ADRC Highlights
Asian Disaster Reduction Center Monthly News
● Announcement
Vol. 339
June2021
TOPICSAnnouncement¶ Asian Conference on
Disaster Reduction(ACDR2021)¶ Second ADRC Online
DRR Seminar "DRR
Education and AwarenessRaising through Passing
Down of Lessons from
Past Disasters"
Promoting Cooperation
with AffiliatedInstitutionsFirst Seminar Showed
Various Perspectives on
Investing in DRR
Participation inInternational
Conferences¶ ASEAN related
Conference¶ APEC Workshop on
Enhancing Participation inFlood Disaster
Preparedness ThroughCommunity-based Hazard
Mapping

Asian DisasterReduction Center
Higashikan 5F, 1-5-2
Wakinohamakaigan-dori,Chuo-ku, Kobe
651-0073 Japan
Tel: 078-262-5540
Fax: 078-262-5546
editor@adrc.asia
https://www.adrc.asia

Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (ACDR2021)

Since its establishment in 1998, Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) has
endeavored to enhance the disaster risk reduction (DRR) capabilities of its member
countries mainly through information sharing and human resource development
activities conducted in cooperation with various partner organizations. Amongthese is the Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (ACDR), which has been
held 19 times since 2003. It aims to promote information sharing and to strengthen
partnerships among member countries. The ACDR is an annual conference hosted
each year by one of our member countries. In 2020 however, it was held virtually
due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19. ACDR2021 will also be held virtually.
Despite continued efforts by member countries to implement the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), the damage caused by disasters
has increased in recent years due to the global climate crisis and the increasing
vulnerability of cities, among others. To save human lives and ensure thesustainable development of all countries and regions, systems and technologies
must be leveraged to build a disaster resilient society.
ACDR2021 will focus on three themes to facilitate the discussions of future
actions among member countries:
1) Building a resilient society in the face of the intensifying climate crisis andincreasing urban vulnerability2) Strengthening disaster preparedness (disaster education, promotion of disastervolunteer activities, etc.)
3) Developing DRR technologies that meet local needs to create a safe, secure,and livable society.
1. ACDR2021 Structure(1) ACDR2021 website launch, report collection and publication (Jul.-Nov.)(2) Online conference (14-16 Dec.)(3) Final Report
2. ACDR2021 Website
Registration and conference information will be available on the ACDR2021
website in July.

Second ADRC Online DRR Seminar "DRR Education and AwarenessRaising through Passing Down of Lessons from Past Disasters"

ADRC is pleased to present the second in our series of ADRC Online DRR
Seminars (the first was held 15 June 2021) entitled "DRR Education andAwareness Raising through Passing Down of Lessons from Past Disasters" on 13July 2021.

© ADRC 2021

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Vol. 339

Continued

The second seminar has several goals:– To share experiences around how Asian countries conduct DRR education and raise public awarenessby passing down lessons from past disasters.
– To seek effective methodologies for DRR education and public outreach to promote and encourage

proactive actions during disasters, including the transmission of lessons learned from past disasters.
– To enhance cooperation among Asian countries on promoting DRR education and raising publicawareness to enable those countries to further develop their ability to proactively protect themselves.
– To produce results that can be shared at the Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2021 to be heldin December 2021.
The seminar will aim to answer the following questions:● What kinds of methodologies are effective in promoting DRR education and public outreach forencouraging proactive actions in a disaster?
● Can we more clearly realize the importance of disaster preparedness by learning lessons from pastdisasters?
● Has passing down lessons from past disasters led to the promotion of DRR activities and the mitigationof disaster impacts?
● Can passing down lessons of past disasters help overcome the normality biases that cause theopportunistic interpretation of disasters?
● How can we further facilitate learning from past disaster experiences? What roles can disastermuseums, monuments, etc. play in DRR?
For details on the second seminar, please visit: https://acdr.adrc.asia/home/2021Seminar
To participate, please register through the ZOOM (http://bit.ly/adrcseminar2) or watch the livestreamed
event on YouTube (https://youtu.be/4im3dDVOurw).
We look forward to meeting you at the event!

