4. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

4-6. Support to Member Countries’ efforts for Developmentof National Strategy for Disaster Reduction
Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (ACDR) 2007 held in Republic of Kazakhstan on 25 to 27
June 2007 gave further impetus for the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005 – 2015:
Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (HFA) to the ADRC member countries.
Based on the identified impediments to the implementation of the 5 priorities for action of the HFA andproposed strategies to overcome these, each member country has respectively continue its efforts for
successful implementation of the HFA.
In the context, several support activities to take concrete action for developing strategies wereconducted based on the request of member countries.

4-6-1. SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation)
ADRC will support the member countries of SAARC (South Asian Association for RegionalCooperation) for the development of regional strategy for disaster risk management which will contributeto strengthen the disaster management system in its member countries. ADRC had consultative meetings
with SAARC secretariat and SAARC Disaster Management Center established in Delhi, India andformulated the program for the Promoting Regional Cooperation for Disaster Risk Reduction andManagement in the SAARC Region to be implemented from Fiscal Year 2007.
Subsequently, the preparatory meeting was held in Delhi on 13th August, 2007 in Delhi with SAARC
secretariat, SAARC Disaster Management Center and ADRC. And the “SAARC-Japan Workshop on
Regional Cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction,” held on 6th November 2007 in Delhi, was attended
by high-level officials in charge of disaster management from member countries of the SAARC. The
importance of strengthening regional cooperation mechanisms for disaster risk reduction has been madeincreasingly apparent by recent earthquakes, floods, and cyclones in South Asia. This workshop
emphasized the disaster prevention activities that need to be taken in the future, such as the developmentof a vulnerability atlas using satellite technologies, and the formulation of a plan for collecting theindigenous disaster prevention knowledge of various countries.
In FY2007, we made a feasibility study to confirm the current status of the development ofvulnerability atlas in each member country on vulnerability atlas and clarify the gap and needs on the map,and also we collected some good indigenous knowledge on DRR from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka anddisseminated them to the SAARC member countries.

Fig.4-6-1 SAARC-Japan Workshop on Regional Cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction

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4. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

4-6-2. Indonesia
Republic of Indonesia is very vulnerable to natural disasters. The natural hazards of Indonesia varyfrom geological hazards (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, etc) to meteorological hazards (such as floods,cyclones, etc). Indonesian earth segment as well as the coastal and marine waters and the atmosphericconditions are quite dynamic and potentially prone and practically all sorts of know natural disasters in
the forms of: tectonic and volcanic earthquakes, Tsunami and the more subtle sea level rise, volcaniceruptions, river floods and landslides, droughts and forest fires, and storm surges and hurricanes.
Indonesia, having witnessed huge losses of lives and properties caused by the Sumatra earthquake and theconsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26 2004, recognized capacity building of natural
disaster reduction including earthquakes and tsunami countermeasures as a highly prioritized issue forIndonesia.
In this context, National Coordinating Board for Disaster Management (Bakornas PB) which wasestablished under the Presidential Decree No.43, 1990 as the central governmental organization
responsible for the nationwide disaster management has been strengthened its roles and responsibilities
based on the Presidential Decree No. 83, 2005. Also, the legislation of disaster management was further
developed, and the Disaster Management Law No.24/2007 was enacted on 29 March 2007. The
Government of Indonesia is now in the process to formulate ancillary regulations consisting of two
presidential regulations and six government regulations.
On June 2 2005, in the course of the efforts of the Government of Indonesia, H.E. Junichiro Koizumi,
Prime Minister of Japan, and H.E. Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia decided toestablish the Joint Committee on Disaster Reduction for strengthening cooperation toward further
institutional development for natural disaster mitigation and preparedness system in Indonesia. To
support the activities of the Joint Committee, ADRC was commissioned by the Cabinet Office of Japanand undertook responsibilities to review the current status of disaster preparedness in Indonesia, giveguidance toward elaborating a comprehensive and effective system for disaster mitigation andpreparedness, and to prepare a draft report jointly with the Committee members.
Besides, ADRC made discussion for further improving the disaster management efforts with Ministerfor Research and Technology of Indonesia on the occasion of International Forum on Tsunami andEarthquake held on 15-16 January 2007. In the discussion, the government of Indonesia proposed to holdthe next ADRC annual meeting in Indonesia for realizing importance of disaster reduction in Indonesia.
In the ACDR2007, ADRC member countries agreed to hold the ACDR 2008 in Indonesia. The meeting
will be held in November 2008 in Bali, Indonesia.
On 21November 2007, Mr. Koji Suzuki,
executive director of ADRC made a lecture titled“Disaster in Asia and Disaster Risk Managementin Japan” in the Seminar on the Establishment ofDisaster Management System in Indonesia
organized by the Golkar Party, a leading party in
the National Parliament. He proposed furthereffort to develop disaster risk management
system in Indonesia, introducing Japanese goodpractices.
Further, ADRC has been joining the Study on
Disaster Management in Indonesia conducted inthe framework of the technical cooperation
Fig.4-6-2 Seminar on Establishment of Disasterprograms coordinated by the Japan International
Management System in Jakarta
Cooperation Agency (JICA) from March 2007 toSource: Jakarta Shinbun
March 2009. The objectives of the Study are toenhance the natural disaster management capacities in the country and to facilitate the creation ofnecessary institutional mechanisms to achieve it through the formulation of Disaster Management Plan at
all levels.

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4. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

4-6-3. Sri Lanka
Natural disaster events in Sri Lanka have shown a clear increase in the last two decades. Sri Lanka
experienced floods, cyclones, drought, landslides, and coastal erosion and occasional seismic events. The
severity and frequency of the disasters in Sri Lanka may not be on a high scale as one finds in some othercountries in the region. However, the severe damage by the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and thefollowing series of flood and landslide events provided the driving force to the Government of Sri Lankafor establishing Disaster Management Center (DMC) of Ministry of Disaster Management and HumanRights. Several projects and activities have been initiated for improving the current disaster management
system in collaboration with international and regional organizations and NGOs along with theestablishment of new organization in May 2005.
On 25 April 2006, Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights of Sri Lanka visited ADRC inthe course of the study visit to Japan and requested to support for the development of National Policy tobe drafted in May 2006 and cooperation to the activities under the “Road Map*” project.
* "Road Map" is a guiding document to achieve the Vision of Disaster Management in Sri Lanka andincludes necessary programs/projects/activities with details of required resources and a targeted timeframe. The long title of “Road Map” is "Towards a Safer Sri Lanka: A Road Map for Disaster Risk
Management." The Volume 1 was issued in December 2005, and the Volume 2: Project proposal wasissued in April 2006.
Based on the request, ADRC has been
involved as a team with other organizations
the “Comprehensive Study on Disaster
Management in Sri Lanka in the frameworkof the technical cooperation programs
coordinated by the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) from October
2006 to March 2009. The overall goal of thestudy is to mitigate the damage caused bynatural disasters in Sri Lanka bystrengthening the capacity of relatedorganizations and communities. ADRC has
been taking responsibility in the study areas
on capacity development activities andcommunity based disaster management
activities for proposing improved disastermanagement initiatives in Sri Lanka. On 5
Fig.4-6-3 Capacity Development Seminar in Colombo
February 2008, in the Capacity Development
Seminar conducted under the projectprogram, Mr. Koji Suzuki, executive director of ADRC made a lecture focusing on the important role
played by national and local governments and how to establish effective government system for disasterrisk management, by taking examples of formulation of flood disaster management plan and early
warning system in Japan..

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