ADRC Highlights
Asian Disaster Reduction Center Monthly News
● Announcement
Vol. 365
August2023
TOPICSAnnouncement
Asian Conference on
Disaster Reduction 2023

Promoting Cooperation
with AffiliatedInstitutions
JICA Knowledge CoCreation Program: Malaysia“LEP2.0 Enhancement of
the Disaster Risk
Management Capacity of
the National Disaster
Management Agency(NADMA)”Countermeasures against
Sediment related Disaster

Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2023

Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) will host the Asian Conference on
Disaster Reduction 2023 (ACDR2023) “Effective Implementation of DRR
Measures — Enabling Digital Transformation in DRR” on 20 October 2023 inDushanbe, the Republic of Tajikistan. The conference will be conducted in ahybrid format (in-person and online).
ACDR2023 will focus on disaster risk in landlocked countries, with sessions on“Innovative Solutions for Resilient Societies: DRR Technologies for Earthquakes
and Geological Hazards” and “Adaptation to the Climate Crisis: Innovative
Approaches to Monitoring and Responding to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods(GLOFs), Forest Fires and Intensifying Floods.”
Details of the conference will be made available on the ACDR2023 website indue course. Further details on this conference will also be provided in the next
issue.

Participation inInternational
Conferences¶ Workshop for theTechnical Expert Service on
Increasing Efficiency ofProvincial Disaster
Management in Denizli,Türkiye¶ 19th APEC-Emergency
Preparedness Working
Group (EPWG) Meeting¶ 16th Senior Disaster
Management Officials’
Forum

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

Presentation by Mr SASAHARA, ADRCACDR 2023 website: https://acdr.adrc.asia/home/acdr2023● Promoting Cooperation with Affiliated Institutions
JICA Knowledge Co-Creation Program: Malaysia “LEP2.0 Enhancementof the Disaster Risk Management Capacity of the National Disaster
Management Agency (NADMA)” Countermeasures against Sediment
related Disaster

ADRC conducted the JICA
Knowledge Co-Creation
Program: Malaysia “LEP2.0
Enhancement of the DisasterRisk Management Capacity ofthe National Disaster
Management Agency(NADMA)” Countermeasuresagainst Sediment related
Disaster from 10 to 21 July
2023. A total of twelve
officials from disaster risk
management and relevant
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Vol. 365

Continued

Malaysian organizations participated in this intensive two-week program to learn about the sediment disaster
policies and practices of Japan. They attended lectures by experts in the field, including from the Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, local government and research institutes, and visited sites inHiroshima, Nara and Osaka where sediment disaster countermeasures have been installed. At the end of theprogram, the participants presented their action plan based on their findings over the two weeks.
ADRC would like to express its sincerest gratitude to all the organizations and universities that
contributed to the success of the program.
● Participation in International Conferences
Workshop for the Technical Expert Service on Increasing Efficiency of Provincial Disaster
Management in Denizli, Türkiye

Two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6
respectively occurred in Türkiye on 6 February 2023,
causing great destruction in 10 provinces. Considering
this experience, the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs
and the Denizli Governorship decided to conduct a fiveday workshop in Denizli titled “Technical Expert
Service on Increasing Efficiency of Provincial DisasterManagement,” with the support of the Asian
Productivity Organization (APO). Officials from theDisaster and Emergency Management Authority(AFAD) in Denizli also joined the workshop as key
experts. One of the most important objectives of thisactivity is to identify the problems experienced before
and after the earthquake disaster, to discuss concreteinterventions for solving those problems, and to develop
a coordination system in order to establish a policy for
The first day of the workshop
addressing potential future disasters.
Dr IKEDA Makoto from ADRC attended the workshop as a speaker and made several presentations.
Professor MURATA Masahiko from Kansai University of International Studies also participated and shared
his experiences of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The participants also engaged actively in discussion
with Professor MURATA and Dr IKEDA, and the workshop proved to be useful occasion for considering
how to achieve better DRR in Türkiye going forward.
19th APEC Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG) Meeting

