Progress report (September 2015 – March 2016)
Theme 2: Solutions to challenges the Earth System faces“Enhancement of urban disaster resilience through activities of local participatory platform”
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University
Person in charge of the project: Prof. Kenji OKAZAKI

1. Outline of the project(1) Background and Objective
Catastrophic natural disasters have been occurring frequently over the world in recent years,
killing hundreds of thousands of people. Urban disaster risk is also on the rise due to rapid urban growthand vulnerable buildings and infrastructure. Hence, enhancement of urban resilience against natural
disasters is one of the urgent and important global issues. This project is implemented in Kathmandu, Nepal,and Yangon, Myanmar, which are prone and vulnerable to natural disasters, particularly earthquakes,
aiming to enhance resilience of the cities against natural disasters through capacity buildings of the local
stakeholders. Based on the results of these pilot projects, a universal model for urban resilienceenhancement is developed. Kathmandu tackles earthquake disasters, while Yangon tackles earthquake andcyclone disasters. The goals of the project are to contribute to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
to attain effective and robust science-policy interfaces at local level, and to contribute to Sendai Frameworkfor Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted by 2015 UN World Conference on Disaster RiskReduction (WCDRR). The project is conducted from September 2015 to March 2018 for 2 years 7months, with the Grant for Global Sustainability (GGS), initiated by the United Nations University (UNU),Tokyo, Japan.
(2) Activities
Firstly, pilot projects are conducted in Kathmandu and Yangon. The two cities establish a local
platform where stakeholders work and discuss together to understand and assess the disaster risk of the city,
estimate probable damages, propose policies, and make action plans. In order to facilitate these activities,
local counterpart organizations are selected from local governments, universities, and NGOs respectively.
The counterpart universities/NGOs and the Japanese researchers conduct some joint researches to support
enhancement of urban disaster resilience.
Secondly, a universal model for urban resilience enhancement is developed at a
multi-disciplinary approach, i.e. combination of engineering approach and political/social approach, basedon the experiences of the pilot projects and the joint researches in the two cities. The model will describe
how to conduct similar projects to enhance the resilience against various natural disasters.
Table 1 Schedule of the activities

(3) Participating organizations
The project is conducted by Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (GSGES), Kyoto
University, in collaboration with some Japanese researchers from other institutions. Global Earthquake
Model Foundation (GEM) provides technical tools and technical assistance to the pilot cities for earthquake
risk assessment, damage estimate, and training. In the pilot cities of Kathmandu and Yangon, counterpart
organizations are selected and assigned to conduct the pilot projects, namely a municipality(s), a university,and an NGO.
2. Progress from September 2015 to March 2016(1) Identification of the participating organizations
Local counterparts
The project leader and some researchers visited Yangon 10-12 September, and Kathmandu 6-10
October, to discuss with the key experts and possible counterparts, and identified the participatingorganizations from the two cities as follows.
Kathmandu- Lalitpur Sub Metropolitan City Office (LSMC) and Karyabinayak Municipality Office (KMC)- Centre for Disaster Studies (CDS), Institute of Engineering (IOE), Tribhuvan University- National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET)
Yangon- Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC)- Faculty of Engineering, Yangon Technological University (YTU)- Myanmar Engineering Society (MES)Japanese researchers
Participating researchers from Japan were identified as follows.
GSGES- Kenji Okazaki (Prof.): Project Leader- Junji Kiyono (Prof.), Aiko Furukawa (Assoc. Prof.): Urban seismic risk assessment- Rajib Shaw (Program Specific Prof.), Koichi Shiwaku (Researcher): Disaster education and action plan
- Kenji Okazaki (Prof.), Hirohide Kobayashi (Assoc. Prof.): Housing safety and risk perception- Makoto Usami (Prof.): Social fairness of policies and action plansOthers- Kazuyoshi Nishijima (Assoc. Prof., Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University),
Seitaro Tajiri (Assoc. Prof., University of Tokyo): Practical seismic diagnosis methods reflecting
variation in building quality
International expert(s)GEM- Carlos Villacis (Regional Project Manager and Strategy Coordinator), Christopher Burton (SocialVulnerability and Integrated Risk Coordinator)

Fig. 1 Participating organizations and the established structure (Yangon)(2) Conclusion of MOU
MOU was concluded between GSGES and the local counterpart organizations in the two cities toclarify the role and responsibilities of the participating parties. MOU with Kathmandu was concluded on 22January 2016, and MOU with Yangon on 12 February 2016. The role and responsibilities of theparticipating parties are provided in MOU as follows.
Municipalities:- Establish and manage a participatory platform- Develop the earthquake damage estimate and the action plan
University:- Provide scientific and technical advice to municipalities- Conduct joint researches with the Japanese researchers
NGO:- Provide technical and practical advice to the municipalities- Conduct community-based projects
GSGES- Provide technical advice and financial assistance as grant(3) International Kick-off Conference
The international kick-off conference was organized in Kathmandu from 21st to 23rd January
2016 and in Yangon from 16th to 19th March 2016, to launch the pilot project in the two cities, and toinitiate discussion on the establishment of a local participatory platform(s) needed for the enhancement ofurban disaster resilience, and to conduct a field survey for the international participants. After thediscussion among the local stakeholders during and after the kick-off conference, the following has been
decided regarding the local platform and the pilot areas within the cities.
Table 2 Targeted areas for the local platform
Kathmandu, Nepal
LalitpurWard No. 16The existing DRR Committee of Ward
Sub-Metropolitan CityNo. 16 is used as the platform.
Karyabinayak
The entire municipality
Municipal-level local platform is
Municipality
established.
Yangon, Myanmar
Pazundaung TownshipOne ward in each of the three
The existing Disaster Managementtownships is chosen.
Committee at the ward level is used asthe platform.
Tar Mwe Township
Kyauktada Township(4) Joint research
Under the topic of Disaster Education and Action Plan, the first joint field surveys wereconducted before the kick-off conferences by Prof. Shaw and Shiwaku. In order to assess resilience ofcommunities and schools, Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI) and School Disaster Resilience
Assessment (SDRA) were applied in the targeted areas.
During and after the kick-off conferences, the Japanese researchers and local experts discussed
the research topics and identified the local participants such as professors, students, and government
officers, and elaborated how the research should be conducted.
(5) Collaboration between the two cities
In order to promote collaboration between Kathmandu and Yangon, 3 experts of Yangon wereinvited to the kick-off conference in Kathmandu, and 2 experts of Kathmandu were invited to the kick-off
conference in Yangon. In addition, one Yangon expert was invited to participate in the GEM training
workshop, which was held for 2 days in October 2015 in Pavia, Italy.