An Open Partnership for Disaster
Reduction in Asia
Sálvano Briceño, Director, UN/ISDR

Cover Photo: East Timorese girl sellingvegetables at the local market in Baucau

Disaster Reduction in Asia
ISDR Informs
is a collaborative effort of the United
Nations Inter Agency Secretariat for theInternational Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UN/ISDR), the Asian
Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)
and the Asian Disaster Reduction
Center (ADRC).
The information and opinions expressedin this newsletter do not necessarilyreflect those of the ISDR Secretariat.
Credits:
Co-Editors: Francesco Pisano, Aloysius
J. Rego, Etsuko Tsunozaki
Production Coordinator:
Nicole Rencoret
Graphic Design: Mario Barrantes
Cover Photo: N. RencoretThis issue has been entitled 'Issue 0' tomark the birth of the newsletter. It isenvisaged that Disaster Reduction in
Asia - ISDR Informs will be produced
on a bi-annual basis.
Please send comments, contributions
and subscription requests to:
isdr@un.org

United Nations Inter-Agency Secretariatof the International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UN/ISDR)
Palais des Nations
CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 9172103 / 762 / 759
Fax: +41 22 9170563
isdr@un.org
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ISDR-Africa@unep.org
www.unisdrafrica.org

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The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction has manyfriends in Asian countries. They are people working in
national and international institutions, public administrations,
universities and NGO's. This relationship is growing instrength and is based on a shared understanding of theimportance to reduce vulnerability and risk in the face of
natural and other related hazards. So, what is missing tobring about a substantial change in this area of work? We
are still lacking the critical mass of political commitment necessary to mobilise asignificant amount of resources. Yet we are moving in the right direction and afundamental change in mentality is gradually taking place in Asia and elsewhere:a shift from reaction to pro-action.
In this context UN/ISDR, ADPC and ADRC share common views on the need topromote disaster reduction as a strategic priority for sustainable development in
Asia. They are also engaged with a variety of partners, internationally and locally,
starting with ESCAP and UNDP, which have a major role in the region. ADPC
and ADRC are also the two Asian entities on the Inter-Agency Task Force on
Disaster Reduction, engaged as such in working towards achieving concrete
results in their part of the world.
Still Asia may be too diverse and too vast for one all-encompassing strategic
regional programme. Furthermore a number of strategic programmes exist
already and many projects are underway. This is why UN/ISDR, ADPC and
ADRC share the view that to proceed gradually to building capacities across Asia
while developing an integrated regional programme for the future, the best option
is to start from an open ended partnership based on building on existing
capacities and ongoing initiatives that can be enhanced through synergy andcollaboration. All entities active in disaster reduction in the region, at theinternational and national levels are encouraged to become part of thepartnership, to benefit from the synergy that can be generated and to contribute
their commitment to reducing risk and vulnerability.
In addition, the process leading to the Second World Conference on Disaster
Reduction as well as the adoption and implementation of its outcome are at thesame time a key focus for 2003-2005 and an opportunity to stimulate
partnerships across the region in view of concrete initiatives for the benefit ofcommunities in Asia.
UN/ISDR, ADPC and ADRC are hoping that this idea will attract interest frominternational and regional entities in Asia and inspire them to join forces with one
another to provide abetter response to the increasing need for prevention bycommunities at risk across Asia.

Disaster Reduction in Asia - ISDR Informs - Issue 0, 2003

Message from ADPC
Dr. Suvit Yodmani, Executive Director
It is with great pleasure that ADPC welcomes UN/ISDR's initiative to expand its
regional outreach to Asia with the launch of the UN/ISDR Asia Partnership andthis issue zero of "ISDR Informs for Asia".
In the late eighties, we at ADPC lent our regional voice to the global advocacy ofthe scientific community of the need for a decade for disaster reduction, and wewere involved as a key regional partner throughout IDNDR, especially after
Yokohama. Milestones include thecollaboration between the IDNDR Radius Project and ourAsian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program, the coorganizing with UN-ESCAP and the IDNDR Secretariat of
the February 1999 Asia Meeting in Bangkok and the
Bangkok Declaration and the release of the ADPCIDNDR publication: "Managing Disasters in Asia and thePacific: A Review of Lessons Learned During theInternational Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction" at
the Geneva Forum in July 1999. As an Asian member of
the ISDR Task Force since its inception in 2000, and aconsistent and keen advocate of the spread of ISDR
Partnerships and platforms to the region, national andlocal levels, ADPC wholeheartedly endorses the launch.
We have already worked closely on a bilateral basis witheach of the founding partners: UN/ISDR, ADRC,
UNESCAP and UNDP(BCPR), and look forward tofurther synergies this new arrangement will bring.
Since July this year, we have restructured ADPC to focus
on our "niche" technical areas: Building National andProvincial Disaster Management Systems, Community
Based Disaster Risk Management, Climate Risk
Management, Public Health in Emergencies and Urban
Disaster Risk Management. The programmaticconsolidation of this new structure will enable our teams
to work effectively with our stakeholders and is thesubstantive focus we bring to the ISDR-Asia Partnership.
In the run-up to the Second World Conference in 2005 to
be held in Asia, the Asia partnership and all its members
will be able to bring to bear the rich lessons of the hard
work of thousands of communities and organizations incountries of this disaster prone continent to help shapethe direction of the Global Plan of Action 2005-2015 and
its Regional Content.

