5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

5-3. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries,
International Organizations and NGOs
5-3-1. Establishing a Regional Network in Asia
The ADRC places high priority on the development of institutional and personal network toshare disaster information in the Asia region. Developing personal networks between
professionals and their counterparts in member countries, adviser countries, and observerorganizations is vital to promoting cooperation on disaster reduction efforts in Asia. Therefore,
the ADRC invites management level officials, including deputy directors, directors, andmanagers, to its annual ADRC International Meeting to encourage interpersonal exchanges.

5-3-2. Promoting Cooperation with International &Regional Organizations and NGOs
(1) ISDR Asia Partnership Meeting
The ADRC participated in the ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) meeting held on 6-8 September
in Pattaya, Thailand. Around 70 participants attended the meeting including representatives
from many countries in Asia as well as from the international and inter-governmentalorganizations. As part of the follow-up to the 4th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction(AMCDRR) held in October 2010, the participants shared information on
progresses made for the Incheon Action Plan and explored ways to further promote it. They
also examined the concept and expected outcomes of the 5th AMCDRR scheduled to be heldin October 2012 in Yogyakarta, Republic of Indonesia. Information was also shared among
the participants about planned events for the forthcoming International Day for Disaster
Reduction (13 October ).
The key components of the meeting were as follows:
1) Update on preparations for the 5th AMCDRR
Reports were given on the preparations for the 5th Asian Ministerial Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction scheduled to be held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 22-25 October thisyear.
2) Discussion of the AMCDRR structureGroup discussions were held on the AMCDRR structure and outcomes.
3) HFA monitoring and review
Thailand, Mongolia, UNOPS, ASEAN, and UNICEF reported on the activities they haveundertaken based on the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA).
4) Post-HFA framework
Participants discussed a post-HFA framework based on the challenges that have been faced
under the HFA.
ADRC gave a presentation on "Business Continuity Management in the Private Sector for57

Regional Resiliency," a topic of interest among many participants.
Following the IAP meeting, the 18th ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management(ACDM) was held at the same venue on 9 September. The Committee reviewed progresses
and challenges of each project and activity under ASEAN Agreement on Disaster
Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and discussed the issues relevant to thefurther implementation of AADMER in cooperation with strategic partners.

(2) Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk
Reduction and the World Reconstruction Conference
The Global Platform for Disaster Reduction was established in 2007 as a biennial forum for
information exchange, discussion of latest development and knowledge and partnershipbuilding across sectors, with the goal to improve implementation of disaster risk reduction
through better communication and coordination amongst stakeholders. The Global Platform ismanaged by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
The third session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) was held from
8 to 13 May 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland. More than 2,600 delegates from national/regionalorganizations and governments came together from all over the world to discuss topics aroundthe theme “Invest Today for a Safer Tomorrow: Increased Investment in Local Action.” Themeeting built on the findings and recommendations of the Global Platform’s second session
held in 2009, as well as the results of the Midterm Review of the Hyogo Framework for
Action. The Global Platform also included the first World Reconstruction Conference (WRC),hosted by the World Bank.
At the session, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered the keynote address,
noting that the aim of the conference was to reduce disaster risk through technology,
knowledge and economic tools. He called for accelerating efforts to build resilience and tocreate a “coalition for action” for DRR, especially as global climate change and nuclear
safety.
Following two days of preparatory meetings, the formal conference began with a plenary
session on May 10, and this was followed by roundtable and thematic sessions for the
discussion of such issues as reconstruction and recovery, the economics of DRR, andsynergies with the international climate change and development agenda. Participants
particularly focused on the critical next steps that need to be taken.
Shozo Azuma, Senior Vice-Minister for Disaster Management, Japan, delivered a keynote
address titled “Great East Japan Earthquake – Towards Reconstruction from the Tsunami
Disaster” and expressed Japan's intent to host the Third World Conference on Disaster
Reduction in 2015.
The ADRC participated in several side events and gave a presentation on the Great East
Japan Earthquake. At the side event entitled “Saving Lives and Improving Coastal Risk
Management through Regional Cooperation in Ocean and Marine-Related Early Warning58

