ADRC Executive Director Mr. Koji
Suzuki (left) and AIT President
Prof. Said Irandoust.
With a population in excess of half a billion people who are
regularly impacted by more tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods,
landslides, earthquakes, and typhoons than just about any other people
on earth, Southeast Asia is one of the most disaster-prone
areas on the planet. It’s becoming clear that as populations grow and
climates change due to global warming, more people in the region than
ever before are at risk to the vagaries of natural
disasters.
leader in the use of space satellite imagery for disaster prevention
and mitigation. To combat the problem in
Southeast Asia, Japan’s renowned Asian
Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), located in Kobe, Japan,
has collaborated with the Geoinformatics Center (GIC) of
the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), to launch an
ambitious project in capacity building for regional disaster risk
reduction and post-disaster recovery using advanced
geoinformatics.
To launch the project, AIT welcomed on December 22
a delegation from ADRC Japan to sign the official project contract.
ADRC was represented by its Executive Director, Mr. Koji Suzuki, and
Senior Researcher Mr. Naoki Yamaguchit. Also attending the signing
ceremony was Mr. Shinichi Mizumoto, Director of Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA), Bangkok office, and Mr.
Tomoyuki Sakairi, First Secretary from the Embassy of Japan to
Thailand. AIT President Said Irandoust signed the contract on
behalf of AIT.
Read a Japanese-language report of the ADRC-AIT tie-up
in the Kobe
Shinbun (newspaper).
Funded by ASEAN Secretariat, (Jakarta, Indonesia)
under the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund, the main objective of the
two-year project is to increase regional disaster officials’ awareness
and skills in using satellite data and imagery. Government technicians
of disaster management agencies (from every country of ASEAN
except Brunei and Singapore) who are engaged in disaster
mitigation and risk management activities will undergo extensive
training under the international initiative. Scheduled to start in
January 2009, the program is a result of collaboration between
ADRC, AIT, the Sub-Committee on Space Application of ASEAN
(SCOSA-ASEAN), and mapping and disaster management agencies of each of
the ASEAN member countries.
Activities under the contract are to be conducted jointly
between AIT and ADRC, and will mainly involve trainings,
seminars and workshops on the theme of Utilization of Satellite Data
for Disaster Risk Reduction and Response. The program will seek to
identify the current status of ASEAN member countries in the field of
space technology application for disaster response and disaster risk
reduction; promote the usage of space technologies, including remote
sensing, GIS and GPS in disaster response and disaster
risk reduction; and increase the awareness of space technology
applications in disaster risk reduction and recovery through
consultations, workshops, seminars, training, and
publications.
At the meeting, ADRC specifically expressed their intention to
support increased regional capabilities to utilize satellite data for
disaster reduction through short-term training programs. The countries
currently under the program are Thailand, Indonesia, Laos,
Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Myanmar. ADRC
receives support from various organizations in this field, including
JAXA.
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center was established in Kobe,
Hyogo prefecture, in 1998, with mission to enhance disaster resilience
of the member countries, to build safe communities, and to create a
society where sustainable development is possible. The Center works to
build disaster resilient communities and to establish networks among
countries through many programs including personnel exchanges in this
field. The Center addresses this issue from a global perspective in
cooperation with a variety of UN agencies and international
organizations/initiatives, such as the International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pasific (ESCAP), the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the World Health
Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific
(WHO/WPRO).
During the meeting, AIT’s Dr. Pennung Warnitchai,
Coordinator of the Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Management
(DPMM) program, briefly introduced the academic programs at AIT
in this field. DPMM students are mainly professionals possessing
years of experience in the field. Ideas were explored to use the DPMM
master’s program as a means to promote training of trainers, and the
ADRC director suggested forms of collaboration for curriculum
development of the program. AIT President Prof. Said
Irandoust suggested that once developed, the curriculum could be
integrated into AIT’s sustainable development
programs.
Government officers in disaster management agencies and other related
agencies of ASEAN member countries who are engaged in disaster
mitigation and risk management activities will develop the necessary
skills in using satellite data/images through the partnership. Specific
objectives are to be achieved through appropriate capacity building
programs including seminars, workshops and hands-on training programs
conducted locally in member countries.
carried out during the 2-year period, starting from 2009 January. The
initial module will focus on assessment of need in member countries.
Module two addresses the awareness needs of each country by organizing
a 1-day workshop providing opportunity for planners, decision-makers
and politicians to evaluate the potential of geoinformatics to assist
disaster risk reduction and post recovery activities. Module three will
be a set of educational materials to provide easy understanding of the
technological aspects of these technologies, and potential applications
written in their own language. Under module four, technical training
programs will be conducted to provide hands-on learning opportunities
to technicians to produce required maps and information using satellite
remote sensing data and other related data and information. Module five
will involve two regional seminars conducted in Thailand and
Indonesia to disseminate the wealth of information, best
practices, educational materials and research network developed under
other modules.
The Geoinformatics Center (GIC) is an outreach center of
AIT established within the School of Engineering and Technology
(SET). Since its inception, more than 1,000 people from the region
have been trained with the support of various national and
international agencies. Staff of the center monitor events in the
region and track the interests of donor agencies interested in capacity
building activities in geoinformatics.
Eighty percent of training courses at the GIC have been
conducted with donor support, bringing in a wealth of information and
technical know-how to the region that otherwise wouldn't have reached
so many participants from around the region. The Geoinformatics
Center has undertaken a number of natural resources and
environment-related projects in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. It
has carried out many training programs, workshops and conferences,
drawing participants from more than 25 countries within the Asia
Pacific Region.
The GIC at the Asian Institute of Technology enjoys a close
relationship with a number of institutes in Japan, including the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the University of
Tokyo, the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), and
Keio University. A large number of collaborative projects and
research have been conducted with these institutes and this cooperation
helps to promote Japanese know-how in the region via AIT.
The Center welcomes researchers and students from Japan to
work and conduct research, thereby developing positive relationships
and the dissemination of knowledge around the Asia Pacific
region.
Those attending the contract signing on 22 December 2008,
included:
1. Mr. Koji Suzuki, Executive Director of ADRC
2. Mr. Naoki Yamaguchi, Senior Researcher at ADRC, Kobe,
Japan
3. Mr. Shinichi Mizumoto, Director of JAXA, Bangkok
office
4. Mr. Tomoyuki Sakairi, First Secretary, Embassy of
Japan to Thailand
5. Prof. Said Irandoust, President of AIT
6. Prof. Sudip K. Rakship, Vice President for Research,
AIT
7. Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean of SET, AIT
8. Dr. Pennung Warnitchai, DPMM Coordinator, SET,
AIT
9. Dr. Lal Samarakoon, Visiting Senior Scientist, RS-GIS,
SET, AIT
10. Dr. Pritam K. Shrestha, Head of ERCO, AIT
11. Mr. Manzul K. Hazarika, Senior Research and Training
Specialist, AIT
12. Ms. Shoko Ueda, Correspondent, Thailand Bureau, Kyodo News
Agency
13. Asahi Shimbun Newspaper, Bangkok
