Chapter 3

Accumulation and Provision of Information on Natural Disasters and Disaster Reduction□■

3. Accumulation and Provision of Information
on Natural Disasters and Disaster Reduction

3-1. Policy and Methods
3-1-1. Policies on Accumulation
Based on the resolutions of 23 countries in the Asian region, ADRC has been collecting and organizing
information on the situation of natural disasters in each country, as well as information, knowledge ofand experiences with the systems, plans, and specific measures of each country for disaster reduction.
This is to facilitate the sharing of information between countries. The development of such fundamental
information infrastructures has been carried out with the aim of promoting the establishment of national
disaster reduction systems in each country, and multinational cooperation for disaster reduction in Asia.
Last year, we collected information from the disaster reduction officers of various countries and otherrelated organizations, and constructed a database of the latest information on recent natural disasters,
information on disaster reduction systems such as judicial systems and organizations, actual studies ofnatural disasters that occurred with special attention being paid to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake,and human resource information on specialists of disaster reduction, with the intention of disseminating
the information.
In our third year of activities this year, we have been able to collect more detailed and specificinformation through collaboration with foreign researchers and an information exchange with the Asian
Disaster Reduction Unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
which is described later. This is in addition to the existing means of collecting information. We havealso been able to add these facts to the information that will be disseminated. We plan to continue
collecting detailed information on the following, and release the information through the Internet andother media.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Disaster reduction systems (judicial systems, organizations, basic plans, and manuals onmanaging disasters, etc.)
Actual cases of disaster countermeasures (measures taken during major disasters in the past,etc.)
Information on natural disasters (descriptions and damage incurred by earthquakes, floods,cyclones, and other natural disasters)
Human resource information (disaster reduction administrators, experts, internationalorganizations, private companies, NGO members, etc.)

3-1-2. Collecting Information from Member Countries, Etc.
In fiscal 2000, following last year, ADRC collected disaster reduction related information on various
counties through the following methods:

1) Requesting information from member countries
While gaining the understanding of each member country on the purposes of establishing ADRC andneeds of multinational disaster reduction cooperation, we have been asking member countries to provide
natural disaster information, as well as on actual disaster cases and disaster reduction systems, and havebeen receiving such information from these countries.

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2) Survey of member countriesWe toured one member country Armenia during this fiscal year to verify the persons in charge ofdisaster reduction in this counterpart country, explain the purpose of ADRC’s activities, obtain basic
information on disaster reduction, and ask for the continued support of member countries.
As a result, Armenia pledged its support in providing information to ADRC, and ADRC was able todeepen relations with the disaster reduction administrators in the respective countries, heighten theirunderstanding of our organization, and successfully obtain information on judicial systems andorganizations, as well as exchange disaster reduction information.
3) ADRC International Meeting
At the Third ADRC International Meeting (December 5 to 7, 2000), member countries, and advisor
countries, and countries and organizations participating as observers provided country reports and othermaterials that include natural disaster information, actual cases of dealing with disasters, and disaster
reduction systems. They also voiced their requests concerning the activities of ADRC. In particular, thismeeting was highlighted by the participation of representatives of United Nations organizations
involved in disaster reduction such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, Asia Unit, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) Fukuoka Office, and
the World Health Organization (WHO West Pacific Region Secretariat). The meeting proved to be asignificant opportunity to locate potential multinational disaster reduction cooperation in the Asian
region in the future.
4) Use of WWW (World Wide Web)
Disaster reduction information in each country
Following the last fiscal year, ADRC has been using the WWW to collect information on the disaster
reduction systems of various countries, as well as related information from administrators in charge atinternational organizations and countries. In particular, India has been sending e-mails and disastermanagement information by the WWW since the Gujarat earthquake, which the ADRC places on its
homepage as needed.
This year, with the cooperation of Indonesia’s BAKORNAS and Bandung Institute of Technology, thefollowing were set up in the Bandung University of Engineering; mirror site of the ADRC, disaster
information database for Indonesia to provide disaster reduction information itself, and the server tomanage these.
In the future, it will be important to track the trends of disaster reduction information supply in various
countries, as well as support the active construction of information supply system from various
countries through technical support for the construction of mirror sites and disaster information
databases.
Disaster reduction information of academic research institutions and international organizations
In addition to these efforts, international organizations and research centers are actively collecting andproviding disaster reduction information from various perspectives. Through the spread of the Internet
services, systems to enable the use of this information over the Internet are gradually being established.
Among the many organizations and research centers, the Center for Research on the Epidemiology ofDisaster (CRED), Louvain Catholic University, Belgium, has a disaster database (EM-DAT) carrying
statistical data on natural disasters in the world which is available on the Internet.
While the EM-DAT serves as a database on statistic figures, OCHA provides information on naturaldisasters, and reliable information on disaster measures and management in an effort to support
humanitarian activities during disasters at its Relief Web on the Internet.
With regard to ADRC’s latest disaster information, the CRED and ReliefWeb databases areautomatically linked to share disaster reduction information using the CRED disaster ID as the key.
Furthermore, appeals are made to other disaster reduction related organizations to use common disasterIDs to broaden the circle of international disaster reduction information sharing.