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

Systems in Asia” organized by WMO, UNESCAP, UNESCO-IOC, and the International
Group on Wind-Related Disaster Risk Reduction (IG-WRDRR), the ADRC gave apresentation on the current situation in the Tohoku region and the response and relief activities
which were implemented by the Japanese government following the disaster.
The ADRC also organized a session on the “Integrated Use of Space Technologies for
Disaster Risk Reduction” together with SPIDER Global Thematic Partnership (UN-SPIDER,
DLR, ADRC, ESRI, and ISPRS). They gave a presentation on the use of emergency satellite
observations through the Sentinel Asia Initiative and explained how space-based applications
were used effectively during the Great East Japan Earthquake in the identification andassessment of the affected area.
On the IGNITE stage, the ADRC and IRP (International Recovery Platform) jointly made apresentation on “The Great East Japan Earthquake: Rethinking Investments for a Safer
Tomorrow.” They showed what pre-disaster measures had been taken in the Tohoku region,
including both structural components (e.g., seawalls, tsunami evacuation buildings) andorganizational components (e.g., awareness efforts, disaster drills), and explained how
effective those measures have proven to be in this disaster. Together with the Japanese
government, ADRC and IRP also took advantage of the Market Place area to highlight several
recent Japanese projects on disaster preparedness, response and recovery through a display of
posters.

Fig. 1-2-2-1-1 Keynote Address of Shozo Azuma, Senior
Vice-Minister for Disaster Management(3) Report from the APEC Workshop on Private Sector Emergency
Preparedness
The governments of Japan and the United States co-hosted the APEC Workshop on Private
Sector Emergency Preparedness on 1-3 August 2011 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. With morethan 100 participants, including government officials and experts from 18 countries andregions, the workshop was the first intergovernmental, international conference conducted in
an area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The participants confirmed that the59Asia-Pacific region is particularly prone to natural disasters and that its supply chains areclosely intertwined. Given this, the members agreed that a single disaster could affect theeconomic activities of the entire region and that APEC therefore needs to strengthen theprivate sector's capacity for disaster preparedness and recovery, and to strengthen thepartnerships among its members.
The objective of the workshop was to promote Business Continuity Planning (BCP) among
APEC member economies. The participants examined case studies from the private sector,
shared expertise on how to develop BCP in each economy, and discussed the role ofgovernments in promoting BCP in the Asia-Pacific region. The workshop covered thefollowing topics: The concept and importance of Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Status
of BCP adoption in the APEC region, BCP Case Studies (including the experience of Great
East Japan Earthquake), BCP Reference Guide, Public-Private Partnerships, and Inter-APEC
cooperation to promote BCP in the APEC region. The ADRC conducted research and gave apresentation on the status of BCP adoption in the APEC region for further consideration. On
the last day, the participants toured the tsunami-affected area and visited local firms thatminimized the damage to their businesses caused by the March 11th disaster by quickly
implementing their BCP.

(4)The 2nd session of UNESCAP Committee on Disaster Risk
Reduction and the Expert Group Meeting on Regional
Knowledge and Cooperation for Comprehensive Multi-Hazard
Risk Management in Asia and the pacific(1) Date
Expert Group Meeting (EGM): 27-29 June 2011
Committee on DRR: 29 June -1 July 2011

(2) Organizer
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(UNESCAP)(3) Participants
Governments, International Organizations, Disaster-related Organizations(4) Venue
The United Nations Conference Center, Bangkok(5) Purpose
The objective of the expert group meeting (EGM) was to review and discuss the recent
developments taking place in disaster risk reduction strategies with specific focus on
multi-hazard risk management, as well as their importance to inclusive and sustainablesocio-economic development in the region. The EGM discussed the emerging challenges
and opportunities in setting up multi-hazard assessments based on the access of reliable andtimely data from multiple sources, and their integration into variety of models to achieve`actionable` solution for decision support. The regional knowledge and cooperation have60

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

been envisaged as the key enabler facilitating the comprehensive multi-hazard risk
management framework. The EGM also advised on the contents of the next issue of the
Asia-Pacific Disaster Report scheduled for publication in 2012, which is tentatively
planned around social economic analyses of disaster impacts, evaluation of psychologicalimpacts and losses, and possible linkages back to the Global Assessment Report, including
community level involvements in these areas and the commissioning of Champions in
Disaster Risk Reduction from various countries.

(6) Outline
The Expert Group Meeting on Regional Knowledge and Cooperation for Comprehensive
Multi-Hazard risk Management in Asia and the Pacific was organized by the UNESCAPfrom 27 to 29 June 2011 at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Meeting was attended by the experts from many countries as well as experts fromintergovernmental and international organizations. Invited by the UNESCAP, the ADRC
also participated in the meeting.
The meeting addressed: a) Asia Pacific Gateway on Disaster Risk Reduction andDevelopment; b) Data for Disaster Risk Reduction and Assessment; c) Regional
Cooperative Mechanism on Disaster Monitoring and Early Warning, Particularly Drought,
and; d) Asia Pacific Disaster Report. Experts discussed in detail relevant issues and needs
and necessary actions. ADRC stressed the importance of compilation of disaster data,utilization of GLIDE (GLobal unique disaster IDEntifier number), sharing of experiences
and lessons regarding to specific disasters such as the March 11 Great East Japan
Earthquake.