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hosted the 19th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Emergency Preparedness Working Group (APEC-EPWG) meeting in Seattle, USA on 1 August 2023.
ADRC Project Director Mr SUZUKI Koji (Co-chair of EPWG) and Senior Researcher Mr Gerry Potutan(Assistant to the EPWG Co-chair) participated in the meeting.
In this meeting, the member economies together with representatives from the private sector, academia
and industry leaders discussed the impact of complex emergencies and disaster shocks to APEC region’s
supply chains and explored ways to promote disaster risk reduction in supply chain management. The
meeting also delved into diverse approaches to early warning systems in the APEC region to accelerate theimplementation of robust early warning systems that strengthen risk management and advance disaster risk
reduction for all. Communications system, including timely and accurate dissemination of warnings that canreach rural communities, was mentioned as the key criterion to an effective early warning system.
EPWG Co-chair SUZUKI, who facilitated the afternoon sessions, announced the following:i) Endorsement of the EPWG Work Plan 2023,ii) Revision of the APEC DRR Framework, andiii) Revision of the Plan of Action on the APEC DRR Framework.
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ContinuedHe also stated that the terms of office of the current EPWG co-chairs will end in 31 December 2023. As
such, the Secretariat will be starting the process for nomination of the next co-chairs.

EPWG Co-chair Suzuki (Japan) along with Co-chair Yan (China) at the 19th EPWG Meeting

As part of the APEC-EPWG events, which the FEMA
organized as host, participants were given the opportunity to join a“Resilient Communities Field Tour” on 3 August 2023. In thisfield tour, participants had a chance to engage with local
communities in the State of Washington, including a visit to
Mount Vernon where the city leveraged local, state and federal
investment to build a flood wall that put an end to persistentflooding of the city’s downtown. The flood wall forms a part of along-term plan to increase safety and revitalize the local economy.
Participants also visited the Starbucks Headquarters and Seattle
Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Starbucks demonstrated
how the global corporation prepares its supply chain andoperations for possible disasters and also showcased the model of
public-private partnership to advance climate resilience. Seattle
EOC showed how local emergency management personnel areconstantly adapting to prepare the city for a changing disasterlandscape.

FEMA Region 10 Regional Administrator Willie
Nunn (center) at Mt. Vernon City with floodwall inthe background. Mr Gerry Potutan is also in the photo.

16th Senior Disaster Management Officials’ ForumThe 16th Senior Disaster Management Officials’ Forum (SDMOF), chaired by FEMA Administrator Ms
Deanne Criswell, was held in Seattle on 2 August 2023. The forum was organized against the backdrop of aseries of destructive and costly wildfires, floods, hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes that compelled APEC
member economies to heightened collective actions to respond to the increasingly complex disasterlandscape.
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Continued

The forum kicked off with a Roundtable on Adaptive Management, in which every Minister or Head ofDelegation provided three-minute remarks. In this roundtable, Mr TANI Koichi (Minister of State forDisaster Management) of Japan delivered a video message. His message touched on incorporating theprinciples of adaptability, flexibility and meaningful change to build strong and resilient communities. Allheads of delegations to the forum provided their remarks in person, including from the following economies:
Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines,Chinese Taipei, Thailand, USA, and Vietnam.
Emphasizing the significant role of disaster risk managers, the SDMOF tackled four thematic areas totake urgent and decisive action:i) Inclusive and Participatory Disaster Risk Reduction: Fostering Whole Community Integration into
Decision-Making Processes;ii) Climate Impacts to Disaster Housing: Prioritizing Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning in the Asia-Pacific;iii) Nature-Based Solutions: Strengthening Infrastructure Resilience; andiv) Women’s Leadership in Crisis Management: Achieving an Equitable Future for the APEC Region.
During the wrap-up, Mr Gerry Potutan (Senior Researcher at ADRC), who moderated Thematic Session
2, summed up key takeaways from the forum with the following words:“As you heard from the speakers, the greatest challenge in disaster housing is logistics, e.g., seeking
permits for where and when to build disaster housing, adhering to protocols in shipping building materials,and complying with government regulations in transferring funds. These logistical challenges make disasterhousing complex and it will take a long time for complete housing reconstruction. The longer it takes, thegreater the losses. However, these logistical issues can be addressed now through pre-agreements and predisaster recovery planning. So, when disaster strikes, the pre-agreed logistical arrangements will beactivated.”

16th SDMOF

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