EMPRR 2009

2009-10-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

Posted: 26 Aug 2009, 1100 hours (Time is GMT +8 hours)

Minister of State for Defence A/P Koo Tsai Kee

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

Assistant Secretary-General Catherine Bragg,

Assistant Director General Jamie Isbister,

BG Tung Yui Fai,

Distinguished Participants,

Good morning,

To all our guests from overseas, a warm welcome to Singapore.

Impact of the global financial crisis

This workshop is being held at a particularly challenging time for the international community. Many countries have been hit hard by the global financial crisis. In Singapore, for example, our economy contracted by 6.5 percent in the first half of this year. In the US, the unemployment rate hit 9.5% in June, the highest in 26 years. Although the global economic situation appears to have stabilised somewhat in the recent months, the outlook for the next few years remains uncertain. We are not out of the woods yet. For the less-resourced and more vulnerable countries, many of which were already hard pressed to ensure adequate resourcing for disaster management efforts, the global economic crisis has compounded the numerous challenges that they face

Increasing Incidence and Severity of Disasters

Against this economic backdrop, we have a landscape where the demand for humanitarian assistance as a result of natural disasters is likely to grow quite dramatically. Scientists have warned that climate change will increase the incidence and severity of natural disasters. We can expect to see - in fact, we are already seeing - more severe floods, cyclones, droughts, wildfires, and other disasters each year, affecting and displacing more people than before. This is particularly worrying as rapid urbanisation leads to ever more people being compressed into smaller geographical areas. Densely populated areas that have been haphazardly developed, and lacking adequate infrastructure and essential public services, will be especially hard hit by disasters.

Asia, which is home to some of the world's most populous as well as most vulnerable countries, is likely to continue to be the region worst afflicted by natural disasters. The largest number of disasters occurred in Asia last year. So did some of the most severe disasters. Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar last May, was estimated to have claimed some 140,000 lives, while the earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China in the same month was estimated to have killed around 90,000 people. Taking into account the people displaced and the effect on livelihoods, the number of people affected by both these disasters run into the millions. Most recently, we saw how Typhoon Morakot has affected communities across China, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, unleashing floods and landslides, leaving scores dead and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Challenges in Disaster Management

What these disasters have demonstrated time and again is that it is often difficult for a country hit by a natural disaster, no matter how large and well-endowed, to muster an independent, effective relief effort to respond speedily and completely to the needs of the victims. In many cases, comprehensive assessment of the scale of the damage and the needs of disaster victims as well as the delivery of much needed aid are hindered by the lack of communications, logistical constraints and damaged infrastructure. Effective coordination between the many diverse parties involved in disaster relief efforts can also be extremely challenging. Civilian and military agencies from many countries, international aid agencies and NGOs, all with different working cultures and practices, are thrown together at short notice following a disaster. It is not always easy to avoid a duplication of efforts, unnecessary competition, gaps in responses, or worse, parties working at cross-purposes.

Another challenge is the lack of preparedness. In some cases, comprehensive disaster preparedness plans and SOPs between local, national, and international actors were not drawn up and regularly exercised. Authorities and local communities are then left reeling when a disaster strikes. And as national authorities struggle to coordinate a response, international responders and relief supplies arriving on scene may not be speedily directed to areas where they are needed most. The impact of natural disasters can be significantly mitigated if authorities and communities in disaster-struck areas as well as international responders are well-prepared so that smooth, rapid and integrated relief efforts can be carried out.

Even when the immediate relief phase is over, the recovery phase to restore the lives of the affected communities to status quo or better presents its own host of challenges. A clear, overarching recovery and re-construction strategy based on the needs and priorities of the affected communities is sometimes lacking. Close coordination between local and national authorities, donors, international aid agencies and NGOs also remains a challenge. Where such challenges are not overcome, efficient recovery efforts are impeded, resulting in the less than ideal use of valuable resources. As international attention on a disaster fades, progress in recovery efforts also slows down, with some communities left in limbo years after the disaster struck.

Building a Culture of Strong Partnerships

These are just some of the many challenges in disaster management. To overcome these and other challenges, a humanitarian culture that emphasises strong multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships between the many groups of stakeholders in disaster management is essential. From local authorities and communities to national governments, from regional players like ASEAN to global players like the UN, and from NGOs to the private sector. Only through pooling together the experience, ideas and resources of all these stakeholders can coherent and comprehensive disaster management strategies emerge.

While it is widely accepted, this notion of having strong multi-stakeholder partnerships at the local, national, regional and global levels is less easily achieved in practice. There appears to be many obstacles to be overcome before such a culture can become a reality. I cited some of these obstacles earlier. Others include a lack of appreciation for the need to work with local actors and to understand local needs and conditions, competing mandates and constituencies, and a lack of trust between different actors.

How can these obstacles be overcome? Clearly, all stakeholders involved in disaster management already share a fundamental interest - in saving lives. The challenge is to build upon this shared interest to strengthen the partnerships between all the stakeholders.

One way in which this could be done is through the articulation of clear principles on which partnerships between stakeholders at various levels can be based. UN and non-UN humanitarian organisations participating in the Global Humanitarian Platform or GHP, for instance, have drafted "Principles of Partnerships" for GHP participants. The World Economic Forum and OCHA have also devised "Guiding Principles for Public-Private Collaboration for Humanitarian Action", following a process of consultations between the humanitarian community, the UN and other international organisations, NGOs and the private sector. At last year's Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of Asia-Pacific as well as some European security ministers, the participating Ministers had a robust discussion on the issues surrounding the offering and receiving of humanitarian assistance. As it just so happened, the Dialogue was held in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. The Ministers were able to agree on a set of principles to guide affected countries, and those countries and international organisations offering assistance, on the modalities of the provision of assistance. Over time, as more and more such principles are articulated, with the principles reinforcing each other and forming a tightly interwoven web, a culture of strong multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships would be entrenched.

Equally important is the building up of trust and familiarity between different stakeholders, so that the principles articulated can be put into effect. We want to ensure that in the event of a disaster the stakeholders are comfortable with one another's working cultures, practices and interests. Robust people-to-people networks based on trust and familiarity have proven valuable in fostering strong partnerships between stakeholders across the spectrum of disaster management. Let me illustrate with the Singapore Armed Forces' experience in Aceh during the Tsunami relief efforts of 2004 and 2005. A critical factor that enabled the SAF to contribute smoothly and meaningfully to the relief effort in Aceh was our ability to work closely with the personnel of the Indonesian Armed Forces, the TNI, who were overseeing relief efforts on the ground. Many of our soldiers spoke Bahasa and had attended training courses in Indonesia. A number of our officers found themselves working closely with former classmates from the TNI. Our people-to-people networks enabled us to establish an instant foundation of trust that helped both sides work effectively together during the relief efforts. Such trust and rapport cannot be created overnight. They have to be slowly built up through regular interactions.

Conclusion

Initiatives like this workshop are most useful for building up trust and familiarity between stakeholders. This is an opportunity to get to know one another and discuss a wide range of issues relating to disaster preparedness, response and recovery. We hope that this workshop will provide a platform for a robust exchange of views, the sharing of best practices and for the building and strengthening of partnerships to overcome challenges relating to disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

Singapore is pleased to be able to co-host this workshop with OCHA and Australia. As a small country with limited resources, we seek to contribute in meaningful ways to the efforts of the international community in disaster management.

I wish you a fruitful workshop ahead.

Thank you.

http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2009/aug/26aug09_nr.html

Civil Defence and Emergency Preparedness

2009-10-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

Civil Defence and Emergency Preparedness: Singapore's Experiences Zen KOH, Assistant Chief Executive, Singapore National Co-operative Federation (SNCF); Abstract - This paper provides an overview of the emergency preparedness programme and activities undertaken in Singapore to prevent and manage disasters. A list of Assistive Technology resources relevant to emergency preparedness is also outlined.

The Emergency Preparedness Programmes and Disaster Management activities undertaken by Singapore are based on the following principles: 1) Man-made disasters can be prevented and their consequences minimised through a set of　comprehensive regulation on fire and building safety, coupled with strict enforcement. 2) Emergency and contingency plans should be　developed to deal with disaster should they occur. Such plans should also be tested and hone through regular exercises and drills. 3) The community should be educated on the need for and importance of emergency preparedness. Where possible, they should also be involved in exercises, training and physical preparations. 4) Emergency response and management of disasters should be a co-ordinated multi-agency effort. All available expertise and resources should be co-ordinated and swiftly channelled to the disaster site to maximise the chances of survival of the injured and to minimise damage to infrastructure. 5) Restoration work and the rehabilitation of the injured should be an integral part of the total disaster management programme.

http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/prompt/cdppd/abstract.html

Index Terms - Assistive Technology, Emergency Preparedness, People with Disabilities

Asia-Pacific Region: Working Better Together on Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recover

2009-10-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

Asia-Pacific Region: Working Better Together on Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery

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Media Contacts

Posted: 26 Aug 2009, 1040 hours (Time is GMT +8 hours)



Minister of State for Defence, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee at the Humanitarian Partnership and Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery (HP-DPR2) workshop.

The Asia-Pacific region is prone to severe natural disasters, as we have witnessed only recently with the devastating Typhoon Morakot killing scores and affecting hundreds of thousands in the region. Population growth, rapid urbanization, conflicts and climate change have also increased people's vulnerability to disasters, and we can expect this trend to continue.

Effective, timely and coordinated response is essential to ensure the survival and recovery of communities affected by disasters. While many countries in this region have well-developed national disaster response mechanisms, the role of UN and other international players in augmenting national response is crucial, especially as we see ever increasing demands being placed on the humanitarian response system.