Disaster Reduction in Asia - ISDR Informs - Issue 0, 2003

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Message from ADRC
Satoru Nishikawa, Executive Director
ADRC was established in July 1998 in Kobe (Japan), on the basis of the
Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action, which stresses the importance ofregional cooperation in disaster reduction, to actively promote disaster
reduction activities by collecting and sharing information, enhancing
capacity among member countries, and encouraging regional andinternational cooperation. ADRC currently comprises 24 Asian countries
as member countries, 4 countries outside of Asia as advisory countries,
and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) as an observer.
Owing to the background of its inception, ADRC attaches special importance to the review of the
Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action, which the ISDR Secretariat is carrying out, and iscommitted to contribute to the process leading up to the consolidating event, World Conference
on Disaster Reduction, to be held in Kobe, Hyogo in January 2005. In this context, ADRC
supported the session "Effective Early Warning - use of hazard maps
as a tool for effective risk communication among policy makers andcommunities -", organized by the Government of Japan on theoccasion of the Second International Conference on Early Warning(EWC-II) held on 16-18 October 2003 in Bonn, hosted by theGovernment of Germany.
ADRC intends to further contribute to the review process and isorganizing the "Asian International Conference on Total Disaster Risk
Management" on 2-4 December 2003 in Kobe, in collaboration with
OCHA-Kobe, supported by our major partners to promote disaster
reduction activities in Asia. The Conference will advance thepromotion of the Total Disaster Risk Management (TDRM) approachthat ADRC has developed with OCHA-Kobe aiming to achievesustainable development in Asia.
I am pleased to inform you, dear readers, that the Third ISDR Asian
Meeting will be held on 6 February 2004 in Siem Reap, hosted andorganized by the Government of Cambodia, co-organized by theGovernment of Japan and the ISDR Secretariat. The Third ISDR Asian
Meeting will build on the results of the First ISDR Asian Meeting heldon 24 January 2002 in New Delhi, hosted by the Government of India,
as well as the Second ISDR Asian Meeting held on 17 January 2003 in
Kobe, hosted by the Government of Japan.
ADRC will continue to enhance cooperation in disaster reduction in an
endeavor to achieve sustainable development in the region. Please
visit our website http://www.adrc.or.jp for more information.
Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)
E-mail: nishikawa@adrc.or.jp

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Disaster Reduction in Asia - ISDR Informs - Issue 0, 2003

