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

4-4. Establishing a Regional Network in Asia
4-4-1. Establishing Institutional and Personal Networks
ADRC places high priority on the development of institutional and personal network to sharedisaster information in the Asian region. Developing personal networks between professionals andtheir counterparts in member countries, advisor countries, and observer organizations is vital topromoting cooperation on disaster reduction efforts in Asia. Therefore, ADRC invites managementlevel officials, including deputy directors, directors, and managers, to its annual ADRC International
Meeting to encourage interpersonal exchanges.

4-4-2. Collaboration with the ADRRN(1) Establishment of the ADRRN
Today, NGOs as well as governments and international organizations play active roles in disaster
response and risk reduction in Asia. In addition to conducting rescue activities immediately after adisaster, NGOs work in close cooperation with local communities to provide support forreconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, and to promote disaster preparedness activities, such as
disaster education and disaster awareness efforts during non-critical times. However, the limited
resources that individual NGOs have for dealing with disasters require them to further enhance theircapabilities and strengthen their ties with relevant authorities.
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) co-organized the “Regional Workshop on
Networking and Collaboration among Non-Governmental Organizations of Asian Countries inDisaster Risk Reduction and Responses” with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) Kobe, in February 2002. The workshop, which was held in Kobe, aimed to facilitate
international networking and collaboration among NGOs involved in disaster prevention and rescue
operations in the Asian region, and attracted 35 participants from disaster-related NGOs in 16 Asiancountries. A consensus was reached among the workshop participants regarding the establishment ofthe Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN) to promote cooperation amongrelated NGOs. ADRC as well as OCHA Kobe were granted observer status for supporting thenetwork's activities.
Especially since the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December 2004, the ADRRN has been increasing
its presence in Asia and actively conducting various disaster response, recovery, and mitigation
activities in tsunami-affected countries.

(2) ADRRN Annual Meeting
On 3-5 November 2008, the ADRRN Annual Meeting and Regional Workshop was held inKathmandu, Nepal. It was attended by about 40 people from 25 ADRRN member organizations,
including representatives from the government of Nepal, OCHA, ADRC, and other organizations.
During the meeting, new member organizations from Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Philippines
were introduced and reports were given on the ADRRN's projects and financial situation. The
number of members was reported to have grown from fewer than 20 at its inception, to 31, indicating
the expanded reach of the ADRRN.
In a segment highlighting ongoing projects, a presentation was given on the SELAMAT project inIndonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, which was launched in 2007. This project, which is acooperative effort being undertaken by several ADRRN member groups, the research institutes ofthe target countries and Japan, and supported by the EU, ISDR and the governments the local
governmtents aims to promote the disaster resilience of communities and schools, including theenhancement of community disaster awareness. The ADRRN network has been found to be aneffective tool for promoting networking across diverse sectors.
ADRC also reported on a project that was conducted in Malaysia in 2008, which targeted
ADRRN-member NGOs (see 3-1-1 for details). The participants of the annual meeting showedinterest in the project and indicated their hopes that it would continue to be implemented andsupported by ADRC.
There was also a discussion of the HFA Progress Report prepared by the ADRRN for the Third
Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in December 2008. Opinions were expressed
regarding the importance of incorporating community-based public-private partnerships into national
disaster management planning and policy, and of empowering the NGOs that play critical roles in㧤㧟Promoting
Cooperation
MemberNGOs
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The meeting provided a great opportunity for the participants to learn from one another, allowing
professionals with a wide range of experience to share information and actively discuss variousissues.

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