The Government of Singapore and the Government of Australia, with the support of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), have invited policy makers and operational experts directly involved in disaster preparedness, response and recovery to this two-day workshop to gain a better understanding of humanitarian priorities and challenges in this region. The workshop also seeks to faciliate a robust discussion on disaster response and coordination mechanisms at the national, regional and international levels.

In his opening statement, Brigadier-General Tung Yui Fai of the Singapore Armed Forces and workshop co-chair welcomed the opportunity to partner with UN OCHA and AusAID to co-host the workshop. He noted that the workshop would contribute to the regional dialogue on disaster preparedness, response and recovery. "The workshop provides a valuable platform for experts and policy-makers from the Asia-Pacific region to exchange ideas and forge partnerships".

Australia is committed to strengthening preparedness initiatives across this region, explained Jamie Isbister, Assistant Director General of AusAID, adding that, "in order to be effective we need to ensure our activities are better coordinated, compatible and integrated."

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Catherine Bragg stressed that the primary responsibility for disaster prevention, preparedness and response rests with governments. "The UN and international humanitarian system are here to support national efforts. That is why we want to emphasise the role of national governments, and together build the capacity of local, national and regional authorities to prevent, prepare for and respond to disasters."

Minister of State for Defence of Singapore, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, who delivered the keynote address at the workshop, stressed that "a humanitarian culture that emphasises strong multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships between the many groups of stakeholders" was essential for overcoming challenges in disaster management. He noted that such partnerships should be based on clear principles and cultivated through the building up of trust and familiarity between the different stakeholders in disaster management.

Over the next two days participants representing 25 countries will explore issues with regional resonance such as the multilateral humanitarian system, the role of NGOs, civil-military coordination, disaster risk reduction, and the contributions of Asia-Pacific donors to emergency funding mechanisms.

Asia-Pacific Region: Working Better Together on Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery

2009-10-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

Posted: 26 Aug 2009, 1100 hours (Time is GMT +8 hours)



Minister of State for Defence A/P Koo Tsai Kee

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

Assistant Secretary-General Catherine Bragg,

Assistant Director General Jamie Isbister,

BG Tung Yui Fai,

Distinguished Participants,

Good morning,

To all our guests from overseas, a warm welcome to Singapore.

Impact of the global financial crisis

This workshop is being held at a particularly challenging time for the international community. Many countries have been hit hard by the global financial crisis. In Singapore, for example, our economy contracted by 6.5 percent in the first half of this year. In the US, the unemployment rate hit 9.5% in June, the highest in 26 years. Although the global economic situation appears to have stabilised somewhat in the recent months, the outlook for the next few years remains uncertain. We are not out of the woods yet. For the less-resourced and more vulnerable countries, many of which were already hard pressed to ensure adequate resourcing for disaster management efforts, the global economic crisis has compounded the numerous challenges that they face

Increasing Incidence and Severity of Disasters

Against this economic backdrop, we have a landscape where the demand for humanitarian assistance as a result of natural disasters is likely to grow quite dramatically. Scientists have warned that climate change will increase the incidence and severity of natural disasters. We can expect to see - in fact, we are already seeing - more severe floods, cyclones, droughts, wildfires, and other disasters each year, affecting and displacing more people than before. This is particularly worrying as rapid urbanisation leads to ever more people being compressed into smaller geographical areas. Densely populated areas that have been haphazardly developed, and lacking adequate infrastructure and essential public services, will be especially hard hit by disasters.

Asia, which is home to some of the world's most populous as well as most vulnerable countries, is likely to continue to be the region worst afflicted by natural disasters. The largest number of disasters occurred in Asia last year. So did some of the most severe disasters. Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar last May, was estimated to have claimed some 140,000 lives, while the earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China in the same month was estimated to have killed around 90,000 people. Taking into account the people displaced and the effect on livelihoods, the number of people affected by both these disasters run into the millions. Most recently, we saw how Typhoon Morakot has affected communities across China, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, unleashing floods and landslides, leaving scores dead and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Challenges in Disaster Management

What these disasters have demonstrated time and again is that it is often difficult for a country hit by a natural disaster, no matter how large and well-endowed, to muster an independent, effective relief effort to respond speedily and completely to the needs of the victims. In many cases, comprehensive assessment of the scale of the damage and the needs of disaster victims as well as the delivery of much needed aid are hindered by the lack of communications, logistical constraints and damaged infrastructure. Effective coordination between the many diverse parties involved in disaster relief efforts can also be extremely challenging. Civilian and military agencies from many countries, international aid agencies and NGOs, all with different working cultures and practices, are thrown together at short notice following a disaster. It is not always easy to avoid a duplication of efforts, unnecessary competition, gaps in responses, or worse, parties working at cross-purposes.

Another challenge is the lack of preparedness. In some cases, comprehensive disaster preparedness plans and SOPs between local, national, and international actors were not drawn up and regularly exercised. Authorities and local communities are then left reeling when a disaster strikes. And as national authorities struggle to coordinate a response, international responders and relief supplies arriving on scene may not be speedily directed to areas where they are needed most. The impact of natural disasters can be significantly mitigated if authorities and communities in disaster-struck areas as well as international responders are well-prepared so that smooth, rapid and integrated relief efforts can be carried out.

Even when the immediate relief phase is over, the recovery phase to restore the lives of the affected communities to status quo or better presents its own host of challenges. A clear, overarching recovery and re-construction strategy based on the needs and priorities of the affected communities is sometimes lacking. Close coordination between local and national authorities, donors, international aid agencies and NGOs also remains a challenge. Where such challenges are not overcome, efficient recovery efforts are impeded, resulting in the less than ideal use of valuable resources. As international attention on a disaster fades, progress in recovery efforts also slows down, with some communities left in limbo years after the disaster struck.

Building a Culture of Strong Partnerships

These are just some of the many challenges in disaster management. To overcome these and other challenges, a humanitarian culture that emphasises strong multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships between the many groups of stakeholders in disaster management is essential. From local authorities and communities to national governments, from regional players like ASEAN to global players like the UN, and from NGOs to the private sector. Only through pooling together the experience, ideas and resources of all these stakeholders can coherent and comprehensive disaster management strategies emerge.

While it is widely accepted, this notion of having strong multi-stakeholder partnerships at the local, national, regional and global levels is less easily achieved in practice. There appears to be many obstacles to be overcome before such a culture can become a reality. I cited some of these obstacles earlier. Others include a lack of appreciation for the need to work with local actors and to understand local needs and conditions, competing mandates and constituencies, and a lack of trust between different actors.

How can these obstacles be overcome? Clearly, all stakeholders involved in disaster management already share a fundamental interest - in saving lives. The challenge is to build upon this shared interest to strengthen the partnerships between all the stakeholders.

One way in which this could be done is through the articulation of clear principles on which partnerships between stakeholders at various levels can be based. UN and non-UN humanitarian organisations participating in the Global Humanitarian Platform or GHP, for instance, have drafted "Principles of Partnerships" for GHP participants. The World Economic Forum and OCHA have also devised "Guiding Principles for Public-Private Collaboration for Humanitarian Action", following a process of consultations between the humanitarian community, the UN and other international organisations, NGOs and the private sector. At last year's Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of Asia-Pacific as well as some European security ministers, the participating Ministers had a robust discussion on the issues surrounding the offering and receiving of humanitarian assistance. As it just so happened, the Dialogue was held in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. The Ministers were able to agree on a set of principles to guide affected countries, and those countries and international organisations offering assistance, on the modalities of the provision of assistance. Over time, as more and more such principles are articulated, with the principles reinforcing each other and forming a tightly interwoven web, a culture of strong multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships would be entrenched.

Equally important is the building up of trust and familiarity between different stakeholders, so that the principles articulated can be put into effect. We want to ensure that in the event of a disaster the stakeholders are comfortable with one another's working cultures, practices and interests. Robust people-to-people networks based on trust and familiarity have proven valuable in fostering strong partnerships between stakeholders across the spectrum of disaster management. Let me illustrate with the Singapore Armed Forces' experience in Aceh during the Tsunami relief efforts of 2004 and 2005. A critical factor that enabled the SAF to contribute smoothly and meaningfully to the relief effort in Aceh was our ability to work closely with the personnel of the Indonesian Armed Forces, the TNI, who were overseeing relief efforts on the ground. Many of our soldiers spoke Bahasa and had attended training courses in Indonesia. A number of our officers found themselves working closely with former classmates from the TNI. Our people-to-people networks enabled us to establish an instant foundation of trust that helped both sides work effectively together during the relief efforts. Such trust and rapport cannot be created overnight. They have to be slowly built up through regular interactions.

Conclusion

Initiatives like this workshop are most useful for building up trust and familiarity between stakeholders. This is an opportunity to get to know one another and discuss a wide range of issues relating to disaster preparedness, response and recovery. We hope that this workshop will provide a platform for a robust exchange of views, the sharing of best practices and for the building and strengthening of partnerships to overcome challenges relating to disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

Singapore is pleased to be able to co-host this workshop with OCHA and Australia. As a small country with limited resources, we seek to contribute in meaningful ways to the efforts of the international community in disaster management.

I wish you a fruitful workshop ahead.

