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Developing a culture of community-based disaster mitigation in
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan has presented us with some
challenges in our OFDA-funded project. Tremendous effort was required
to introduce the value of systematic information-sharing, consultation
and collaboration in communities where "storing" knowledge
and top-down governance are rooted in local traditions. We have
worked with NGO partners in the capital cities (Almaty, Dushanbe
and Tashkent) to improve disaster preparedness in schools, hospitals,
and the self-built housing sector. We are also working with four
universities to integrate an Introduction to Community-Based Disaster
Mitigation course into their respective curricula.
We are grateful to Risk Management Solutions (RMS) for providing
$10,000 to underwrite a GHI project that will extend the value
of our work in Central Asia. This support will enable us to
produce fifteen five-minute videos for a target audience of
the general public (adults and young adults in Central Asia)
with the goal of increasing public awareness of disaster hazards
and the capacity of the public to take mitigation actions. These
videos will be popular and educational. They will be appropriate
for frequent broadcast as public announcements on main television
stations, as well as regional and district television. Our intent
is that they will be shown during prime evening viewing hours
and repeated at intervals on Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek
television.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
and NATO Conference
Our initiative to create a school seismic safety program for
OECD countries is making steady progress, but slowly. The Council
of the OECD is scheduled to vote on this matter in May. The European
Investment Bank has expressed interest in funding parts of this
program (in particular for Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), if the
OECD adopts it. Over the past year I have served on the
Steering Committee of a workshop organized by NATO on the subject
of “Improving the Earthquake Safety of Public Buildings
in the Maghreb Region.” This workshop will take
place in Algeria on May 22-24, the second anniversary of the
Boumerdes earthquake that collapsed schools and resulted in
other unanticipated damage. I am giving one of the keynote talks.
Algerian government officials concerned about earthquake risk
management will be present. Richard Yelland, Director of the
OECD Program on Educational Buildings, has been invited to describe
the GHI-OECD school seismic safety initiative. We hope that
his presentation will motivate the Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian
government officials to join this project.
Death of Ray Punongbayan (GHI Advisory Board Member)
It is with sadness that we honor the memory of Raymundo Punongbayan,
68, who served since 1995 on the GHI Board of Advisors. As director
of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)
from 1982 until his retirement in 2003, he was tireless in his
effort to improve natural disaster management. He died in a
helicopter crash on April 28, together with eight others, when
returning from an aerial assessment of potential landslides
in Dingalan, Aurora. According to Renato Solidum, PHIVOLCS director,
Ray was trying to determine if the people of Dingalan needed
to be evacuated due to the impending threat of potential landslides.
Ray Punongbayan was widely recognized for his pioneer efforts
to raise the awareness of Filipinos about natural hazard safety.
He was loved for his humor and dedication to his profession
and friends. We are grateful for his service to GHI and for
his life work on behalf of reducing natural disasters.
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