HFA and stimulate
concrete collaboration with and within partners for that purpose, the UN/ISDR Hyogo
Office was opened and works closely with the Japanese Government and institutions
related to disaster risk reduction as well as institutions in East Asia. In this connection,
this forum aimed to further advocate the importance of capacity development for betterrecovery in the context of mutual cooperation among organizations and to support
effective implementation of the HFA.
The forum was opened by the remarksfrom Mr. Naofumi Taguchi, Deputy Director
General for Disaster Management, Cabinet OfficeofJapan,H.E.

Mr.

Ryuichiro

Yamazaki,Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for
Kansai Region, Japan, and Mr. Toshizo Ido,Governor, Hyogo Prefecture. Mr. Sálvano Briceno

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

delivered the keynote speech “Expectation to Hyogo-further implementation of the HFA”.
It was followed by four reports on Regional Activities for Capacity Development andRecovery. Subsequently, the panel discussion was chaired by Mr. Eiji Torisu, Director for
Disaster Preparedness and International Cooperation, Cabinet Office of Japan, anddiscussed on Capacity Development for Better Recovery with discussants Mr. Alfredo
Lazarte, Director, ILO, Mr. Jerry Velasquez, Senior Regional Coordinator, UN/ISDRSecretariat for Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Mikio Ishiwatari, Senior Advisor in DisasterManagement, JICA, and Ms. Yoko Saito, Researcher, Disaster Management Hyogo Office,UN Centre for Regional Development.

Programme

Opening remarks：
Mr. Naofumi Taguchi
Deputy Director General for Disaster Management, Cabinet Office of Japan
H. E. Mr. Ryuichiro Yamazaki
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for Kansai Region
Mr. Toshizo Ido
Governor of Hyogo Prefecture

13:50 - 14:20 Keynote Speech：“Expectation to Hyogo - further implementation of theHFA”
Mr. Sa´lvano Briceño, Director, UN/ISDR Secretariat

14:20 - 15:20 Reports on Regional Activities for Capacity Development and Recovery：
1） Recovery and Capacity Development activities in Asian Region
Mr. Koji Suzuki, Executive Director, Asian Disaster Reduction
Center2） Training on Capacity Development for Better Recovery
Mr. Hideo Morikawa
Director General, JICA Hyogo/ Director, JICA Hyogo-DRLC
Mr. Satoru Mimura, Team Director, Disaster Management Team,
Global Environment Department, JICA
3） Disasters and Recovery activities in Caribbean Region

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

Mr. Jeremy Collymore, CEO
Coordinator, Caribbean Disaster Emergency
Response Agency

15:20 - 15:40 Coffee Break

15:40 - 16:55 Panel Discussion: “Capacity Development for Better Recovery”
Coordinator: Mr. Eiji Torisu, Director for Disaster Preparedness andInternational Cooperation, Cabinet Office of Japan
Introductory Remarks: Mr. Miguel Bermeo, Deputy Director, UNDP/BCPR,
Chairperson of IRP Steering Committee
Panelists: Mr. Alfredo Lazarte, Director, ILO/CRISIS, International
Programme
on Crisis Response Prevention and Recovery
Mr. Jerry Velasquez, Senior Regional Coordinator, UN/ISDRSecretariat for Asia and the Pacific
Mr. Mikio Ishiwatari, Senior Advisor in Disaster Management,JICA
Ms. Yoko Saito, Researcher, Disaster Management Planning
Hyogo Office, UN Centre for Regional Development

16:55 - 17:00 Closing

7-3-5 Development of a Database on Good Practices & Lessons on Recovery
and its Utilization
1) Objective
Various booklets, research reports on good practices, lessons learned, and casestudies of major disasters on recovery already exist. These are mostly summarized andanalyzed in each major disaster except for some examples. However, when experts onrecovery visit disaster affected countries, recovery planners/decision makers fromnational and local levels frequently asked for “cross-disaster” information on topicalthematic lines* which are urgently necessary for for post disaster recovery to realize safer
and more secure society.

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7 Establishment of the International Recovery Platform(IRP) and its activities

This project aims to efficiently and quickly provide important on-target
information on post-disaster recovery to key persons, who are in-charge of planning andimplementing key recovery activities. The project compiles information on recovery
through cross-disaster analysis of lessons learned from major disasters.

2) Content(1) Collect “Good practices” and ''Lessons learned’’ of post-disaster recovery
Collected reports and developed a database on good practices, lessons, case studies
mainly on post disaster recovery and provided it on the web(2) Publication of guidebook ‘Learning from Disaster Recovery’
IRP Secretariat with the support from ADRC and UN/ISDR produced the book,“Learning from Disaster Recovery - Guidance for Decision Makers -” in May 2007.
The guidebook utilized the disaster recovery case studies collected by IRP. Since its
publication, IRP has been distributing this guidebook to related agencies, developing
countries, and regions. Likewise, the book is being disseminated during theoccasions like organizing and participating events and on mission to overseas.

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