Message from UNDP/BCPR
Thomas Brennan, Regional Advisor for Asia and the PacificBureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP
During the past dozen years, most Asian nations have greatly improved their capacities tomonitor hazards and to warn, evacuate and provide emergency relief to victims of disasters.
As a result, the number of lives lost to "predictable" disasters such as floods, storms andvolcano eruptions has decreased significantly during this period. China, for example, lost
4,832 lives to floods between 1991 and 1994, but only 2,909 in the last four years (19992002), while Pakistan lost 1,910 lives to floods in the first four years of the period but only 286
in the last four.
The disaster response accomplishments that these figures suggest are more remarkable for their having beenachieved despite a sharp increase in the number, severity and duration of floods throughout Asia during the same 12year period. From 1991 to 1994, China had 15 disastrous floods, Thailand had 8 and Vietnam had 7, while in the mostrecent four years, China had 29 disastrous floods, Thailand had 16, and Vietnam 12. During the last dozen years,
flood disasters in Asia are estimated to have cost slightly over $5 billion in damage, about 63 percent of the world total
and almost three times the damage in the previous 12 years.
Taken together, these statistics-fewer lives lost but dramatically more flood events and much greater financial lossesare both encouraging and disturbing; they indicate great progress in disaster response but failure to manage increasing
disaster risk. Some portion of the increase in disasters, within Asia and globally, is undoubtedly due to climate change,a problem to which Asia in general has contributed very little. However, much more of the increase appears to derivefrom inappropriate, insufficiently regulated, or "incomplete" development efforts during the past 25 years, as Asia'semphasis on rapidly increasing GDP during this period took precedence over disaster risk considerations.
Examples of such development practices are everywhere: agricultural expansion into former drainage areas has
extended and prolonged flooding in southern Vietnam; rural roads constructed on flood plains in many Asian countries
impede water flow, which contributes to and prolongs floods; housing and urban development has contributed to rapid
runoff flooding throughout Asia, and in some countries human settlements have completely taken over areas that used
to serve as water reservoirs/retention ponds; logging permits have been routinely granted based on revenue and job
creation considerations, with no attention being paid to increased siltation and its impact on downstream communities.
Integrating disaster risk management into the development process in these instances would have assured thatcompensatory drainage was factored into agricultural expansion plans, that flood reduction culverts and spans acrosswater channels were factored into rural road design, that flood retention pits were included in housing plans to offset
increased runoff, and that potential siltation calculations helped determine logging extraction rates. Clearly, in each
instance disaster risk management considerations would add marginally to the cost of the development activity.
However, failure to factor disaster risk management into the planning process is usually extraordinarily costly in thelong run, makes sustainable economic development more difficult to achieve, and frustrates efforts to reduce poverty(especially as, in Asia, disasters tend to strike the same communities repeatedly).
An important undertaking of the Partnership will be to advocate and promote the integration of disaster risk
management in the development planning process. Toward this end, UNDP's Bureau for Crisis Prevention andRecovery (BCPR) is pleased to join the Partnership to share information and identify expertise, to develop andpromulgate risk management tools, to develop and deliver appropriate training programmes, and to assist in mobilizing
resources to help Asian nations include risk management in their on-going development efforts. In collaboration with
Asian nations, we believe the Partnership can and will help reduce disaster impact and thereby contribute tosustainable social and economic development.
Disaster Reduction in Asia - ISDR Informs - Issue 0, 2003

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Asian International Conference on
Total Disaster Risk Management
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) and the
Asian Disaster Response Unit of the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA-Kobe) are co-organizing a conference entitled"Asian International Conference on Total Disaster Risk
Management (TDRM): Achievements and futurechallenges in the promotion of TDRM on local andnational level in Asia - the role and collaboration
among stakeholders in Governments, IO and NGOs"on 2-4 December 2003 in Kobe (Japan). The
Conference is supported by the ASEAN Foundation,
Cabinet Office (Government of Japan), Hyogo
Prefecture, ISDR, UNESCO, UNU, The Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial ResearchInstitute, Nakauchi Foundation, NHK, and AM Kobe.

The Conference aims at promoting the TDRM
approach among non-traditional yet criticalstakeholders and exponents of disaster reduction
through developing a strategic understanding of how
to integrate TDRM into the national planning process
and disaster reduction and response systems of theparticipating countries towards sustainable
development. It will emphasize the importance andrelevance of TDRM to the pursuit of sustainable
development through examples of best practice andcurrent initiatives in Asian countries and the region,
including effective disaster risk communication among
stakeholders. It will also initiate discussions on
effectively promoting TDRM and addressing thevarious constraints and challenges ahead for disaster
reduction.
The TDRM approach was jointly developed by ADRC
and OCHA-Kobe through a series of consultative
forum and workshops in the region, in collaboration
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with our major partners in Asia such as the UNDP
Regional Disaster Reduction Advisors in Asia and the
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).
TDRM builds on the gains of the IDNDR and ISDR,
and other relevant endeavors. It integrates andcomplements existing knowledge and techniques on
disaster reduction and risk management. Moreover,
TDRM promotes effective integration of stakeholders'
action and facilitates broad-based participation inpolicy and program development in disaster reduction
and response as they relate with other development
concerns, such as poverty reduction, land use
planning, environmental protection, and social
security, among others. Through the strengthened
cooperation, collaboration and networking among
governments, non-governmental organizations,international and regional organizations, and othercritical sectors, including the private sector, academia
and media, TDRM is expected to become an
important strategy for effective disaster reduction andresponse in the region. TDRM shares the similar
concept and approach developed and promoted inother regions such as CHARM by SOPAC in the
Pacific and CDM by CDERA in the Caribbean.
The expected outputs of the international conference
are the following:
1. At least 60 participants from Asian countries,
representing government and critical sectors, shallhave participated and appreciated the relevance of
TDRM to sustainable development, its practicalapplications demonstrated by best practices andcurrent initiatives, and the challenges in
implementing TDRM at country level;
2. A set of reference materials on best practices andcurrent initiatives on TDRM, including theproceedings of the conference; and3. Establishment of a collaborative network of
advocates and practitioners of the TDRM Approachat local and international levels.
For more information on the "Asian International
Conference on Total Disaster Risk Management",
please contact the Asian Disaster Reduction
Center (ADRC) by e-mail (rep@adrc.or.jp) or byfax (+81-78-262-5546).