Thank you.

http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2009/aug/26aug09_nr.html

Natural Hazards

2009-10-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

Many of the Asia and Pacific developing countries are situated in the world’s hazard belts and are subject to floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, windstorms, tidal waves and land slides, etc. The major natural disasters that occur periodically in this region are largely due to climatic and seismic factors. The region has suffered 50 per cent of the world’s major natural disasters (ESCAP, 1995a). Since the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction began in 1990, the total number of deaths due to natural disasters in the region has exceeded 200,000 and the estimated damage to property over this period has been estimated at US$ 100 billion (ESCAP, 1995a). Vulnerability to disasters has increased due to the increased aggregation of people in urban centres, environmental degradation, and a lack of planning and preparedness. The estimated number of people affected by disasters in the Asia-Pacific region during 1980–90 is given in Figure 18. Disasters can result from:

meteorological phenomena such as typhoons and hurricanes, sheet flooding and marine and river-based floods;
geological processes such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunami; and
climatic phenomenon such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation that results in a lowering of mean sea level in the east of the region, failure of the monsoon rains in India, and drought in Indonesia and Australia.

Vulnerability to natural hazards has increased in many coastal areas due to the loss of coastal habitats such as mangroves and coral reefs that provide natural protection from marine flooding. A summary of disaster statistics for countries in the Asia-Pacific region during 1966–90 is given in Table 8. China, India and Bangladesh are ranked first, second and third, respectively, based on the total number of deaths during that period.

Cyclones. Tropical cyclones, or typhoons, are common in the Asia-Pacific region. They occur most frequently over the north-west Pacific, just east of the Philippines, during June and November with an average of 30 typhoons a year, i.e. about 38 per cent of the world total (ESCAP, 1995a). Tropical cyclones usually form over the southern end of the Bay of Bengal during April–December and then move to the east coast of India and Bangladesh causing severe flooding and often devastating tidal surges. The cyclones generated in the South Pacific Ocean frequently cause devastation in small island countries such as Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Samoa. Overall, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Viet Nam suffer most frequently from major events.

Floods. Floods are the most common climate-related disaster in the region and include seasonal floods, flash floods, urban floods due to inadequate drainage facilities and floods associated with tidal events induced by typhoons in coastal areas. In Bangladesh, one of the most flood-prone countries in the region, as many as 80 million people are vulnerable to flooding each year (ESCAP, 1995a). In India, where a total of 40 million hectares is at risk from flooding each year, the average annual direct damage has been estimated at US$ 240 million, although this figure can increase to over US$ 1.5 billion with severe flood events (ESCAP, 1995a).

Droughts. It has been observed that the impact of droughts differs widely between developed and developing countries because of the influence of such factors as water supply and water-use efficiency. The majority of the estimated 500 million rural poor in the Asia-Pacific region are subsistence farmers occupying mainly rain-fed land (ESCAP, 1995a). The drought-prone countries in this region are Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and parts of Bangladesh. In India, about 33 per cent of the arable land is considered to be drought-prone (i.e. about 14 per cent of the total land area of the country) and a further 35 per cent can also be affected if rainfall is exceptionally low for extended periods (ESCAP, 1995a). Nepal has been subjected to severe droughts in the past. The Philippines, Thailand, Australia and the Pacific islands of Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa also contain drought-prone areas.

Landslides. Landslides, which are very common in the hills and mountainous parts of the Asia-Pacific region, occur frequently in India, China, Nepal, Thailand and the Philippines. In addition to the influence of topography, landslides are aggravated by human activities, such as deforestation, cultivation and construction, which destabilize the already fragile slopes. As a result of the combined actions of natural (mostly heavy rainfall) and human-induced factors, as many as 12,000 landslides occur in Nepal each year (ESCAP, 1995a).

Earthquakes. The Asia-Pacific region alone has recorded 70 per cent of the world’s earthquakes measuring 7 or more on the Richter scale, at an average rate of 15 events per year (ESCAP, 1995a). The countries of the region which are badly affected by earthquakes include Japan, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Pacific Islands. Many of the countries in the region are located along, or adjacent to, the Pacific Ocean Seismic Zone or the Indian Ocean Seismic Zone. For example, 50–60 per cent of India is vulnerable to seismic activities of varying intensity (ESCAP, 1995a), particularly the areas in the Himalayan region and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The earthquake in Maharashtra State in Western India in September 1993 claimed over 12,000 lives (ESCAP, 1995a).

About 80 per cent of China’s territorial area, 60 per cent of its large cities and 70 per cent of its urban areas with populations over 1 million, are located in seismic zones (ESCAP, 1995a). The most devastating earthquake in the world in recent history was the Tangshan earthquake in China on 28 July 1976 which claimed over 240,000 lives (ESCAP, 1995a). Japan is located in the Pacific-Rim Seismic Zone and suffers, on average, a massive earthquake (Richter scale 8 or more) once every 10 years and a large scale earthquake (magnitude 7) once a year (ESCAP, 1995a). In January 1995, Japan suffered one of the worst earthquakes in recent years at Kobe, which claimed 5,000 lives (ESCAP, 1995a). The Philippines, which lies between two of the world’s most active tectonic plates, experiences an average of five earthquakes per day, most of which are imperceptible (ESCAP, 1995a). In New Zealand, an average of 200 perceptible earthquakes occur each year, of which at least one exceeds 6 on the Richter scale (ESCAP, 1995a).

Tsunamis. Tsunamis, tidal waves generated by earthquakes, affect many of the coastal areas of the region, including those of Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The infamous Krakatau volcanic eruption during 1883 in Sunda Straits, Indonesia, generated a 35 metre high tsunami which caused 36,000 deaths and the tsunami of 17 August 1976 in the Moro Gulf area of the Philippines claimed another 8,000 lives (ESCAP, 1995a).

Volcanoes. Volcanoes, like earthquakes, are located mainly along the Pacific Rim. The countries in the region which are at risk from volcanic eruptions include the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Those most frequently affected are Indonesia (129 active volcanoes), Japan (77 active volcanoes) and the Philippines (21 active volcanoes) (ESCAP, 1995a; Government of Japan, 1987). The eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in Central Luzon during the period 12–15 June 1991 affected about 1–2 million people (Lewinson, 1993), demolished the surrounding forests, caused massive siltation of rivers and coastal areas and deposited volcanic ash in surrounding areas and even across continents. In New Zealand, Mount Tarawera had a severe eruption in 1886, and the Ngauruhoe, which erupted in 1974, emits steam and vapour constantly (ESCAP, 1995a). In Papua New Guinea, the volcanic eruption in 1994 near the city of Rabaul damaged about 40 per cent of the houses in the area (ESCAP, 1995a).

Environmental degradation and disasters are very closely linked in the Asia-Pacific region. The countries which suffer most from disasters are the same countries in which environmental degradation is proceeding most rapidly. Poverty and vulnerability to disasters are also closely linked. There are approximately over 3,000 deaths per natural disaster in low-income countries, and less than 400 per event in middle- and high-income countries (ESCAP, 1992). This reflects the absence of an adequate infrastructure in low-income countries to mitigate the impact of natural disasters. Although both Japan and Pakistan are prone to earthquakes, the people of Japan are far less vulnerable because Japan has strictly-enforced building codes, zoning regulations and earthquake emergency training and communication systems. By contrast, in Pakistan most people are still living in top-heavy mud and stone houses built on hillsides, increasing their vulnerability.

Rapid population growth is accelerating vulnerability to disasters as settlements encroach into disaster-prone lands. This will ultimately cause more risk to human life in the years to come. It has been estimated that annual flood losses in some countries are 40 times more today than they were in the 1950s (ESCAP, 1992). According to the Indian Government, one out of every 20 people in the nation is vulnerable to flooding and in China over 85 per cent of the population is concentrated on alluvial plains or basins along river courses which comprise one third of the total land area (ESCAP, 1992).

There has been growing recognition of the significance of disaster prevention and mitigation in the region. Initiatives have already been taken in many countries to address the issue through a comprehensive framework of institutions, plans, programmes and legislation (ESCAP, 1995a). Japan, for example, has constituted a high level committee under the chairmanship of the prime minister to oversee activities related to natural disasters. Over the years, the Government has developed a very efficient framework of organization to reduce the effects of natural disasters. Other examples of initiatives include:

the Cabinet Committee on Natural Calamities (CCNC) in India;
the Natural Disaster Prevention Council in Bangladesh, chaired by the President, to co-ordinate Government functions, plans and actions in the field of natural disaster forecasts, management and post-disaster relief and rehabilitation work;
a Cabinet Sub-Committee in Sri Lanka to examine floods, cyclones, landslides and soil erosion;
the Relief and Resettlement Department in Myanmar under the Ministry of Social Welfare to co-ordinate the work of other government departments on natural disaster prevention and preparedness;
a National Coordination Board for Natural Disaster Preparedness and Relief in Indonesia to deal with natural disasters;
an inter-ministerial co-ordination committee in the People’s Republic of China to take charge of disaster management;
the National Disaster and Emergency Services Department in Papua New Guinea to direct and co-ordinate disaster related activities; and
the National Disaster Coordination Council (NDCC) in the Philippines comprising several ministries, governments and NGOs to establish policy guidelines on emergency preparedness and disaster operations, relief and rehabilitation measures.

Substantial progress has been made in this region towards forecasting, early warning, and risk assessment and mapping of climatic and water-related hazards (ESCAP, 1995a). In recent years, the People’s Republic of China has made remarkable achievements in monitoring a wide range of natural disasters through the application of aviation and satellite remote sensing and terrestrial-based sensing technologies. The forecasting and early warning systems in China are noteworthy examples in the region. In India, ten high power cyclone detection radar stations have been installed along the east and west coasts of the country, and there are plans to extend cyclone warning systems to all vulnerable areas. Forecasting and early warning in disaster prone areas has also been emphasized in the country’s current five-year plan. In Australia, a comprehensive personal computer-based cyclone warning system was introduced in three cities, Perth, Darwin, and Brisbane, in November 1990. Japan is constantly carrying out observations, predictions and warnings of potential earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storm events, tsunamis, typhoons and flood-related disasters. Earthquake prediction has been systematically carried out since 1964, and currently the country is implementing its 7th Earthquake Prediction Plan (1994–1998). As a result, it has designated certain areas for intensified observation. The Republic of Korea also has a well-established disaster-related forecasting and warning network.

