ADRC Highlights
Asian Disaster Reduction Center Monthly News
● Announcement
Vol. 366
September2023
TOPICSAnnouncement
Asian Conference onDisaster Reduction 2023

Promoting Cooperation
with AffiliatedInstitutions¶ QZSS ‘DC Report’
Demonstration in Malaysia¶ First Webinar on Climate
Change Projection for DRR¶ The JICA Knowledge Co-Creation Program“Comprehensive Disaster
Risk Reduction for Central
Asia and Caucasus”

Participation inInternational
Conferences
ASEAN Interregional
Dialogue on Disaster
Resilience (AIDDR)

Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2023

As announced previously, Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) will hold the
Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2023 (ACDR2023) “EffectiveImplementation of DRR Measures — Enabling Digital Transformation in DRR” incooperation with Committee of Emergency Situations of Tajikistan and Cabinet
Office of Japan. This annual conference will take place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan
and online on 20 October 2023. We are pleased to announce the latest informationon the conference as below. Those wishing to participate in this conference inperson or online can register on the ACDR2023 website. (The link can be foundbelow).
ACDR2023 website
https://acdr.adrc.asia/
Date and time (Tajikistan time, UTC+5)
9:00-17:00, 20 October 2023
Tentative Programme (as of 29 September 2023)
AM- Opening Remarks- Round Table: Information from ADRC member countries on the implementationof the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR)
PM- Session 1 “Innovative Solutions for Resilient Societies: DRR Technologies for
Earthquakes and Geological Hazards”- Session 2 “Adaptation to the Climate Crisis: Innovative Approaches toMonitoring and Responding to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), Forest
Fires and Intensifying Floods”- Closing Remarks
All updates including the latest version of the programme will be sharedthrough the above-mentioned website. We are looking forward to seeing you inDushanbe or online soon!

Asian Disaster
Reduction 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© ADRC 2023

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ADRC Highlights

Vol. 366● Promoting Cooperation with Affiliated Institutions
QZSS ‘DC Report’ Demonstration in Malaysia

One of the services of Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is the Satellite Report for Disaster and Crisis
Management (DC Report), which the National Space Policy Secretariat of the Cabinet Office Japan (NSPSCAO) is promoting to countries in the Asia-Pacific region. QZSS can transmit a warning message to theground, and it is useful in areas that have no internet/cellular communication system. It also serves as
redundant system when the existing ground communication systems are damaged by extreme disaster events.
Under the supervision of the NSPS-CAO, a project team comprising representatives from ADRC, Asia
Air Survey Co., Ltd. and NTT Data Corporation visited Malaysia on 21-25 August 2023 to demonstrate theQZSS ‘DC Report’ technology. Through the local support of the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention
Centre (DPPC) of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), the project team conducted the following key
activities:
1) Visited the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) Prime Minister Department ofMalaysia in Putrajaya to brief key officials of the QZSS DC Report technology.
2) Visited the town of Hulu Langat, Selangor in two consecutive days to set-up, demonstrate, test, anddiscuss the performance of QZSS prototype receivers.
3) Convened with key government agencies and stakeholders to share respective local initiatives on
disaster early warning systems (EWS) and administered the survey questionnaire to all local
participants.
4) Discussed the next steps and endeavors was made as well.
The QZSS ‘DC Report’ demonstration in Malaysia showed that the prototype receivers, as tested in Hulu
Langat, are capable of receiving the warning message transmitted through QZSS. In view of this outcome,local stakeholders expressed interest in the technology and discussed with the project team options ofintegrating it with the existing early warning technologies and practices in Malaysia.

NADMA Director-General Datuk Khairul Shahril Bin Idruslistened to the QZSS DC Report briefing.

Project team showing and explaining the different QZSS
prototype receivers, including a receiver that is integrated
into a smartphone.

