2. Establishment of Network in the Asian Region

2-3. ADRC's Network of Information on NaturalDisasters and Disaster Management
2-3-1. Configuration and Hardware
Figure 2-3-1-1 shows the configuration and information hardware of ADRC. The ADRC
Network is wired to the Internet via a “B Flet’s” Business Type access line provided by NTT
West at a best effort speed of 100 Mbps. Despite the rapid spread of ADSL services, ADRC
does not use ADSL connections because the asymmetry in the uploading and downloading
rates is not appropriate for ADRC to transmit information via servers.
ADRC will seek better networking solutions and switch to most rapid and cost-effective
options at their earliest availability, in order to construct an easy-to-access information
platform for providing rich and diverse contents including still images and videos.

Private IP Address
Only open servers are allocated global IP
192.168.*2.0/24 are allocated address. Private address is changed to global
for DMZ machine.
by NAT for global information traffic.
Private IP Address
192.168.*1.0/24 are allocatedfor internal machine.

Fiber optics

DNS request fromexternal domain

OCN

Fire WallInternal ServerOpen Server

INTERNETInternal ClientsDNS Request

Global DNS

Intranal DNS

Forwarding unresolved

Intranal DNS

RequestFig. 2-3-1-1 ADRC Network Configuration and Information Hardware

Out of security considerations, ADRC has a firewall installed as a partition between theinternal and external networks. The firewall is under 24-hour monitoring to check
unauthorized access and unusually large volumes of access. The internal network is further
divided into DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) and LAN networks. The DMZ network consists ofweb, mail, and DNS servers, while the LAN network consists of client machines forindividual researchers and different types of servers for internal use. All the machinesconnected to the DMZ and LAN are assigned private IP addresses valid only inside the Center.
When an attempt is made to access a server in the DMZ from outside, the address conversion
function built in the firewall converts the global IP address to the private address of the server
to accept the access request. In addition to the conversion of the global IP address to a private
IP address, the firewall routes packets according to rules that take into account the protocols
and the source and destination of the packets. Thus, the firewall screens all the inbound andoutbound traffic, minutely restricting access to internal servers as well as monitoring
unauthorized access attempts.
In addition to the security against unauthorized access, host-controlled anti-virus software
resides on every server and client machine to protect them from electronic viruses and worms,
which are increasingly causing serious problems around the world. Furthermore, to blockviruses that spread via the Internet and may pass through the firewall into the intranet, a５７

2. Establishment of Network in the Asian Region

server dedicated to real-time virus detection anddestruction is installed on the Internet gateway to blockviruses attached to mail, access to virus-infected websites,
and the risk of spreading viruses.
Moreover, to cope with the recent increase inunauthorized access and worm viruses, the Infiltration
Detection System (IDS) has been installed along with theongoing replacement of the Windows-based server
operating system with Unix-based one.
Peripheral equipment installed includes backup storage
devices such as CD-R, MO, DVD-R and DAT drives,
printing devices such as black-and-white and color laserprinters, raster image-scanning units such as flat-head andfilm scanners.

2-3-2. ADRC's Website
As shown in Fig. 2-3-2-1, ADRC's website (URL
http://www.adrc.or.jp/) consists of the following 13
databases plus access to VENTEN, ADRC’s internet-based
GIS (URL http://venten.www.adrc.or.jp/): Latest Disaster
Information, Multi-lingual Glossary on Natural Disasters,
Training Information Database, ADRC E-Net (ADRCExpert Network), Conference and Disaster Studies,Internet Exhibition, Disaster Information from Member
Countries,
ADRC Highlights, Disaster Reports from Member
Countries, ADRRN (Asian Disaster Reduction andResponse Network), Archives, The Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake Database, and Center Information.
There are also pages introducing U.N. International
Strategies for Disaster Reduction. In addition,GLIDEnumber.net (URL http://glidenumber.net/) – a
disaster information generation and search site using
GLIDE (GLobal unique disaster IDEntifier number) - andSuffered Area Image Information systems
are now in the pilot rollout phase.