The People’s Republic of China and India have developed considerable experience in reducing the adverse impacts of large-scale droughts. In Thailand, flood and landslide risk maps are being prepared for the vulnerable southern part of the country, and a flood modelling programme is being implemented for southern and north-eastern areas. Malaysia has initiated programmes on flood forecasting, warning, preparedness and relief. It has also developed flood-proof structures as well as catchment development and floodplain management strategies. A project has recently been completed in which 20 river basins in the country have been equipped with telemetric systems for flood monitoring and warning.

In order to cope up with the exceptional droughts in Australia, the National Drought Policy (NDP) was formulated in 1992. Since the signing of the NDP Statement in 1992, the states and territories have begun implementing the policy measures, such as sustainable agriculture, drought preparedness, providing financial assistance to farmers exposed to exceptional drought circumstances, carrying out drought-related research and development with emphasis on drought prediction, monitoring and management, etc (IDIC, 1995).

http://www.rrcap.unep.org/apeo/Chp1h-nathazards.html

China Disaster Preparedness and Reduction

2009-10-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

Mr. Zou Ming, Director of Disaster Relief Department of Ministry of Civil Affairs, Mr. Cheng Dianlong, Deputy Director of Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, Mr. Du Wei, Deputy Director of Earthquake Defence Department of China Earthquake Administration and Mr. Chen Zhenlin, Deputy Director of Disaster Relief and Public Service Department of China Meteorological Administration briefs the media on the situation about China's disaster preparedness and reduction at 10 am on Monday, May 11, 2009.

http://english.cri.cn/7146/2009/05/09/2041s483225.htm

Aid Groups Reaching Quake-Ravaged Indonesia

2009-10-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

PADANG PARIAMAN, Indonesia — The man had driven 12 hours to his hometown in this central Sumatran district, the area closest to the powerful earthquake that struck off Indonesia’s western coast on Wednesday, because he heard his village had ceased to exist.

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Rescue Efforts Continue in Quake-Ravaged Indonesia

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Deadly Earthquakes

Living on the Edge, Geologically Speaking (October 2, 2009)

The Lede: Earthquake Updates(September 30, 2009)

List of Countries That Have Sent Aid to Indonesia (October 2, 2009)

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Muhammad Fitrah/Singgalang Newspaper, via Reuters

A collapsed building in Padang, on Indonesia's Sumatra island. More Photos »

The New York Times

A large quake and aftershock this week devastated Sumatra. More Photos >

“I heard people say Padang Pariaman was destroyed,” the man, Sutan Maskuri, 55, a beef satay seller, said Friday afternoon as eight villagers raised a makeshift stretcher over their shoulders to hoist Mr. Maskuri’s injured sister around a road wiped out by a landslide.

In the end, Mr. Maskuri found that five of his siblings had died in a landslide set off by the earthquake. He sent the injured sister to a regional hospital in his own Toyota because, he said, he could not rely on the government. “No one’s been here, no soldiers, no police,” he said some 44 hours after the disaster began.

Padang Pariaman, with 375,000 inhabitants scattered throughout the district, had survived, though almost all of its houses had suffered some damage, their wooden frames and corrugated roofs twisted in fantastic shapes.

About 50 miles to the south, in Padang, the closest large city, rescue workers raked through rubble beneath a scorching sun, but admitted they were finding few survivors. By some estimates, more than half of the city’s buildings had collapsed in the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.6, and the Indonesian Health Ministry announced that nearly 3,000 people might still be trapped in the rubble.

Many of Padang’s 900,000 residents left the city; others stocked up on emergency supplies and fuel, convinced that another, larger earthquake was imminent, even as electricity slowly began to be restored.

On Thursday morning, about 16 hours after the first temblor, a 6.6-magnitude aftershock did hit, about 140 miles southeast of Padang. It appeared to cause few casualties and little damage.

But on Friday, the authorities still knew little about the situation in hundreds of villages across Padang Pariaman, the most severely affected area on the island of Sumatra. That is one reason government officials predicted that the death toll would rise considerably beyond Friday’s official figure, 715. United Nations officials estimated 1,100 people had died.

A number of countries have pledged financial aid. The United States Embassy in Jakarta said it had already provided $300,000 and had set aside $3 million more. But many aid groups faced delays in reaching the disaster zone because flights were full. Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier, said it planned to add flights to get emergency personnel to the area more quickly.

No military or relief vehicles could be seen Friday on the road from Padang. Long lines at gas stations created massive traffic jams even as black marketeers sold gas at more than four times the normal price.

In the town of Padang Pariaman, the administrative center of the district that shares its name, the district leader, Muslim Kasim, said that up to 80 percent of all buildings in the countryside had been damaged. Officials had already counted 13,750 homes, 30 office buildings, 69 schools and 128 mosques as damaged, he said, and confirmed 207 deaths. He said the authorities believed that at least 282 more people still lay buried in landslides.

Herry Ardyanto, the police chief, said the difficulty in getting information about remote regions was compounded by the residents’ reluctance to leave their villages “even if there is no electricity or water.”

A narrow road breaks off from the center of the town of Padang Pariaman and ascends gently toward Koto Timur, the subdistrict that includes Mr. Maskuri’s village. On the way, most houses lay damaged or destroyed. In Koto Timur, the road came to a stop at a two-story house, now partly flattened by a landslide.

When the quake struck, the wife and four children of a man named Aguslier leapt outside just as the family’s house was about to fall. On Friday, Mr. Aguslier’s children were carrying cooking utensils out of the ruins to a neighboring house.

“I’m collecting the wood to build a temporary shelter,” said Mr. Aguslier, 36, who like many here uses only one name.

All the villagers were fending for themselves. Syafrie, 40, whose mother and younger sister had died in the quake, was walking around the landslide with a box of instant noodles under his arm.

“Our families living outside here brought us water and noodles,” Mr. Syafrie said. “We haven’t seen a single rescue worker yet.”

As he walked toward his house, the eight village men carrying Mr. Maskuri’s sister, Rosmanidar, 57, approached from the opposite direction. They climbed up a muddy hill left by the landslide and cut through a rice paddy to get around another landslide. They eventually let her down in front of the village convenience store where a crowd gathered, children looking on curiously, one woman with tearful eyes talking to the injured.

After a few minutes, they placed Rosmanidar inside Mr. Maskuri’s black Toyota minivan. He watched as his driver steered the car out of the village, and then Mr. Maskuri returned to his ancestral home, where two of his siblings still lay buried by a landslide.

As if on cue, police trucks arrived, for the first time, less than half an hour later. A small, white police helicopter appeared in the sky, hovering above the tall palm trees, lowering itself twice just above two fields.

The villagers waved and yelled. But the helicopter flew away. It was only doing a survey, a police officer said. Aid would come the next day, he said, at the latest.

Norimitsu Onishi reported from Padang Pariaman, and Peter Gelling from Padang, Indonesia.

INDONESIA: Aid slow to arrive after quake

2009-10-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

INDONESIA: Aid slow to arrive after quake

Photo: Jefri Aries/IRIN

Without any food aid, a woman is forced to cook vegetable scraps for her children in Ketaping Village, Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra

PADANG, 4 October 2009 (IRIN) - Four days after a devastating earthquake hit West Sumatra province in Indonesia, survivors say little or no humanitarian assistance has reached them, leaving some to beg for money.

At least 603 people have been killed and 343 people were missing and believed trapped under collapsed buildings after the 30 September quake, according to data from the disaster relief coordination post at the West Sumatra governor’s office.

Residents in the worst-hit district of Padang Pariaman set up barriers on the roads near their damaged houses, begging for donations from motorists. Some survivors also pitched tents outside their damaged houses.

“Since the earthquake, we haven't received anything,” said Riswan Zailani, whose family home was flattened in the quake, leaving only its corrugated zinc roof visible.

“I heard there's a lot of assistance coming but where is it?” said Zailani, who stood in the middle of the road waving a can to passing motorists asking for money.

According to the governor’s office, around 3,000 people have been injured in the quake, some seriously, while 83,000 homes were badly damaged.

The health ministry‘s crisis centre estimated the death toll could reach more than 1,000, with another 618 people believed killed when landslides triggered by the earthquake buried three entire hamlets in Padang Pariaman.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the crisis centre, also estimated that 3,000 people were still missing.

Photo: ReliefWeb
The earthquake struck off the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island on 30 September
Relief slow to come

The Indonesian government is leading emergency response operations, providing search and rescue services, and food and non-food relief items, while neighbouring provinces are also sending food and other assistance.

However, officials admitted that many survivors had not received aid yet.

“We have distributed whatever we have. Many have not received assistance because the stuff is still on its way,” Ade Edwar, head of West Sumatra's disaster coordinating agency, told IRIN.

“Relief supplies from Jakarta are expected to arrive as soon as today. What else can we give them?” he said.

Edwar said two ships carrying tents from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) were on their way to Padang, West Sumatra’s capital, and that many food warehouses in Padang were damaged by the quake.

“We are not in a supermarket. We are in an emergency situation,” he said.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 3 October, access to some places, particularly inland mountainous areas, is difficult as many land routes have been cut by landslides.

Infrastructure damaged

While mobile communications have been restored to many areas, including Padang, quake survivors are also struggling with a lack of electricity and clean water, forcing some to bathe in rivers.

“I know it's not clean, but it's better than not taking a bath for days,” said Afrizal, a Padang resident.