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Chapter 3

Accumulation and Provision of Information on Natural Disasters and Disaster Reduction□■

3-1-3. Other Efforts
1) Installation of Mirror Sites in Member Countries
The ADRC set up a mirror server in the Bandung University of Engineering (ITB) to facilitate accesses
to the ADRC from within member countries on March 7. The global IP address is 167.205.23.20 anddomain name is ipadrc.itb.ac.id. The mirror site can be accessed at http://lpadrc.itb.ac.id/top.asp .
As the ADRC is currently connected by 127 kbps lines, the problem of information transmission speed
has been a concern for some time. This was verified through an access experiment from ITB to theASDR this time. ITB is participating in the WIDE project and though it currently has a 2 Mbps line, itrequires more than one minute for the top page of the ADRC to appear. Some of the reasons for this are:*Connection speed of the ADRC
*Processing speed of ADRC’s web server*Number of simultaneously connected clients and processing volume in ITB*Backbone speed between the ADRC and ITB
The top two reasons can be improved by renewing the ADRC facilities. The bottom two cannot be dealt
with with the current server. For this reason, mirror servers with good load distribution effects areexpected, and at the same time it is important to set up mirror servers in universities in various countries
with high speed lines and establish an environment which facilitates use of ADRC disaster reduction
information.
Another function of the mirror server is it enables data input locally. An Indonesian disaster information
database was set up to construct a local collaborative information service system. Efforts will not belimited to setting up mirror servers and sharing information. Currently, we will review the database
operation system of the latest disaster information input centrally at the Kobe Office of the ADRC. By
commissioning partner organizations in various countries to update disaster and disaster reduction
information, more information can be provided and shared more quickly than now. In addition,
currently information is provided in English and Japanese. By inputting information to the disaster
information databases of each country in English and the local language, extensive use by people ofvarious countries can be looked forward to.
In the future, Indonesia will be taken up as a model case and based on this, technical cooperation with
Asian countries will be promoted. As the ADRC is composed of 23 member countries in Asia, fouradvisor countries and one observer, it hopes to set up mirror servers in all of its member countries in thefuture to provide various information such as accumulated type data (disaster information database, etc.),
emergency relief information during disasters, image data from disaster-stricken areas. In order topromote such distributed information supply and sharing systems, there are a diverse range of items
which need to be established; system package, operating manuals, clarification of role assignment ofcollaborating organizations. For this reason, it is ideal to implement a pilot project in Indonesia withwhom the ADRC has an excellent partnership with, and through this project, establish the basis for joint
projects in the future.

2) COE&PDC
Center of Excellence in Disaster Management Humanitarian Assistance (Center of Excellence:COE)The Executive Director of the ADRC Yujiroh Ogawa and Senior Researcher Bambang Rudyanto visited
the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management Humanitarian Assistance in Honolulu on October 10,
2000. The center staff explained that the COE focuses especially on disaster management,
humanitarian assistance, and peace keeping activities, aiming at humanitarian protection and reductionof damages during humanitarian crisis while obtaining the cooperation of the people and military. The
first step in the cooperation between the COE and ADRC would be to exchange information to build abetter relation. Currently, the ADRC receives daily reports on the Asian Pacific region from the COE
Pacific Disaster Management Information Network (PDMIN) team via e-mail. The COE website URL
is http://coe-dmha.org
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■□ ADRC Annual Report 2000

ADRC’s Bambang Rudyanto visited the PDC office on the island of Maui in Hawaii on November 17,
2000 guided by Peter Colvin. Several issues were discussed with mutual merits of the PDC and ADRC
as the main purport, and it was agreed that the launch of joint activities based on the Global DisasterInformation Network (GDIN) would be the first step of their partnership. Both centers have alreadystarted these activities as members of the GDIN and APDIN. (Asian Pacific Disaster Information
Network). The PDC is an information organization of the federal government and supports crisis
management of the Pacific and Indian Ocean coastal region. PDC’s website is http://www.pdc.org.

3) ADPC and APDMC
Asia Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)On February 19, 2001, ADRC’s Execute Director
Ogawa and Senior Researcher Hishita visited theADPC in Bangkok to seek future collaborative
potentials because it seemed the right time toreinforce their relations after the numerous visits
they had made to each other since ADRC waslaunched in 1998.
ADPC is located on the second floor of theOutreach Building of the Asian Institute ofTechnology on the outskirts of Bangkok.
Opinions on the possibility of future cooperation were exchanged with ADPC’s David Hollister, Deputy
Executive Director and Kamal Kishore, Information Manager. The two sides agreed to exchange
comprehensive MOU prescribing the framework of future partnership.
ADPC is a nongovernmental international disaster reduction training center established in 1986.
Activities are diverse, and cover not only training programs, but consultation services and information
services according to the needs of various countries and regions, as well as programs for enhancing
regional disaster reduction ability.
It has more than 40 staffs and mentioned increasing more.
The ADRC has much to learn from the ADRC since it has 12 years more experience. In particular, thespecialized efforts of the ADRC serve as useful reference to a center like the ADRC which works
mainly to promote cooperation between the governments of member governments through the sharingof disaster reduction information. Exchange with the ADRC is also considered beneficial to the ADPC,
and increased exchanges are looked forward to very much in the future.
Asia Pacific Disaster Management Center
The APDMC is a nongovernmental internal disaster reduction consultation organization in Manila, thecapital of the Philippines. Based on the requirements of various countries and regions, mainly in theAsia Pacific region, it provides advice on the means to improve disaster reduction and crisis
management for both natural disasters and man-made disasters from a professional standpoint. It also
provides training programs to train specialists of the government and private level. The APDMC is of
the same scale as the ADRC in terms of employee body. All activities are implemented based oncontracts with clients and are thus project-oriented specialized consultation activities. Taking theAPDMC as a specific example which can provide beneficial services regardless of the organization size,
the ADRC looks forward to future exchanges and the promotion of cooperative partnerships being
mutually located in the Asian Pacific region.

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