(5)The 22nd meeting of sub-committee on space technology andapplications (SCOSA)
The ADRC attended the 22nd meeting of sub-committee on space technology andapplications (SCOSA) held from 9th to 10th May 2011 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Variousorganizations in ASEAN countries which are related to the space technology attended this61

meeting in order to discuss on-going and future projects by SCOSA and other relevantorganizations.
For the last two year the ADRC has been implementing "Satellite Data Utilization for
Disaster Risk Reduction and Response" project funded by Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund
(JAIF). Eight ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia, Philippines, Lao PDR, Myanmar,
Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei Darussalam are the target countries of the project.
In this meeting, the ADRC made a presentation about the progress of the project. ADRC iscurrency producing materials for the seminars and trainings in ASEAN country. For moredetails of this project, please refer to the following site;
http://www.geoinfo.ait.ac.th/adrc/index.htm(6)The Seminar on Emerging ICT New Service : Disaster and ICT
Applications orgnized by Ministry of Information andCommunication Technology of Thailand(1)Date15 June 2011(2)Organizer
Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) of Thailand(3)Participants
MICT, Japanese Embassy, JICA, UNESCAP, NEC, NTT Docomo, etc.

(4)Venue
MICT Meeting Room, , Bangkok, Thailand(5)Purpose
This seminar was to provide Japanese experience and useful information on theearthquake, especially from the various disaster warning system with Information andCommunication Technology(ICT) which were utilized during the earthquake.

(6)Outline
To provide information of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, the following
presentations were made by various speakers:(1) Overview of the impact to ICT infrastructure by the Great East Japan Earthquake by
Mr. KONO, JICA Expert seconded to MICT(2)Government Response to the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake by Mr.
KORESAWA, Executive Director, ADRC
(3)Introduction to NEC’s Disaster Prevention Solution and Earthquake Early Warning
System by Mr. YAMAMOTO, Manager of Social Infrastructure Solutions Planning
Division, NEC(4)The role of Cellular phone service during the earthquake by Mr. MAKISE, Manager of
Global Business Planning, Corporate Marketing Strategy Department, NTT DoCoMo(5)Thailand activities by National Disaster Warning Center of MICT62

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

(7)The first and second Expert Group Meeting
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region along the Pacific coast ofJapan was unprecedented in both scale and scope. Measuring a magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale,the Great East Japan Earthquake was the fourth largest earthquake in the world and the largest everrecorded in Japan. The subsequent tsunami washed away many small and medium-sized towns
and communities along the seashore, resulting in a record level of human casualties. Recovery andreconstruction efforts have just begun, and are likely to take many years.
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) conducted an expert group meeting entitled“Toward Creative Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake” with theInternational Recovery Platform (IRP), the United Nations (UN) International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and thePacific (ESCAP), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), the Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Japanese Cabinet Office, Hyogo Prefecture
and the World Bank on June 31 at the World Bank Tokyo Development Learning Center.
Approximately 70 experts and observers attended this meeting, whose objectives were
two-fold: (1) to provide valuable advice to Japanese experts working on recovery andreconstruction in Japan, based on experiences gained during other large-scale disasters aroundthe world (e.g., the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Sichuan Earthquake, andflooding in Australia), and (2) to identify the hard-learned lessons from this painful disaster
experience in Japan so that they can be put to use in disaster risk reduction efforts in othercountries. Experts gave presentations aimed at achieving the above objectives.

*Before this meeting, approximately 20 experts
visited the affected area in Miyagi Prefecturefrom 29 to 30 June. During their visit, they had achance to meet with Mayor Sato of
MinamiSanriku.
This was an invaluable time for the sharing of
opinions and ideas.

Field visit at Minami-Sanriku Town
ADRC held its second expert group meeting with the Japanese Cabinet Office, the UN
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the International Recovery Platform (IRP), in Tokyo on
16-17 December 2011, with the first meeting having been held last May.
The meeting invited policy managers from Japan and other countries in the Asia Pacificregion to discuss the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the major
policy changes adopted since then. The meeting also provided opportunities to discuss therelevance of the Japanese experience in the international context and to obtain input andfeedback from the experts of other countries.

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