Dody Ruswandi, head of the provincial Public Works Department, said one of four water treatment plants supplying West Sumatra was damaged, cutting the water supply to 70,000 homes.

“We need 30 days to fix it. We know this situation is causing a lot of discomfort to people,” he said.

Water tanks have been dispatched to several areas and mobile water treatment equipment was on its way from Jakarta, he said.

Photo: Jefri Aries/IRIN

A quake survivor waits for aid amid the ruins of her house in Ketaping Village, Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra

“Hopefully this will ease the hardship but, of course, it won't be the same as before the earthquake,” he said.

International aid efforts

According to OCHA, immediate needs include medical supplies and personnel, hygiene kits, soap, petrol, generators, food and shelter.

WFP Indonesia said it was conducting an assessment of the situation and senior programme assistant Mispan Indarjo said the agency would focus on providing micronutrients for children under five in the form of biscuits.

UNICEF is to distribute relief items such as water pumps and hygiene kits for 50,000 families, while the UN Development Programme has deployed a waste management team.

More than 400 rescuers from countries such as Singapore, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Korea, Switzerland and Japan are helping their Indonesian counterparts search for the missing.

Edwar said search and rescue efforts would last until six days after the quake, around 6 October.

“We are still hopeful of finding more survivors,” he said.

atp/ey/ed

INDONESIA: Climate change worsening disasters, says UN

2009-10-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

INDONESIA: Climate change worsening disasters, says UN

Photo: Jefri Aries/IRIN

The Ambacang Hotel in Padang City, which collapsed during the 30 September earthquake. More than 1,000 people were killed in the magnitude 7.6 quake

JAKARTA, 16 October 2009 (IRIN) - Climate change is contributing to more frequent and deadlier natural disasters, and governments need to speed up measures to mitigate their impact, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, warns.

Holmes, in Indonesia for a two-day visit after a deadly 30 September earthquake off West Sumatra, warned there would be more intense typhoons, flooding, droughts and forest fires because of climate change.

“Look at the trend. How many [disasters] there are and how bad they are, not only here but also in Central America, and it's perfectly clear what's happening and that's what scientists said would happen,” Holmes, also the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, told IRIN in an interview on 15 October.

“To me, that means there's a link between climate change and more frequent disasters,” he said.

Given this, governments should be better prepared, and take measures to reduce the impact, he said.

“That means people not living in areas that are flood-[prone]; it means making sure buildings are not in areas that are flood-[prone],” said Holmes.

Holmes also said recent disasters in the Asia-Pacific region made negotiations for a new climate change deal - which are faltering - all the more important.

The Asian region has been hit by several disasters in recent weeks, including devastating floods in the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Nepal, affecting millions.

Photo: Emmanuel Dunseath/IRIN

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes

About 99 percent of those killed by natural disasters were in the Asia Pacific region, said Holmes.

“Obviously it's important to reduce emissions, that's fundamental to stopping climate change in the end. But in the meantime, whatever we do about emissions, the results are already with us for the next 50 years,” he said.

Separately, Holmes urged disaster-prone Asian countries to spend one-tenth of their development funds on efforts to reduce disaster risks.

The international community spent US$12 billion on disaster relief last year. "A 10 percent figure of what you are spending on response or even on development should go into disaster-risk reduction because that is a good investment," he told reporters.

Funding for West Sumatra

Holmes travelled to quake-hit areas in West Sumatra and met the head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), as well as humanitarian agencies.

He said the UN would release about $7 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for aid efforts in West Sumatra, including 12 projects focusing on emergency shelter, nutrition, reopening schools and health sector support.

The UN on 9 October launched a $38 million appeal to help the Indonesian government meet the needs of quake survivors.

The BNPB has revised the death toll from the earthquake to 1,117, including those missing and believed buried in landslides.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report on 15 October that 198,200 households needed emergency shelter.

Lack of access to remote areas remains the major obstacle to providing aid to survivors, but the Indonesian Military (TNI) has agreed to deploy 500 soldiers to rebuild roads or create new access routes to affected areas, OCHA said.

Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

On 26 September, tropical storm Ketsana struck the Philippines. One week later, super-typhoon Parma battered the country's north and and Luzon island's western coast

Reconstruction delays

Oxfam Indonesia’s humanitarian programme manager, Sébastien Fesneau, said survivors needed tarpaulins, tents and plastic sheeting for shelter - as well as food.

But he said rebuilding houses would prove a greater challenge, because the brick industry in West Sumatra had been paralysed by the quake.

“It will be a problem when we are looking for adequate building materials, and this could possibly delay the reconstruction phase,” Fesneau told IRIN.

Some NGOs were considering building transitional shelters using bamboo or coconut trees pending the availability of building materials, he said.

Fesneau also said many survivors had been forced to sell their belongings to meet their basic needs, resulting in what he called “asset erosion”.

“We will introduce a cash transfer programme targeting the most vulnerable groups to ensure their belongings will not be sold,” he said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86617

DPWH Forms "Permanent" Disaster Preparedness Teams for Calamity-Prone RP

2009-10-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
DPWH Forms "Permanent" Disaster Preparedness Teams for Calamity-Prone RP

Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has ordered the formation of permanent disaster preparedness teams in the DPWH's 174 district engineering offices to attend to emergency situations all over the country, which is known as one of the world's most calamity-prone areas.

"We must all be prepared to attend to any calamity or disaster 24/7. Emergency situations can strike anytime and we must be ready to mobilize our men and equipment when they do," Ebdane said.

Instead of having ad-hoc and temporary disaster preparedness teams, Ebdane said the Department of Public Works and Highways should have ``institutionalized teams and plans'' to respond to calamities and disasters.

The agency's disaster management reference book – the DPWH Road in the Philippines Handbook 2009 – says that being in the Pacific ring of fire and Pacific typhoon belt, the country experiences a variety of natural disasters due to its geographical location and physical environment.

"The Philippines is considered as one of the most disaster-prone countries because it is located not only along the fire ring but also along the Pacific typhoon belt," the DPWH handbook said.

According to the Philippine National Red Cross, 31,835 Filipinos were killed and 94,369,462 others were affected by natural disasters and calamities in a span of 20 years.

Furthermore, 5,809,986 Filipinos were killed or injured as a result of disasters or man-made calamities over a ten-year period (1992-2001).

Every year, about 20 tropical cyclones enter the archipelago and leave damaging effects such as floods and landslides. On the other hand, of the 200 Philippine volcanoes located along the seismic belt, 22 are classified as active.

The DPWH disaster preparedness teams are composed of men with expertise in transportation and logistics; monitoring and evaluation; rescue and assistance; communication and public information; and repair and restoration of damaged roads and bridges.

The team is expected to deploy service vehicles and dump trucks and identify vehicular alternate routes in calamity areas.

"All sorts of equipment like bulldozer, grader, and loader are readily available in every district in case of any disaster operations. We also have a stock of gravel and sand for emergency patching of roads," DPWH-Region 8 Director Angelito Twaño said of the disaster teams that have been put in place on orders of Ebdane.

Triple punch tests disaster preparedness in Asia-Pacific region

2009-10-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_51287.html

Triple punch tests disaster preparedness in Asia-Pacific region

Residents in Cainta Rizal, Philippines, wade in floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Ondoy.

NEW YORK, 2 October 2009 – A convergence of severe natural disasters has left millions of people in distress across Asia and the Pacific this week. Since 26 September, a total of six countries have been hit by flooding, a typhoon, a tsunami and earthquakes.

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UNICEF’s emergency preparations are in full throttle in the region, with death tolls still rising in Indonesia’s earthquake zone; more severe tropical storms targeting countries from the Philippines to Viet Nam; and relief efforts continuing in the Samoan Islands.

“These disasters are larger than what the country can respond to,” says UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes Louis-Georges Arsenault, who called the triple punch in the Asia-Pacific region an “extraordinary” event.

More rains to come
In the Philippines, UNICEF emergency teams have been responding to the worst flooding in 40 years, triggered by Tropical Storm Ondoy. Teams are also being deployed to the north of the country in anticipation of a new and even more powerful storm, Parma, which is expected to make landfall this weekend.

With parts of Manila under six feet of water and hundreds of thousands of people in evacuation centres, the Government of the Philippines is breaking with past policy to solicit international aid.

“In the past, they have been reluctant,” says Mr. Arsenault, who notes that the country is a model of disaster preparedness. “But this time, they had no hesitation whatsoever,” he adds.

The United Nations will issue a joint appeal next week to respond to the crisis in the Philippines. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes says the amount of the appeal will be in the “tens of millions of dollars.”

People sleep in a temporary shelter after fleeing homes damaged by a powerful earthquake in Padang, Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Philippines and its neighbours – including Viet Nam, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Cambodia – are bracing for Tropical Storm Parma, which meteorologists are calling a ‘super-typhoon’.

Quakes in Indonesia
UNICEF is also working to deliver relief for children and families affected by two successive earthquakes in Western Sumatra, Indonesia. The first, a 7.6-magnitude temblor, hit on 30 September; it was followed within 24 hours by a second, slightly smaller quake.

Hundreds are already confirmed dead in the affected areas. That number is expected to rise sharply as bodies trapped in the rubble are removed. Mr. Holmes suggested the death toll could surpass that of the 2006 quake in Central Java, which killed more than 5,000.

In addition, tens of thousands have been displaced. The Indonesian Government, like its counterpart in the Philippines, has issued a request for international aid.

UNICEF is providing emergency supplies for 50,000 families in Western Sumatra, and UNICEF Representative in Indonesia Angela Kearney plans to visit the quake zone over the weekend.

Tsunami in Samoa and Tonga
Separately this week, an earthquake in the South Pacific caused a series of tsunamis that swept coastal villages in the Samoan Islands.