Disaster Reduction in Asia - ISDR Informs - Issue 0, 2003

Second International Conferenceon Early Warning

Consultation Workshop on Early Warning System
Effectiveness of Early Warning Systems in Asia/Pacific26-28 May 2003, Bandung, Indonesia

Consultation Workshop on Early Warning Systems:
Effectiveness of Early Warning Systems in Asia/Pacific
was held in Bandung, Indonesia, from 26 to 28 May
2003. As part of the common efforts to prepare for theInternational Conference on Early Warning Systems to
be held in Germany in October 2003, the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and thePacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UN/ISDR)
jointly organized the Regional Consultation on Early
Warning Systems: Effectiveness of Early Warning
Systems in Asia/Pacific in cooperation with the
Directorate General of Geology and Mineral Resources(DGGMR)) of Indonesia and with financial support of theFederal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources(BGR) of Germany.
The objectives of the workshop were:(1) To support and assess the effectiveness of early
warning processes and identify issues
in implementation initiatives(2) To assist authorities to develop the legal,
institutional, financial and political frameworks forearly warning systems based on case studies andsuccess stories(3) To develop approaches for sharing early warningknowledge and experience(4) To document and share current and futuretechniques relevant for early warning, vulnerability
and risk assessment strategies
The Workshop was attended by 30 participants from 5
countries, namely Germany, Indonesia, Japan; Thailand
and Viet Nam and from the following internationalorganizations: UNESCAP, UN/ISDR, UNDP, MekongRiver Commission, GTZ and an NGO.
The participants were divided into three groups which
focus on common experiences on overall disastermanagement, geological hazards and water-related
hazards. The three groups were requested to undertake
three working sessions on the following three themes:- Theme I - Emerging Issues: Identification of emerging
issues and trends in early warning and types of risk
(hazards and vulnerability factors)- Theme II - Early Warning & Sustainable

Development: Identification of good examples toimplement early warning schemes and programmes fordisaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
- Theme III - Sustaining the Early Warning Dialogue:
Identification of needs (local, national, regional andinternational) to ensure the sustainability of integrationof early warning to natural disasters into public policy.
In the Asian and Pacific region, the participants recognized
the importance and larger prospects of the forecasting andwarning systems of meteo-hydro hazards such as floods,
landslides and drought. They also recognized theimportance of regional cooperation for further improvementof the existing early warning systems and exchange ofexperiences in dealing with related disaster management.
For example, flooding of squatter in Jakarta raised a needof dual/parallel approaches those are flood
forecasting/warning to meet immediate humanitarian needs
and social/engineering absolute solution such as relocationof houses and enlargement of drainage capacity.
The sessions devoted to identification of most importantand priority actions for the Asian and Pacific region to bepresented at the International Conference on Early
Warning II in October 2003 in Bonn. The participants
agreed to make the following recommendations:- Support forums for dialogue to share information,technology and best practices and to improvecooperation at all levels- Support integration of disaster risk management into
national development process- Develop and implement EWS, especially for flash
floods, landslides and forest fires- Establish and develop community-based disaster
preparedness programmes- Establish a financial facility to enhance risk
management of developing countries- Develop and strengthen database to facilitate resource
allocation- Improve public awareness on disaster vulnerability- Enhance hydrologic and meteorological forecast
capability- Support projects to facilitate application of forecasts atthe national, local and community levels- Enhance research on earthquake risk analysis

