Volume 1, Number 2
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PDC Highlights
Version 2 of the Asia Pacific Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas
is available. The Atlas supports disaster management and humanitarian assistance communities, and
now features a new "Hawaii Edition."
What's New
Tsunami Response Activities
PDC has continued to work on a variety of activities relating to the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster, including:ThoughtWeb Relief, and the Indian Ocean Earthquake Notification System
International Highlights
World Conference on Disaster Reduction
The World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) was a landmark international event aimed at increasing the profile of disaster risk reduction, and convened in
Kobe, Japan from January 18-22.
PDC played a strong role at WCDR by co-sponsoring the "Thematic Session," Addressing the
Root Causes of Vulnerability of Human Settlements in Megacities with the Earthquakes and Megacities
Initiative (EMI) and UN HABITAT. PDC and EMI also co-sponsored the symposium,
Disaster Risk Reduction for Megacities in Asia: Planning and Implementation.
Marikina City, Philippines Project
The Marikina City Multi-hazard Urban Risk Assessment Project has been completed.
As part of the project, PDC was able to demonstrate--via a "Map Viewer" system designed
for the city--that sound mitigation practices over the past decade have
reduced flood risk by more than 50% to city residences. Based on this understanding of
the value of sound flood mitigation practices, the Marikina City Mayor has
set a strategic goal of eliminating flood risks to city housing by 2015.
Mekong River Project
To further knowledge
about the patterns and consequences of flooding for disaster management organizations
in South East Asia, PDC has completed two activities in the Lower Mekong
River Basin.
The Mekong River VESR (Vulnerability-Exposure-Sensitivity-Resilience) project applied an
innovative geospatial methodology to map and characterize flooding vulnerability at a regional scale
in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Lao PDR.
A separate project used high-resolution satellite imagery and flood modeling
to more precisely estimate risks at the community level in Cambodia.
Hawaii Support
On February 25, PDC formally announced the launch of the Hawaii HAZUS Atlas
project before the Hawaii State Earthquake Advisory Committee’s "Earthquake Workshop" in Hilo.
Over 100 stakeholders attended, including Hawai’i County Mayor Harry Kim.
In January, a high-level delegation from Malaysia paid a visit to Hawaii State Civil Defense to learn about
the State of Hawaii's tsunami readiness procedures. To support HSCD in this effort, PDC created detailed maps of Honolulu
showing tsunami evacuation zones and emergency routes.
Hawaii Community Outreach
Partnering with the Akimeka Maui Digital Bus and Maui Community College’s Na Pua No’eau Super Enrichment Saturday Program
for Gifted Native Hawaiian Children, PDC provided a GIS and a natural hazards training for 20
Native Hawaiian high school students on March 12.
Of Note . . .
The latest issue of PDC Perspectives is published.
"2004 - Year of the Hurricanes or Typical Storm Year?" focuses on last year’s destructive Atlantic and Northwest Pacific tropical cyclone seasons, multi-decadal patterns of storm activity, and the possible influence of Global Climate Change.
Two professional papers are available
that were presented at the First International Conference on Urban Disaster Reduction. The conference
took place parallel to the WCDR.