Though the population of these islands is relatively small, children in Samoa and Tonga are at risk of respiratory disease, measles and tetanus, as vaccination rates in many communities are low. On some islands, all medical facilities have been lost along with water supplies.

A family is left homeless after a tsunami swept the Samoan Islands, triggered by a massive underwater earthquake.

In response to the crisis, UNICEF will coordinate an effort to provide safe water and adequate sanitation for tsunami-affected areas of Samoa and Tonga.

Improved preparedness
UNICEF acknowledges government efforts to improve emergency preparedness in all of the affected countries, especially in the wake of the 2004 tsunami and other disasters. But no amount of preparedness can prevent such disasters from happening.

Meeting the immediate food, water and shelter needs of millions of people simultaneously exceeds the preparedness capabilities of these countries. Therefore, it is crucial that the world community redouble efforts to support the Governments of Indonesia and the Philippines, in particular.

“They will need international support. These are very strong human catastrophes we have to deal with,” says Mr. Arsenault.

U.N. urges Asia to spend more on disaster preparedness

2009-10-15T23:56:00.000-07:00

Governments in Asia's most catastrophe-prone areas should set aside one-tenth of their development funds to limit the risk of disaster, especially given the impact of climate change, a U.N. official said on Thursday.

The world spent $12 billion on humanitarian responses to disasters last year, and 99 percent of those killed by natural phenomena were in the Asia Pacific region, said John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, during a visit to Jakarta.

"A 10 percent figure of what you are spending on response or even on development should go into disaster risk reduction because that is a good investment," he said.

Holmes toured West Sumatra on Wednesday, visiting areas where a magnitude 7.6 quake in late September triggered landslides, killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed more than 130,000 homes.

Before visiting Indonesia, Holmes had stopped in Manila, which was been badly hit by tropical storms recently.

Holmes said that the Indonesian and international response to the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, was one of the more successful he had seen, but that building codes needed to be enforced to minimise the impact of the next natural disaster.

"All development measures should have disaster risk reduction measures built into them," he said, adding that disaster risk reduction should also be built into discussions on a world climate pact that will take place in Copenhagen in December.

"That also has to be part of the wider Copenhagen discussions and negotiations in December in order to ensure that not only do we focus on reducing emissions to tackle climate change at its source but also to make sure we are focusing on the adaptation side," he said.

"In other words, helping developing countries cope with the effects of climate change which are with us right now and disaster risk reduction is very much a part of that."

Indonesia, which sits on one of the world's most active seismic fault lines, has several active volcanoes and is prone to earthquakes and heavy flooding.

In December 2004, a magnitude 9.15 quake off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, with around 170,000 killed in Indonesia's Aceh alone.

A recent tsunami in Samoa also caused widespread destruction. (Editing by Sara Webb)

http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20091015/760/twl-u-n-urges-asia-to-spend-more-on-disa.html

Sunanda Creagh

Top 3 Insights on Managing Emergencies on the Headlines

2009-10-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

As you know, with the current spate of disasters in the headlines, slow response and not being prepared have been the top 2 most criticism being brought up. See headlines below:

· Kurnool administration ignored flood warnings, causing 5 million affected by ‘worst floods in 100 years’ in south India; 250 killed >>more
· Philippine government being accused of not preparing the nation properly for Ketsana, leaving 293 people dead, 3 million people affected and millions of dollars in business disruption >>more
· Air France crash killing 200 people could have been avoided, if there’s access to more recent weather maps >>more
· Anger mounts at slow response to Java earthquake >>more
· Singapore Mosque, without sprinkler systems, gutted by fire, costing more than 1 million dollars in ruins >>more

I would like to highlight 3 insights from the EMPRR Global Agenda to address the above challenge.

Insight #1: Even with our desire to respond quickly, it seems that if we are not ready for all disasters, we are not prepared for any.

The floods in the Philippines and India recently highlight the fact that our defence to natural disasters just has to be better and well prepared for. With harsher climates and more frequent natural disasters, the scale of impact has become wider and more severe. Our investments in preparedness have to relatively increase, as well as our skill and capacity to respond.

Insight #2: Unexpected severe disasters will affect not only the public, but also businesses, despite compliance with safety and disaster management standards. We need to test and monitor our organisation’s preparedness or readiness to face and manage crisis/disaster during the moment of truth (MOT).

One of the causes of many organisational and corporate failures is that an operation has failed and business is discontinued or interrupted because of a disaster or crisis. We have simulated scenarios and we score well in them, but only when you test your BCP/BCM initiatives to be functional and operational will ensure your organisation’s readiness to face and manage crisis/disaster.

Insight #3: Proper response needs accurate real-time information.

President Yudyhono criticises the local authorities that response to the recent earthquake in Padang was slow and ineffective, as the supplies are either not sufficient or not relevant. Proper and quick response would have been done if real-time communication had been effective.

I would like to share with you the content-rich EMPRR Global Summit, which will concentrate on a holistic approach to emergency management and compiles solutions to address the challenge quickly responding, testing your BCP and EM plan and providing a suite of solutions for accurate real-time information—a great business case to attend EMPRR Global Summit, including how you can:

· Restore order and business (product/service) continuity, especially of critical services, protect organizational assets (properties) from further damage; not compromise vital or confidential resources (such as records, customer/data information)
· Protect and ensure the safety of people (employees, customers, the public at large)
· Minimise and mitigate the negative impact of the crisis
· Contain and ensure that the crisis will discontinue and not escalate or spread further

In Singapore alone, workplace safety is under scrutiny, attributing half of 200 workplace fatalities to failure in following safety plans endorsed by bosses and hast cost companies close to SGD 4 million dollars. In fact, construction, manufacturing, logistics and transportation, marine, water supply, sewerage and waste management and architectural and engineering industries figure prominently in these fines.

EMPRR 2009 Global Summit, supported by IAEM Asia Pacific and Business Continuity Institute, recognizes that your role in emergency preparedness, facilities management and business continuity management is more demanding than ever. With the economic landscape yet to withstand the downturn, your role as a professional is more critical to safeguard your infrastructure from internal and external threats, be prepared in all matters of contingencies and more so, help the company generate revenue and deliver your products and services.
The program has been designed with your challenges and purpose in mind, that is why we are bringing the top experts in the field to share with you best practices and a crowd that’s involved in emergency preparedness, facilities management and business continuity management to provide you with a holistic interaction. The EMPRR Global Summit features experts in risk management, crisis management and disaster recovery and are also top-notch and award-winning in their craft, including:
· Chosen to run the 2005 benchmarking of the UK financial sector and wrote the original 1200 questions used in that survey as the Tim Armit, who will be chairing the conference, wrote the original plans for the London Stock Exchange, Bank of England and British Airways as well as the BBC and the chapter on testing for the Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity and has been testing and using plans since 1989. Tim has led BCM tests in all business sectors from short sharp surprise tests to three day all company events. He will be sharing many "war stories" or case studies of what really happens to companies and how plans are either not used, not understood or not appropriate when a real incident occurs.

· Awarded as SPE’s Distinguished Lecturer, Peter Cockcroft who has dealt with crises in many parts of the world—evacuations of personnel in 3 different countries, has negotiated with both terrorists and criminals and has survived coups in four countries and is currently the Chairman of Blue Energy. He will be discussing how you can effectively address geopolitical risks and negotiation strategies for your business.

· The top of guy for the world’s safest airport in its category, awarded by ACI, Zeev Sarig, MD of Ben-Gurion Intl Airport, who has led the airport to become one of the safest airports in the world, awarded first prize by ACI and has been responsible for continuous revenue generation in the airport while ensuring safety, security and credibility.

By investing in EMPRR 2009 Global Summit, you will receive the following benefits:
· You will UPDATE your crisis management, organisational response and business continuity manual from multi-hazard, multi-sector and full cycle approaches, allowing you to restore order and business continuity, protect organisational assets from further damage and protect and ensure safety of people· You will IMPROVE your response time, organisational notification system, disclosure and information channels, whilst not compromising vital or confidential resources and maintain reputation and credibility internally and externally· You will BUILD rapport with various partners and service providers and focus your efforts on resources and infrastructure you need to contain and ensure that the crisis will discontinue and not escalate or spread further and bring back your business to normalcy
Plus! Attending the pre-conference workshop C will benefit your team by letting you gain insights into:
· Who is commanding?· Establishing a rescue area· Establishing a rescue team and representations of the response, rescue and medical support· Preparing alternatives· Means of communication · Technologies for command and control· Information to the public· Procedures, exercise and quality control
I have a good feeling that you will benefit from this training course that have kept Ben-Gurion as one of the safest airports in the world, awarded by ACI first prize in the category of airports. I am pleased for you to also meet responders, emergency managers, policy makers and solution providers, including:

Department of Transportation and Communications • New South Wales Fire Brigades • Ben-Gurion International Airport • Communicable Disease Control • PTIT Focus • Blue Energy • ConocoPhillips • Ministry of Home Affairs • International Association of Emergency Managers • National Science & Technology Center for Disaster Recovery • GVK Emergency Management Research Institute • Philippine Coast Guard • Risk First Consultancy • Business Continuity Institute • BCP Asia • IAEM CEM Commission • Nepal Center for Disaster Management • ASEAN Secretariat • Canadian Red Cross • Kyoto University • Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority • APEC Secretariat • Asian Disaster Preparedness Center • Aviation Security Company Limited Hong Kong • Murphy Oil • Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation • French Regional Police Attache, Embassy of France Singapore • Singapore Contractors Association Limited • Dupont • Independent Power Producers Forum • Kyoto University • White & Case • Airports Council International • Forbes Calamity Prevention • United Nations World Food Program • Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore • Singapore Changi Airport • Utilis S.A.S. • Crisis Asia • Maritime Transport Authority, Singapore • OSH Inspectorate, Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower • and a lot more.