Disaster Reduction in Asia - ISDR Informs - Issue 0, 20037

Adopting a regional approach towards living with risk
By the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
At the UNESCAP-ADPC Forum on Natural Disaster Reduction in
2003, held at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok on
8 October 2003, Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary,
UNESCAP called for further promotion of the concept "Living with
Risk" as the linkage between disaster management andsustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. He pointed outthat the economic impact of natural disasters has continued toincrease during the past half century and water-related disasters,
including floods and storms, caused the highest economic
losses, among the natural disasters in the region. According torecent surveys, including those conducted by UNESCAP, Asiaand the Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world
to disasters, including floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts,
storm surges, tsunamis and haze. Losses caused by suchnatural disasters are particularly damaging, depriving countries ofresources, which could otherwise be used for economic andsocial development. The toll from such disasters is most severe
and tragic in the least developed and developing countries of theregion, which have sometimes had their development goals set
back years and even decades as a consequence of majordisaster impacts.
Tropical cyclones occur more frequently in this region than in any
other parts of the world, and are usually accompanied by severe
flooding. While major river floods in the region continue to be acommon occurrence causing substantial annual damage, theimpact of flash floods is also increasingly becoming important.
On the other hand, storm surges have the potential to cause
substantial loss of life and property damage and serious socioeconomic impact to small island countries in the region.

programme in the Republic of Korea was not evidenced during
the initial years of development, as top priority was given toindustrialization. The systematic integration of flood control
activities into the national development strategy was first made in
the Programme for Village Environmental Improvement for therural development component (Saemaul Undong) in 1970, andwas fully integrated into the development process from the
Fourth Five-year Plan (1977-1981) onwards. The experience in
the Republic of Korea showed that community participation in theflood control programme should be considered as an importantfactor for integrating it into the national socio-economic
development programme.
Disaster reduction is considered a social component of national
development in several developing countries, where the costs offlood control measures are too high as compared with annual
government budgets or allocations for public sector investment.
Prioritization of disaster reduction activities is a difficult task in thecontext of the national socio-economic development process.
The example of Bangladesh provides one of the best practices inthis group of model. In 1995, the Water and Flood Management
Strategy of Bangladesh was drawn up to identify feasible
structural and non-structural measures for mitigating flood
disasters and to provide an overall framework to prioritize
disaster reduction activities for national development. The
establishment and implementation of the national strategy on
flood management demonstrated that firm commitment on thepart of the Government, the active participation of the affected
communities and assistance from the donor community are
required to ensure that priority measures are properly undertaken
to meet the priority social needs.

From the related best practices in the region that UNESCAP has
collected over the past few years for integrating disastermanagement into the socio-economic development process, hepointed out that sustainable development of countries, therefore,
requires effective integration of natural disaster management
programmes into the socio-economic development process.
According to various studies undertaken by UNESCAP on theprocesses of integration of water-related disaster management
measures into the national socio-economic development
processes, best practices can be classified into three major
models: (1) as an integral part of the national economic
development process, (2) as a social component, and (3) as animportant process towards sustainable development.

In several countries, activities on water-related disaster reduction
were conceived as an important part of an environmental
management strategy for sustainable development, and theyaccounted for a major share of resources being allocated to thenational water resources management programme. Examples ofsuch strategies include the conceptual approach to flood control
and management initiated by His Majesty the King of Thailand for
the Chao Phraya River basin in Thailand; the amendment of theRiver Law of Japan in 1997 to incorporate environmental
dimensions in the flood control programmes; and the Klang River
Basin Environmental Improvement and Flood Mitigation Projectin Malaysia in 1998.

With respect to the first model, comparison of two successful
economies in the region: Japan and the Republic of Korea
reveals interesting lessons on two contrasting approaches on the
integration of flood control into the development process.
Immediately after the end of the Second World War, flood control
was conceived as an important priority for the reconstruction andrehabilitation of the economy of Japan. The rehabilitation andprevention of natural disasters, especially by flood, was accepted
as one of the five priority objectives of the Five-year Economic
Rehabilitation Plan, drafted in 1948. As a part of the national
development strategy, flood control could then be seen as anintegral part in providing support to the industrialization
programme. On the other hand, investment in the flood control

In all these examples, clear strategic approaches are firstdeveloped to ensure that the respective action programmes arewell established and the participation of all stakeholders is guided
towards the adopted vision. Effective integration of disastermanagement activities into socio-economic development
processes requires the development of strategic approaches
towards "Living with Risk". Information management is a key
component and the foundation for a systematic application ofstrategic planning and management to disaster management. In
that context, further strengthening of partnership in the region
becomes instrumental to the effective integration of disaster risk
management into the socio-economic development process inthis wide and diverse region of the World.