Fig. 2-3-2-1 ADRC HP Menu

データベース

ユーザー要求As shown by Fig. 2-3-2-2, these disaster
防災情報
reduction-related data are stored in their
ウェブページcorresponding databases. When there is anaccess request from the Internet, theinformation is retrieved from the参照
corresponding database and sent to the user
インストラクション
色、レイアウトin a hypertext format based on instructions
for determining display coloring andlayouts. Separate storage of the content datain the database from the layout instruction
Fig. 2-3-2-2 Linked Database-driven Website
data frees administrators of complicatedlayout settings and allows easy layoutchange in batch to keep pace with user needs and technological innovation. This way of
databases management makes it possible to provide users with two ways of information
access (by content or by country) as well as a directory that further facilitates access.

To help understand how to access the information stored in the databases, let us take a lookat ADRC’s Latest Disaster Information database. This particular database collects anddisseminates information on ongoing natural disasters as rapidly as possible. It collects web５８

2. Establishment of Network in the Asian Region

reports from relevant organizations such as the UN and the media, summarizes their contents,and provides links to the original sources. As shown in Fig. 2-3-2-3, these data are managed
in two tables classified respectively by disaster event and by report. When there is a requestfrom a user (for a report), these tables are referred to to extract the relevant data from thedatabase and create a report according to the layout instructions.
Remote updating is possible over the Internet as shown in Fig. 2-3-2-2. This fiscal year, it
has become possible to update information via the Web pages except for some functions. This
allows delivery of more accurate information and faster updating of information.
Latest disaster information is collected and recorded by full-time and part-time ADRC staff
to minimize the lag time from when a disaster occurs until the relevant information is madeavailable. On December 26, 2003, when an earthquake hit the Bam region in Iran, this ADRC
site had 5,000 -10,000 access requests per hour through the direct link on Yahoo News Portal.
To make the ADRC website more convenient, the following features have been
incorporated:

Data Server
T able :T h e Late st In fo
ID D isaste r
C o u n try C o deN am e o f D isaste r
D ateRe su m en u m be r
c o dete xtte xt
te xt

L IN KT able :Re po rt
ID Re po rt
ID D isaste r
C ate go ry
T itleC o n te n t
U RLInformation
itselfToandfromUsersn u m be r
n u m be r
te xt
te xt
te xt
te xt

Addition and Editionof Information fromall over the world

Fig. 2-3-2-3 Latest Disaster Information andFig. 2-3-2-4 Remote Updating overWindow Layout
the Internet① an easy-to-use menu for three types of users (Professional, Academic and General),② a dual structure consisting of image-embedded pages and text-only pages, either ofwhich can be selected according to the connection type of the user,③ a dual structure consisting of English and Japanese pages, and④ a platform that allows the user to select the options given in features ①-③.
An entry page is provided to guide the user through these features (See Fig. 2-3-2-5).

Fig. 2-3-2-5 Entry Pag

５９2. Establishment of Network in the Asian Region

ADRCウェブページアクセス数推移
800,000

900

700,000

800

600,000

700
600

500,000

500

400,000

400

3 00,000300

200,000

200

1 00,000

100

総リクエスト数

2004/3

2004/2

2004/1

2003/12

2003/11

2003/10

2003/92003/8

2003/7

2003/602003/50
2003/3

According to Google, anInternet search engine operator,
the search results by keyword“AsianDisaster
Reduction
Center” in the Japanese andEnglish languages have increased
approx. by 13% to 1,810 hits, andby 82% to 57,300 hits,
respectively.

Fig. 2-3-2-6 ADRC top page

2003/4

The top page of theADRC website uses aclickable image map1 tofacilitate easy viewingof the latest disaster
information. Due to thesignificant increase ofdata volume of thewebsite, a powerfulsearchengine
isequipped to allow faster
access to information inthe ADRC website andother linked sites (seeFig. 2-3-2-6).
Following the system
updating in last October,
the ADRC webpage
extension was changed
from asp. to php.,
causing the existingusers to fail to access it.
In last December, thenotification of the newURL was circulated,
and a measure was taken to
forward access requests via theold URL to the new top page.
Since then, the access traffic has
been increasing (See Fig. 2-3-2-7).

平均訪問者数

Fig. 2-3-2-7 Access Traffic

1

Clickable map: a function supported by Web browsers. It allows the user to jump to destinations specified by links
embedded in images. The term also refers to images with such functions. Since it is possible to bundle multiple links in asingle image, clickable maps are frequently used for map image-embedded websites or menus placed on the top or left of
web pages.

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