Activity Report

24-25 July 2024 (online)

APEC Vietnam organized an online workshop on "Improving the Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change" on 24-25 July 2024. This workshop comprised four thematic sessions, and ADRC moderated Session 1 on the topic Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific: Prospects and Challenges.

Five speakers presented in this session. The two speakers from Vietnam reported the climate-related challenges at the national and local levels respectively, such as sea-level rise that caused intense typhoons and frequent flooding. Other speakers presented the prospects of addressing climate-related challenges:

i) UNDRR reported that the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction provides guidance for integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction measures;
ii) Republic of Korea reported that new tools are now available to monitor and predict storm surges; and
iii) Australia reported its leadership in promoting strategic partnerships for coastal resilience in the Asia-Pacific region.

In Session 2 (topic: Scaling up efforts on strengthening resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change), ADRC made a presentation about "Utilizing climate change impact projection data to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities." ADRC, along with a number of research institutes and agencies, introduced its engagement in the Advanced Study of Climate Change Project (SENTAN4) in developing integrated hazard models on storm-and-flood hazards and water resources for the Asia-Pacific region. In particular, ADRC highlighted the utilization of downscaling tools to produce localized climate change impact projection data to inform adaptation and mitigation measures.

ADRC's participation in this workshop provided an opportunity to learn from other economies' experiences and actions in addressing climate-related challenges at the local level.

(2024/08/01 15:00)

24 July 2024 (Denizli, Turkiye)

In recent years, a lot of DRR activities have been conducted between ADRC and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkiye (AFAD), including international conferences and field survey missions.

Dr IKEDA Makoto from ADRC attended the AFAD seminar in Denizli, Turkiye as a speaker and made several presentations. He shared information about DRR structures in Japan and DRR efforts at the community and national level. Dr Fatma Canaslan Comut reported on recent AFAD's DRR programs such as an information sharing system. The participants also engaged actively in discussion with the two speakers, and the workshop proved to be a useful occasion for considering how to achieve better DRR in Turkiye going forward.

(2024/07/31 15:00)

25-28 June 2024 (Seoul, Republic of Korea )

This year's annual meeting of the Typhoon Committee's Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction (WGDRR) was held on 25-28 June 2024 in Seoul, Republic of Korea on the theme "EW4All: Bridging Gaps for Effective Disaster Risk Reduction." ADRC participated in this event on behalf of the Cabinet Office Japan with the following contributions and outcomes:

1) Presented Japan's member report highlighting the milestones on disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities implemented by ADRC in 2023 (e.g., GLIDE, Sentinel Asia, QZSS, training, webinars, ACDR, website, and other information-sharing activities)
2) Announced the host, theme, dates, and venue of the next Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (ACDR2024) to the members of the WGDRR
3) Noted the key technical presentations related to the theme of ACDR2024, particularly the "Urban inundation response technology using deep learning and sensor data" by the National Disaster Management Research Institute (NDMI)/Republic of Korea and the "Role of Impact-Based Forecasting in Early Warnings for All initiative" by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP)
4) Affirmed a continuing collaboration with WGDRR in information sharing through GLIDE, the website, and online databases to be reflected in the working group's Annual Operations Plans (AOPs)
5) Discussed with the participant from Vietnam regarding ADRC's engagement in the forthcoming APEC Vietnam Online Workshop on "Improving the Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change," 24-25 July 2024.

The WGDRR is one of the working groups under the UN-ESCAP/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Typhoon Committee, comprising 14 members (i.e., 12 countries and 2 regions) in Asia-Pacific region.

(2024/07/05 15:00)

24-25 June 2024 (Da Nang, Vietnam )

The EPWG Workshop on Strengthening Early Warning Early Action for the Vulnerable Communities in APEC took place in Da Nang, Vietnam, on 24-25 June 2024. The workshop aimed to share professional and technical information in natural disaster risk management among APEC economies and was attended by some thirty experts from the APEC region. It was organised by Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which is Vietnam's focal point in the APEC Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG).

ADRC Research Director KODAMA Miki and Senior Researcher SHIOMI Yumi participated in the event. In Session 3 (Best Practices and Lessons Learned), Ms SHIOMI made a presentation entitled Utilisation of State of Art Communication Technologies for CBDRM and Emergency Management. Through the workshop, participants actively shared their lessons learned and views on Early Warning and Early Action for the vulnerable communities.

(2024/07/02 15:00)

17 June - 8 August 2024

Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) conducted a JICA Knowledge Co-Creation Program "Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction for Central Asia and Caucasus" from 17 June to 8 August 2024, with the cooperation of JICA Kansai. Six government officials from four countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, participated in this course, learning how to formulate and implement local DRR plans to promote DRR measures in their respective home countries.

The first four weeks of the course consisted of online lectures and exercises, and in the latter three weeks, face-to-face programs were conducted in Japan. The programs in Japan included lectures at DRR-related organisations in Hyogo, Osaka, and Nara prefectures and site observations to learn about landslide countermeasures after the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake and erosion control and flood control measures for the Joganji River basin in Toyama Prefecture. In addition, the participants formulated a draft local DRR plan through the exercises and discussions. They participated actively in the programs, considering how to apply what they learned from this course to their future work and DRR measures in their home countries.

(2024/08/15 15:00)