Report of Regional Consultation on Early Warning Systems in Asia and the Pacific

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Report of Regional Consultation on Early Warning
Systems in Asia and the Pacific

• Presented by
• Ti Le-Huu, UNESCAP,
• On Behalf of
• Dr Toshikatsu Omachi, Executive Director,
  IDI-Japan, and
• Dr Yuichi Ono, UN/ISDR Secretariat

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Organization of Asia-Pacific Regional
Consultation Workshop

• Workshop was held in Bandung, Indonesia from
  26-28 May 2003
• jointly organized by UN/ISDR, UNESCAP, DGGMR of
  Indonesia and BGR of Germany.
• 30 participants from Germany, Indonesia, Japan,
  Thailand, Viet Nam and international
  organizations UNESCAP, UN/ISDR, UNDP, Mekong
  River Commission, GTZ and an NGO attended the
  Workshop

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Main Points of Discussion

• Importance of natural hazards
• Disaster patterns
• Advances and constraints in dealing with the
  disasters
• Experiences in related national planning
• Needs and recommended priority actions

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Major Hazards in Asia Pacific

• Workshops Results
• Floods
• Landslides
• Volcanic eruption
• Drought forest fires
• Storm wind
• Earthquakes
• Land subsidence

• UNESCAP Surveys
• Floods
• Cyclones
• Earthquakes
• Droughts
• Tornadoes
• Debris flows
• Hailstorms
• Storm surges
• Tsunamis
• Haze

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Factors in Successful Examples

• Awareness
• Institutional capacity
• Effectiveness of EWS
• Public education policy
• Budget and human resources
• Accurate forecasts, and
• Good planning

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• In India, it appears to be decreasing in recent
  years.
• In Thailand, overall trends are increasing,
  except damage slightly decreases in recent years
• All trends are increasing, except number of houses

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Examples of Best Practices

• Cyclone and Flood EWS Typhoon Committee, Panel
  on Tropical Cyclones, Mekong River Commission and
  several countries in the region
• Volcanic eruption EWS Japan and several pilot
  schemes in Indonesia
• Forest fire EWS Integrated Forest Fire
  Management Project - East Kalimantan
• Community-based disaster management Typhoon
  Committee and DIPECHO

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Recommended National Actions

• (1) to make available risk maps
• (2) to carry out awareness campaigns
• (3) to enhance institutional capacity
• (4) to develop national guidelines
• (5) to provide information to local people
• (6) to introduce EWS to schools
• (7) to enforce standard operation procedures
• (8) to increase budget resources
• (9) to enforce participatory planning
• (10) to improve monitoring in EWS.

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Recommended region actions (1)

• Support forums for dialogue to share information,
  technology and best practices and to improve
  cooperation 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

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Recommended region actions (2)

• 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 at the national, local and community
  levels
• Enhance research on earthquake risk analysis

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Concluding Remarks on Follow-up Activities of
EWC-II

• Activities be linked to Progress Review of
  Yokohama Action Plan Implementation
• Activities be built on expected achievements of
  existing regional efforts on EWS Typhoon
  Committee Strategic Plan, GFAS of IFNet, MRC
  Flood Management Program, DIPECHO Partnership
  Disaster Reduction, UN/ISDR Radius Program, GTZ
  Forest Fires Management, etc
• Pilot projects are recommended for more effective
  impacts at the regional level