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ADRC HighlightsVol. 339● Promoting Cooperation with Affiliated InstitutionsFirst Seminar Showed Various Perspectives on Investing in DRR

ADRC has organized a series of five online DRR seminars leading up to the ACDR2021 in December 2021.
The first seminar, held on 15 June 2021, adopted the theme of Investing in Disaster Risk for a Resilient
Society. Three speakers shared various perspectives with more than 300 participants from 20 countries.
Dr. Jun Rentschler, Senior Economist at the World Bank, said that "investing in resilience is sound,profitable, and urgent." He supported this claim with evidence-based case studies and statistics showing thatevery $1 invested in infrastructure resilience results in $4 in net benefit. He also showed the challenges
experienced by lifeline infrastructures, and pointed to the urgency of further investing in resilience. He
argued that delaying such action is causing an estimated loss of $100 billion in one year.
Mr. Ronald Jackson, Head of DRR and Recovery for Building Resilience Team at UNDP-Geneva,
presented UNDP's holistic perspective on building resilience known as "Signature Solutions." This
implements six cross-cutting approaches to development: poverty, governance, resilience, environment,energy, and gender. Mr. Jackson cited examples of UNDP's disaster risk mitigation programs in Pakistan(water conservation), Belize (gender and livelihoods), Ukraine (community-based disaster risk mitigation),
Iran (climate change adaptation planning), and Rwanda (awareness raising) where Signature Solutions havebeen implemented.
Prof. NISHIKAWA Satoru at the Disaster Mitigation Research Center of Nagoya University stressed theimportance of "pre-disaster" actions or investments in DRR based on the outcomes of empirical studies andlessons from past disasters in Japan. He said that after World War 2, Japan was in ashes and infrastructure
recovery was impeded and even further damaged by the impacts of typhoons. In order to prevent futuretyphoon damage, Japan invested in flood control using funds borrowed from the World Bank. Since then,Japan has strengthened investments in DRR by regularly evaluating what went wrong and went right withpre-disaster countermeasures.
Mr. NAKAGAWA Masaaki, Executive Director of ADRC, moderated the discussions and offered two
key takeaways at the closing. First, funds for DRR should not be seen as an expense but as an investment. It
was clear from the presentations, and affirmed during the discussions, that $1 in DRR investment wouldrender $4 in benefits. Moreover, DRR investments are not always infrastructure investments. Stakeholders
can also invest in planning, policies, regulations, databases, and nature-based solutions. Second, DRR
investments must be people-centered. As observed in the past, investments focused on economic growth
could expand income inequality, such that poor people remain disproportionately affected by disasters or
global pandemics.
For copies of the presentations and other details, please visit the ADRC website:
https://acdr.adrc.asia/home/2021Seminar

Clockwise from top left: Dr. Rentschler (WB), Mr. Jackson (UNDP),
Mr. Nakagawa (ADRC), and Prof. Nishikawa (Nagoya University)

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ADRC Highlights

Vol. 339● Participation in International Conferences
ASEAN related Conference

The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Managementand Emergency Response (AADMER) presents
mechanisms for effective disaster risk reduction thatcall for strengthening regional and international
cooperation on disaster risk reduction efforts inorder to mitigate the damage caused by natural
hazards in the 10 ASEAN countries. In this virtualconference, the ASEAN secretariat outlined theAADMER Work Program 2021-2025 whichhighlights five priority activities. Statements wereissued by disaster management organizations,international organizations, and other related
Mr. NAKAGAWA Masaaki, ADRC Executive Director,institutions in the ASEAN countries outlining theirpresenting a statement
contributions to the AADMER Work Program 2021-2025.
ADRC Executive Director Mr. Nakagawa gave a statement highlighting the contributions of ADRC'sDRR projects, such as the GLIDE system for sharing disaster information, ADRC efforts to strengthen
networks among ASEAN countries, and the ERIA (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia)
research project.

APEC Workshop on Enhancing Participation in Flood Disaster Preparedness ThroughCommunity-based Hazard Mapping

On 15-24 June 2021, the Workshop on Enhancing Participation in Flood Disaster Preparedness ThroughCommunity-based Hazard Mapping was organized by University Putra Malaysia, Global Environment
Centre and the Malaysian Water Partnership. The workshop, funded by APEC, aims to increase the capacityof community trainers to enhance community resilience against flood disasters, and to address the issue ofincreasing flood risk as a result of climate change and growing human settlements in flood-prone areas.
On 17 June, ADRC presented the method developed by the first ADRC Executive Director and present
Executive Secretary Prof. OGAWA Yujiro, and explained its applications to some 50 participants fromAPEC economies. After learning about the community-based hazard mapping method, they are expected tolearn to incorporate this approach into local disaster management plans and training modules.

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