Partnering with Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre
Mon, 01 Jun 2015 09:17:00 BST
GDRC’s Professors Dilanthi Amaratunga & Richard Haigh were hosted by
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) from 15th – 16th May 2015 at their Bangkok, Thailand Offices.
Dilanthi and Richard have been working closely with ADPC over a long period of time including in several key research projects including CASCADE (Collaborative Action towards Societal Challenges through Awareness, Development, and Education), in particular in compiling a regional position paper that identifies global challenges and research priorities and mapping and developing an inventory of national and regional stakeholders related to global challenges.
ADPC was also a key partner of the International conferences on Building Resilience in 2013 and in 2014, which Dilanthi and Richard chaired.
There are several other initiatives GDRC has collaborated with ADPC including Support to Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Sri Lanka and Improving Risk Management for Community Resilience and Growth.
ADPC and GDRC discussed in detail, a future programme of activities. In further facilitating these exciting initiatives, a Memorandum of Understanding has also been initiated between the two institutions in establishing a formal partnership.
Photo: Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga and Richard Haigh with Mr Shane Wright, Executive Director (third from left), Mr Susith Arambepola, Deputy Executive Director (fifth from left), Mr Sisira Kumara, Head, Training (first from left)
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) was established in Thailand to generate a change of paradigm for creating a culture of safety. Realizing that the region lacked knowledge and capacity to deal with natural disasters, a number of UN Agencies took initiative to establish ADPC with a mandate to create safer communities and sustainable development through disaster risk reduction (DRR).
ADPC is regarded as a pioneer regional hub that predominantly meets capacity building needs across Asia, primarily covering 26 nations in South and South East Asia and others from the rest of the world including the Pacific Islands. Currently, ADPC offers seven regional flagship-training courses, 10 customized training courses, and many specialized project-based trainings at regional, national and local levels. As of today, ADPC has trained approximately 13,800 practitioners, of which 51 per cent were government officials.
