Interacting with the AIT President and other senior faculty and staff
members, Mr. Velasquez stated that the two had collaborated during the
Asia Pacific Disaster Report in 2010. “We know the strengths of AIT and
we are keen to learn more about other possibilities of collaboration
particularly in undertaking analytical work,” he said. He stated that
UNISDR is eager to collaborate
with people who can undertake rigorous analysis and establish linkages
across different sectors.
He also provided an overview of the range of activities of UNISDR
ranging from monitoring various countries on the issue of disaster
reduction, to issues of generation and management of knowledge. Mr.
Velasquez was leading a five member UNISDR team comprising of Ms. Hang
Thi Thanh Pham, Mr. Sujit Mohanty, Ms. Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu,
and Mr. Abhilash Panda (Regional Programme Officers).
Welcoming the delegation, Prof. Said Irandoust, President, AIT said
the area where UNISDR is working is very well represented by AIT. Prof.
Jayant Kumar Routray and Dr. Pennung Warnitchai, Coordinators of
Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM) field of study
at AIT presented an overview of DPMM program. Dr. Masahiko Nagai and
Dr. Manzul Hazarika of AIT’s Geoinformatics Center elaborated on the
work done at AIT following the March 11 tsunami and earthquake in
Japan.
Prof. Ajit Annachhatre, Director UN AIT Office; Dr. Jonathan Shaw,
Director AIT Extension and Deputy Director AIT-UNEP Regional Resource
Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP); Dr. Pritam Krishna Shrestha,
Head, External Relations and Communications Office (ERCO); Dr. A. R.
Subbiah, Director, Regional Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES);
and Mr. Oisin Walton, Asia Pacific delegate of Télécoms Sans Frontière
also participated in the discussion.
