2. Asian Disaster Reduction Center
2-1. History of the Establishment of the ADRC
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) opened its office in Kobe, Japan, on 30 July
1998. The major steps leading up to formation of the ADRC are described below.
(1) International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)At its 42nd General Assembly in December 1987, the United Nations designated the 1990s
as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, and adopted a resolution aiming
to sharply reduce the damage caused by natural disasters around the world, particularly indeveloping countries, through joint international action.
(2) World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction
In May 1994, the UN held the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction inYokohama, Japan, to conduct an interim review of the decade-long IDNDR initiative and topropose an action plan for the future. At the meeting, the “Yokohama Strategy for a Safer
World” was adopted, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in regions thatshare common types of disasters and disaster reduction measures. Disaster reduction
activities have then been promoted throughout the world based on this strategy.
(3) Ministerial-level Asian Natural Disaster Reduction Conference
As a first step toward regional cooperation under the Yokohama Strategy, the IDNDRSecretariat organized a meeting in Kobe in December 1995 to formulate a policy on disaster
reduction cooperation in Asia. Government ministries in charge of DDR in charge of disaster
reduction from 28 countries attended the meeting, which concluded with the adoption of theKobe Disaster Reduction Declaration. This declaration consists of ideas for promotinginternational cooperation in disaster reduction, including a Japanese proposal to launch afeasibility study on a system for coordinating disaster reduction efforts in the Asian region.
(4) Asian Natural Disaster Reduction Experts Meeting
The government of Japan and the IDNDR Secretariat jointly organized an experts meetingin October 1996 to hash out how a central disaster reduction system, as stated in the Kobe
Disaster Reduction Declaration, might be created for the Asian region. The meeting wasattended by key personnel in the government ministries in charge of DDR of 30 countries,
and they agreed to study the creation of the tentatively named “Asian Disaster Reduction
Center” to serve as a secretariat for promoting activities under the proposed system.
(5) Asian Disaster Reduction Cooperation Promotion Meeting
The government of Japan and the IDNDR Secretariat jointly organized a meeting in Tokyo6

2. Asian Disaster Reduction Centerin June 1997 to discuss the activities of the proposed central disaster reduction system. Onceagain, key personnel from the disaster reduction bureaus of 23 countries attended the meeting,whose overall goal was to promote cooperation in disaster reduction efforts through actions.
A proposal was made at the meeting to establish an office in Japan to serve as the secretariat
for the proposed system.
(6) Establishment of the ADRC
With momentum gathering from this series of meetings, the Japanese government
discussed the organization, budget, and other aspects of the proposed office with the othercountries involved. With the cooperation of Hyogo Prefecture, the Asian Disaster Reduction
Center was officially established in Kobe on 30 July 1998.

2-2. Composition
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) was established in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture, in1998, with mission to enhance disaster resilience of the member countries, to build safe
communities, and to create a society where sustainable development is possible. ADRC works
to build disaster resilient communities and to establish networks among countries through many
programs including personnel exchanges in this field.
The Center addresses this issue from a global perspective in cooperation with a variety of UN
agencies and international organizations/initiatives, such as the United Nations Secretariat forInternational Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the United Nations Office for theCoordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
At the outset, ADRC was comprised of 22 member countries, four advisor countries, and anobserver organization. Armenia joined later, in August 2000, followed by the Kyrgyz Republic
in July 2002, Pakistan in July 2005, and Yemen and Bhutan in December 2007, Azerbaijan in2009, Maldives in 2010, and the Republic of Iran in 2012 bringing the number of member
countries to 30. In March 2004, the US joined as the fifth advisor country to ADRC.

30 Member Countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India,Indonesia,Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz, Lao PDR,Malaysia Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,Russian Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, VietNam,Yemen 5 Advisor Countries: Australia, France, New Zealand, Switzerland, UnitedStates of America Observer: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

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