Fresh tremors felt in S'pore

2009-10-02T00:57:00.000-07:00

Oct 1, 2009

Fresh tremors felt in S'pore

FRESH tremors were reported in several parts of Singapore for a second day on Thursday morning.

Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force received more than 60 calls from the public reporting these tremors, shortly after a second earthquake with a 6.8-magnitude hit southern Sumatra, about 480 km southwest from Singapore, at 9.52 am.

Areas that felt the tremors include the Central Business District (CBD), Beach Road, Teban Gardens, Pasir Panjang, Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Sengkang, Punggol, Sims Drive, Marine Parade, Tanjong Rhu, Woodlands, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West.

No reports of injury nor law and order concerns have been received so far, said police.

On Wednesday, tremors were felt in 234 buildings in Singapore on Wednesday evening soon after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra Coast.

They included 187 Housing Board flats, 16 private residential buildings and 31 commercial buildings, said police in an update early on Thursday morning.

Engineers from the HDB and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) inspected all the affected buildings and found them to be structurally safe and sound.

Thousands of Singaporeans had a fright when they felt tremors in the wake of the strong earthquake on Wednesday at about 6.15pm.

Scores of office workers and residents streamed out of some buildings in areas such as Raffles Place and Changi, and tremors were felt islandwide from Kembangan to Woodlands.

Some 170 calls about the tremors were also made to the authorities.

In a update on the tremors on Thursday, police assured the public that there is no cause for alarm.

'Buildings in Singapore are designed to established building codes and are sufficiently robust to withstand tremors caused by distant earthquakes,' said a police statement.

Should cracks or other structural defects develop, residents or occupants in public housing estates should call the Housing Board's Essential Maintenance Service Unit's 24-Hour Hotline at 6275 5555 or 6354 3333 while those in private buildings should call the Building & Construction Authority at 6325 7191 or 6325 7393.

EMPRR Global Summit (24-25 November 2009, Grande Copthorne Waterfront) will highlight preparedness and response tactics from global responders to ensure safety of property, lives and continuity of your business.

For more info, call 6844 2080 or info@arcmediaglobal.com

Tremors hit S'pore, KL

2009-10-02T00:50:00.001-07:00

Oct 1, 2009

INDONESIAN QUAKE

By Teh Joo Lin in Singapore & Elizabeth Looi in Kuala Lumpur
		Office workers gather outside their building after experiencing an earthquake tremor in downtown KL. -- PHOTO: AP

IT WAS a regular day at work, until accountant Kelvin Ng's office began to sway.

The 26-year-old ran nine flights down from his Bencoolen Street building to the road outside.

'It was so bad it gave my friend a headache,' he said.

He was among thousands in Singapore and Malaysia who had a fright when they felt tremors in the wake of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck off Padang, Sumatra.

For up to two minutes, people in Singapore reported seeing curtains sway, grilles rattle and chairs shake in buildings from Choa Chu Kang to Changi.

Workers and residents streamed out of some buildings in areas such as Raffles Place and Changi, and officers from the Building and Construction Authority were out inspecting buildings last night.

The authorities received some 170 calls about the tremors, but no casualties were reported.

The police said there was no cause for alarm.

'Buildings in Singapore are designed to established building codes and are sufficiently robust to withstand tremors caused by distant earthquakes,' said a spokesman.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said last night that it is monitoring the situation, but so far there were no reports of Singaporeans affected by the earthquake.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times

joolin@sph.com.sg

elizlooi@sph.com.sg

Unit to fight cyber threats

2009-10-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Sep 30, 2009

Unit to fight cyber threats

By Zakir Hussain
		SITSA will come under the ministry's Internal Security Department, which has been playing a key role in protecting the security of the Government's IT systems. -- ST PHOTO: JOSEPH NAIR FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

A NEW Government unit has been set up to fight the cyber equivalent of terrorist attacks.

New IT Security Authority to safeguard Singapore against cyber threats

2009-10-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

New IT Security Authority to safeguard Singapore against cyber threats

SINGAPORE: Singapore is taking steps to harden its national IT infrastructure against cyber—terrorism and cyber—espionage.

A new unit called the Singapore Infocomm Technology Security Authority or SITSA will be set up from October 1 to oversee efforts to safeguard the nation against infocomm technology security threats.

SITSA will be a division within the Internal Security Department (ISD) and be headed by Mr Ng Hoo Ming. This is the first time ISD is revealing the name of its officer.

It’s a volatile landscape out there for the IT industry. Industry figures show nearly 12 million computers were hacked by cyber criminals last year and close to 23,500 new infected web pages are discovered daily.

Michelle Dennedy, chief governance office, Sun Microsystems Inc, said: "The same distributive computing which facilitates commerce can also damage it. There are different types of attacks and attackers.

“It is easier than ever to be an anonymous person trying to cause havoc. At the same time we need to be strategic in planning what are our vulnerabilities"

For Singapore, Minister K.Shanmugam said the country needs to adopt a more proactive strategy to anticipate and neutralise emerging threats.

Mr Shanmugam said: "We have decided there needs to be a national level organisation that really looks at it holistically and brings all the different public sector areas together and focus intensely on key infrastructure like power, water supplies, communication. These are areas prone to attack.

“The people in charge of promoting these services will definitely look at security but it is good to have an agency that is solely focused on the security aspects and looks across sectors."

The new government agency will also enhance Singapore’s planning, preparedness and response against any major external cyber attack.

The Singapore government will not be working alone in the area of enhancing the national IT infrastructure security.

It will also be working closely with the private sector in organising cyber security briefings and exercises so that both sides can exchange ideas to further enhance the cyber defence capabilities.

Mr Shanmugam continued: "Let’s take a scenario where you actually have an attack. Many of the infrastructure are controlled by the private sector and you will need the private sector professionals to come and help. You can’t be doing it for the first time when you are under attack.

“You need to bring them earlier, prepare your lines, harden the targets and then make sure you are able to react in case an attack comes about. So we need to work together."

So from next year, the Singapore Infocomm Technology Security Authority will conduct cyber security exercises on a regular basis so that gaps can be identified and the response to recover from such attacks can be improved. — CNA/vm http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20090930/tap-285-new-security-authority-safeguard-231650b.html

Call 995, show a video

2009-10-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Oct 1, 2009

Call 995, show a video

By Muhd Nurluqman

FIREFIGHTERS will soon be able to get a preview of the blaze they are going to fight before reaching the scene.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will tweak its 995 emergency line to allow video calls from mobile phones which have the technology.

This means that the person calling 995 will be able to show the SCDF videos of the scene. These live feeds will allow the Operations Centre to better see and assess the situation live on their screens.

It will then be able to deploy the right amount of emergency vehicles and men to the site.

Once there, SCDF officers can then transmit real-time videos back to the Ops Centre to update them on the emergency.

'By harnessing new technologies, it allows us to increase our efficiency and effectiveness in responding to emergency 995 calls,' said SCDF Commissioner Peter Lim.

live video transmission capability is part of a revamp of the SCDF's emergency call-taking and despatch system at its Ops Centre that have been in place since 1999.

Dubbed the Advanced C3 Emergency System (ACES), the new command and control system will be developed by ST Electronics (Info-Software) Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ST Electronics.

The system was revealed at a contract signing ceremony at the HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok Country Club yesterday between members of the SCDF and ST Electronics.

The contract is worth about $34 million.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_436953.html

EMPRR Global Summit Features Award-Winning Experts in Emergency and Business Continuity Management

2009-10-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

The EMPRR Global Summit features experts in risk management, crisis management and disaster recovery are also top-notch and award-winning in their craft, including:

· Chosen to run the 2005 benchmarking of the UK financial sector and wrote the original 1200 questions used in that survey as the Tim Armit, who will be chairing the conference, wrote the original plans for the London Stock Exchange, Bank of England and British Airways as well as the BBC and the chapter on testing for the Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity and has been testing and using plans since 1989. Tim has led BCM tests in all business sectors from short sharp surprise tests to three day all company events. He will be sharing many "war stories" or case studies of what really happens to companies and how plans are either not used, not understood or not appropriate when a real incident occurs.

· Awarded as SPE’s Distinguished Lecturer, Peter Cockcroft who has dealt with crises in many parts of the world—evacuations of personnel in 3 different countries, has negotiated with both terrorists and criminals and has survived coups in four countries and is currently the Chairman of Blue Energy. He will be discussing how you can effectively address geopolitical risks and negotiation strategies for your business.

· The top of guy for the world’s safest airport in its category, awarded by ACI, Zeev Sarig, MD of Ben-Gurion Intl Airport, who has led the airport to become one of the safest airports in the world, awarded first prize by ACI and has been responsible for continuous revenue generation in the airport while ensuring safety, security and credibility.

Major safety lapses

2009-10-01T21:16:00.001-07:00

Sep 22, 2009

Major safety lapses

MOM: Bosses take large share of blame in half of 200 workplace deaths

By Jermyn Chow
		Top management, including chief executive officers and directors, failed to enforce proper safety plans before starting work and neglected to train workers to deal competently with their equipment. -- ST PHOTO: ABDUL AZIZ HUSSIN

HALF of the 200 workplace fatalities occurring over the past three years were caused by a failure to follow safety plans, a failure tacitly endorsed by bosses.

In these cases, management paid only lip service to safety, said Mr Silas Sng, who heads the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Inspectorate.

'While companies have some sort of safety plan in place, many do not follow through or enforce the plan,' he said in response to queries from The Straits Times. 'This condones and tacitly allows workers to take shortcuts and risks.'

