4-2. Seminars and Training Course
4-2-1. JICA Training Course: “Comprehensive Disaster
Management for Central Asia and Caucasus”
ADRC conducted the Knowledge Co-Creation Programs for disaster management officials
from Central Asia and the Caucasus from 23 June to 31 July 2015. This event was conducted withcooperation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kansai International Center.
Central Asia and the Caucasus frequently experience disasters such as earthquakes and landslides,
as well as flash floods and other floods caused by melting snow in the mountains every spring. In
addition, some of these natural disasters extend across several countries. Promoting regional
cooperation on disaster risk reduction in these regions is therefore a significant challenge.
This course aims to convey basic knowledge and experiences related to natural disastermanagement in the trainees' countries. Trainees were asked to identify a major problem in theirown countries and to formulate an action plan for addressing it. The course was conducted in
Russian for 16 central and local government officials representing seven countries: Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, and Armenia andAzerbaijan in the Caucasus. Participants attended lectures and visited central and localgovernment agencies, research institutes, private companies, a meteorological organization, andNGOs in order to comprehensively enhance their understanding of disaster management. They
also participated in community activities, such as a disaster prevention drill conducted by a juniorteam of BOKOMI (community-based disaster management organizations organized by the Kobe
City Fire Bureau), and went to Niigata, which experienced the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake in2004, to learn about earthquake recovery, as well as
landslide and erosion control countermeasures being
implemented in the area. In addition, they also visited
Hiroshima city for the first time during the training
course. They had an opportunity to interact with people
affected by a landslide that occurred in 2014 and also
learned about the importance of passing down lessons
learned from major disasters to succeeding generations.
It is hoped that the participants will make good useof the knowledge, tools, and methods they learned

Visit to an affected area of Niigata Chuetsu

during this training course to implement various
projects and help strengthen the disaster management systems in their home countries. ADRC
would like to express its sincerest gratitude to all the organizations that contributed to the successof this course.

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4. Human Resource Development

4-2-2. JICA Training Course: “Comprehensive Disaster Risk
Management Course”
From 12 January to 26 February 2016, ADRC, in collaboration with JICA, Kansai International
Center conducted the JICA Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Course for eight countries,
namely Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, andTimor-Leste.
Twelve government officials in charge of disaster risk reduction. This course aimed tocontribute to formulation and further development of disaster management plans in participating
countries by enhancing their understanding of Japanese disaster management systems andcountermeasures implemented by central/local government and multi-stakeholders.
During the training, participants understood the structure of Japanese disaster management
system by comparison with their own countries and considered the roll have to be taken by eachorganization.
They attended a series of lectures in regard to disaster preparedness, emergency response,rehabilitation and mitigation based on the disaster management cycle, and also visited disaster
stricken areas and observed the recovery processes from the multiple calamities such as
earthquake, tsunami and volcanic eruption etc.
Furthermore, they learned from the experiences of the practical methodologies for disaster risk
reduction, for instance hazard mapping, evacuation drills and disaster education tools.
Participants were deeply impressed with the efforts for disaster risk reduction in Japan and keen
to exchange their knowledge and experiences among the groups and lecturers throughout thecourse. It is hoped that they will make good use of what they learned during this training course tostrengthen the disaster management systems in their home countries.

Making a community based hazard map

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4-2-3. JICA Training Course: “Raising Awareness of DisasterReduction”
ADRC conducted a training program for disaster management personnel of administrative andresearch institute in the developing country for purpose of raising awareness of disaster reductionin their country as the following.
The program was designed to develop an action plan and to implement it for raising awarenessof disaster reduction among the citizens of those countries.
The ultimate goal is to ensure that the general public will be able to acquire the knowledge
needed for disaster reduction, conduct preparedness and emergency response activities, andminimize damage during a disaster.
Participants attended lectures and visited central and municipal government agencies, disastermanagement bases, educational institutes, a meteorological organization, a broadcasting company,
and NPOs in order to enhance their understanding of Japan's disaster management system andtechniques.
The participants were very interested in the disaster risk reduction efforts taken in Japan andwere eager to participate in every lecture and site visit. At the end of the program, they developed
an action plan for their own country and gave a presentation on their conclusions.
(1) Raising Awareness of Disaster Reduction (A)This program was conducted for 8 disaster management officials from Vietnam byVietnamese language from 23 June to 24 July 2015, following the last year.
During a study tour to Kyoto, they learned a great deal about Japan’s disaster reduction
culture. They learned about traditional wooden houses called "Kyomachiya" and the cultural
significance, and also learned a great deal about disaster reduction in very densely populated
urban areas. In Tokushima, they mastered basic
knowledge and skills that can be used to combat
flooding. These are of great practical use to thepeople of Vietnam, where floods frequently cause
major natural disasters. They practiced rope work,
which is useful in reducing disasters, including
techniques for making lifelines. They also learned
a method of sandbag stacking that can be used totemporarily stop a levee leak through the creation
Rope Work Lectureof an emergency reservoir.
(2) Raising Awareness of Disaster Reduction (B)This program was conducted for 19 disaster reduction personnel from the following 16
countries, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Myanmar, Timor, St. Lucia, Chile, Guyana,Suriname, Senegal, Armenia, India, Fiji, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and36

4. Human Resource Development
Colombia by English from 11 January to 13 February 2016.
Particularly, they joined to the practice of the Town-Watching and Hazard Map-Making inEnoshima during Kamakura Study Tour. This program was one of the centerpieces in thistraining course. Further, it was a very interesting participatory program that they discussed
mutually and proceeded with making hazard map together. All participants were appreciatedthis program since it was practical and useful for raising awareness of disaster reduction of
local residents in each country.

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