First Webinar on Climate Change Projection for DRR

In collaboration with the additional members of the Advanced Study of Climate Change Projection(SENTAN) Program, ADRC co-organized the first webinar on “Climate Change Impact Projection for
Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia-Pacific Region” on 28 August 2023. The first webinar featured the climatechange impact in Fiji with the presentation from Mr Jasneel Chandra, Scientific Officer in Climatology atFiji Meteorological Service (FMS). Mr Jasneel Chandra reported that the sea level at Lautoka Wharf in Fiji
has been on average increasing at 4.3mm/year between 1993 and 2022. As result, some villages (e.g.,
Veivatuloa and Vunidogoloa) are easily flooded and inundated by sea water causing the relocation of many
coastal houses.
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Vol. 366

Continued

Since one of the objectives of the webinar was to share the results of climate change projections, thefollowing Japanese experts also made presentations related to climate change in Fiji:

Dr Potutan at the Webiner1) Prof. MORI Nobuto, Research Division of Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Disasters, DisasterPrevention Research Institute, Kyoto University.
2) Dr NAKAEGAWA Toshiyuki, Head of Second Laboratory, Department of Applied Meteorology
Research, Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of Japan Meteorological Agency.
3) Dr MURATA Akihiko, Head First Laboratory, Department of Applied Meteorology Research,Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of Japan Meteorological Agency.
4) Mr MORI Noriyuki, Deputy Director, International Center for Water Hazard and Risk Management.
5) Prof. TACHIKAWA Yasuto, Hydrology and Water Resources Research Laboratory, Kyoto University.
Lastly, Associate Professor KOBAYASHI Kenichiro (Kobe University) and Dr Gerry Potutan (ADRC)
co-facilitated the event. Materials can be accessed on the website:
https://www.adrc.asia/sentanpro/webinar01.html

The JICA Knowledge Co-Creation Program “Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction for Central
Asia and Caucasus”

ADRC conducted a JICA Knowledge CoCreation Program “Comprehensive Disaster
Risk Reduction for Central Asia and Caucasus”
from 16 June to 8 August 2023, with thecooperation of JICA Kansai. Eight government
officials from five countries: Armenia,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan,and Uzbekistan, participated in this course,
learning how to formulate and implement local
DRR plans to promote DRR measures in theirrespective home countries.
The first four weeks of the course consistedof online lectures and exercises. In the latter
three weeks, face-to-face programs wereSite visit on sabo facilities along the Karasu River Basin (Gunma Prefecture)
conducted in Japan, including site observations
and lectures in Hyogo, Niigata, Gunma, and Ibaraki prefectures to learn about Japanese experiences andcountermeasures of DRR. At the end of the course, the participants presented a draft of a local DRR plan,
which they formulated through the programs and adapted to challenges present in their own home countries.
Moreover, through active discussions and sparring on their respective DRR plans, the participants sharedknowledge and addressed challenges they had in disaster reduction measures in their home regions.
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Vol. 366● Participation in International Conferences
ASEAN Interregional Dialogue on Disaster Resilience (AIDDR)ADRC participated in the first ASEAN Interregional Dialogue on Disaster Resilience (AIDDR) held on 21
August 2023 in Singapore. Adopting the theme, “Regional Perspectives on Building Resilience fromTransboundary Risks,” AIDDR convened regional organizations in Asia-Pacific region to explore strategies
and current approaches to understanding, managing, and reducing transboundary disaster risks and theirimpacts on other emerging disaster risk issues. AIDDR aimed at achieving two key objectives:
1) explore potential avenues for fostering collaborative efforts between regional organizations on DRM,and
2) lay the groundwork for establishing interregional partnerships and collaboration with a specific focus
on knowledge exchange and capacity building.
Speaking on behalf of ADRC, Dr Potutan mentioned that one of the challenges in managing
transboundary disasters is that the disaster risk management (DRM) systems of impacted countries usuallydiffer, such as protocols and logistical approaches. In this context, ADRC facilitated cooperation among its
31-member countries by providing a common platform for:1) information-sharing on transboundary risks, such as assigning a universal identification oftransboundary disasters using the GLIDE number system; and2) early warning of transboundary risks using satellites, particularly through the Quasi Zenith Satellites
System (QZSS) and Sentinel Asia.
Based on the discussions at the AIDDR, the ASEAN Secretariat indicated to facilitate the following nextsteps:
1) continue the inter-regional dialogue among regional organizations to strengthen collaboration;2) conduct capacity mapping of regional organizations to inform initiatives for greater cooperation andsynergy; and3) pursue proposal for collaboration in the areas of data sharing, early warning, and knowledge exchange.

Group photo of AIDDR participants at One Farrer Hotel, Singapore

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