Such unsafe acts included safety supervisors failing to equip workers with proper safety gear or inspecting sites properly before work started.

Top management, including chief executive officers and directors, failed to enforce proper safety plans before starting work and neglected to train workers to deal competently with their equipment.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.

jermync@sph.com.sg

9/11 ANNIVERSARY: EXPERTS WARN AGAINST COMPLACENCY

2009-09-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

9/11 ANNIVERSARY: EXPERTS WARN AGAINST COMPLACENCY

Asia’s “It-Can’t-Happen-Here” Attitude May Spell Expensive Disaster, Say International Experts

It’s been eight years since the 9/11 attacks in New York, and yet Asia still has more to keep in mind to be prepared for the worst. Business in particular are vulnerable, and threats such as terrorism, natural disasters such as Typhoon Morakot, and public health threats like swine flu may pose some of the biggest threats to business continuity.

“Take the Golden Shoe carpark in Singapore’s CBD, are the businesses around it ready if there’s an earthquake?” challenges Nathaniel Forbes, Asia Council President of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). “It’s too easy to assume the government will take care of everything, but when the (World Trade Center) twin towers fell in 2001, the businesses based in and around the buildings were the ones who picked up the pieces afterwards.”

BCM expert Dr. Joseph Ruin believes the lack of time pressure may be a factor in complacency against such threats. After all, nobody really knows when an earthquake will hit. In his bestselling industry manual, he writes “crisis involves two key elements: time pressure, threat”. He continues “indeed, the temperature of crisis depends more on the time-scale than on the magnitude of the threat”, going on to cite examples of (i) a small bomb going off in 30 seconds, (ii) a hydrogen bomb exploding in Kuching in 3 years’ time, and (iii) an asteroid colliding with Earth in 300 years’ time.
However, the cost in lives and economic losses would still be that much greater for threats that may have long or unknown timelines. Just take the recent Jakarta bombing as an example. The task of rescuing survivors, airlifting some to region’s top hospitals, securing premises, rebuilding infrastructure is no less expensive than if businesses and the government had gotten some extra warning.

Experts warn that looking for least-cost measures is not the answer, “There is no low-cost emergency”, points out Mr. Zeev Sarig, Managing Director of Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel-Aviv, whose job includes looking after the security and safety of at least 150,000 people onsite at any given moment. He continues, “cost should not be the main factor when it comes to safety.”

The world’s top experts in Business Continuity Management, Disaster Management and Facilities Management will gather in Singapore next month to discuss how the government, businesses and the community can work together to build resilience in rapidly urbanising Asia. Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery 2009 will include case studies from the above experts, as well as case studies on Typhoon Morakot, the 2006 tsunami in Aceh, and Australia’s worst-ever bushfires in February of this year. EMPRR 2009 is organised by the AMG Center for Business Strategy and Tactics. Further information on the event is available online at www.arcmediaglobal.com/emprr09.

The CBST is a research and consultancy body, assisting organisations gain competitive edge and business optimisation through training and benchmarking in key strategic skill areas such as Human Resource Management, Finance, Risk Management, Marketing and Sales.

# # #
For further information and to schedule interviews, please contact Rex Ian Sayson at +65 6844 2080 or email rex@arcmediaglobal.com

Building resilience in rapidly urbanising Asia: International conference to bring back your business back to normalcy if there’s a crisis

2009-09-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

Building resilience in rapidly urbanising Asia: International conference to bring back your business back to normalcy if there’s a crisis

• When your hotel is bombed, how long would it take for your emergency team to save your guests?
• Are you sure that your crisis management plan will work if a crises happen?
• How long will it take you to reach everyone on the management committee if your organisation had a crisis at 2.00pm on a public holiday?
• How much information would your organisation give out if it has a crisis?

Hypothetical sounding, but didn’t it seem like a hoax when someone told you that the WTC Twin Towers has fallen?

Crises occur without clues or warning signals, except perhaps the early seismic monitoring and scientific surveillance for earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Everyone can still recall the trauma of recent major crises – such as the LA forest fire threatening thousands of homes, Victorian bushfires killing 200 in Australia, the Jakarta bomb attacks at two major hotels, the Timor Sea oil spill, and the Morakot typhoon – all affecting thousands of businesses, thousands of lives, and millions of dollars in economic costs. What would you have done if this happened to you instead of them?

Since the 9/11 attacks in New York and amid increasing threats from terrorism and climate change, it seems, If you’re not prepared for all threats, you’re not prepared for any.

70% of Fortune 500 organisations have increased purchases in managing organisational disasters and CEOs of Inc’s top 100 list have already put disaster preparedness, response and recovery at the top of their boardroom agendas.

With over 50% of the total world’s disasters happening in Asia, RESILIENCE means that your organisation is ready to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from organisational threats, whether from Acts of God, mechanical problems, human errors or management decisions (or indecision).

Studies show that RESILIENCE even substantially increases your bottomline and protects your business by at least 50%!

By investing in EMPRR 2009 Global Summit, you will receive the following benefits:

• You will UPDATE your crisis management, organisational response and business continuity manual from multi-hazard, multi-sector and full cycle approaches, allowing you to restore order and business continuity, protect organisational assets from further damage and protect and ensure safety of people

• You will IMPROVE your response time, organisational notification system, disclosure and information channels, whilst not compromising vital or confidential resources and maintain reputation and credibility internally and externally

• You will BUILD rapport with various partners and service providers and focus your efforts on resources and infrastructure you need to contain and ensure that the crisis will discontinue and not escalate or spread further and bring back your business to normalcy

Top organisations and businesses have already joined us including:

Singapore Civil Defence Force • Department of Transportation and Communications • Ministry of Defence • New South Wales
Fire Brigades • Siam Bank • Ben-Gurion International Airport • Communicable Disease Control • Toronto Public Health • PTIT Focus • Blue Energy • ConocoPhillips • Ministry of Home Affairs • International Association of Emergency Managers • National Science & Technology Center for Disaster Recovery • GVK Emergency Management Research Institute • Philippine Coast Guard • Risk First Consultancy • Business Continuity Institute • BCP Asia • IAEM CEM Commission • Nepal Center for Disaster Management • ASEAN Secretariat • Canadian Red Cross • Kyoto University • Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority • APEC • Asian Disaster Preparedness Center • Aviation
Security Company Limited • Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation • French Regional Police Attache • Singapore Contractors Association Limited • Independent Power Producers Forum • Utilis S.A.S • Kyoto University • White & Case • Airports Council International • Forbes Calamity Prevention • many more...

EMPRR 2009 Global Summit is your rare opportunity to benefit from a content –rich program that links emergency management (response), business continuity and facilities management, tackling how to save lives, secure your property and information and bring back your organisation to normalcy in the event of a disaster or crises.

You only need to invest SGD 1,499 to benefit from a full 2-day conference plus 3 workshops on crisis management for leaders, BCM testing and setting up a crisis command post. Plus – just add SGD 600 and you can benefit from an additional full-day BCM Implementation Seminar, in line with the BCI’s GPG and BSI’s PAS56, conducted by the Business Continuity Institute and receive your certificate of completion. Visit our website at www.arcmediaglobal.com/emprr09.

Sharpen your saw and ensure that your business keeps functioning even through the worst of crises! Call us on +65 6844 2080 or email info@arcmediaglobal.com to register.

Warmest regards,

Paul Adams, Marketing Manager

Pandemic, emergencies, disasters and their impact on business continuity

2009-08-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've managed to come across a very compelling business-case why business continuity professionals, facilities managers and emergency reasponders need to know a more encompasssing knowledge of each other's tasks, which also apply to small businesses.

Is your BCM robust enough to have a second back up? Vice versa, is your emergency response effective enough to ensure business continuity?

More of this will be discussed at EMPRR 2009 (24-25 November 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore) in the panel discussion on Day. For more info log on to www.arcmediaglobal.com/emprr09.

An excerpt below

Thursday August 6th, 2009

Pandemic : business continuity

Today, we are used to see colleagues appear at the office, as if they would never be absent more than one day. With this “flou artistique” around the flu we have to take into account that key people may be “out of business” for two weeks. It is no problem, since most of the people can have a backup. What if this backup is also down ?

We do define for ourselves a backup and a second backup. The first person typically knows the business, whereas the second needs to be trained on the tasks to be executed “in case of”. What is crucial or not to insure the continuity of our respective businesses ?

(This is actually interesting, because we now have to tell people the essence of our jobs, which leads to a reconsidering our priorities

Procedures need to be explained and perhaps even made lighter, since there are less people to execute the different steps. What has to be done immediately, what can be postponed until the return of the key people?

For larger companies, things can be solved because the pool of people is large. But for small companies, people are already executing several (different) jobs simultaneously. How can these people become even more multidisciplinary ?

Systems have to be reconsidered. How do you manage them remotely ? How do you restart a crashed server remotely ? And how does a non-IT guy do this ? If you have a disaster recovery site as a backup for your IT, how do you manage a fallback with less and unskilled people ?

We are in any case reconsidering our procedures, backups, business continuity plans and try to consider many different scenarios.

Just in case of.

http://www.onemagazine.be/2009/08/06/pandemic-business-contuity/

Saving Lives Effectively with Public Private Partnership model

2009-07-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Interview with Mr. Venkat Changavalli, CEO, GVK EMRI

In the city of Hyderabad at a place called Karmanghat, Singareni Colony, a huge cluster of huts caught fire. Fire control at 108 was immediately contacted and the nearest fire station was also informed. Fire was successfully put off with no causalities of life or injury reported. 108 ambulances had also reached the spot.

During the Mecca Masjid Bomb Blast on 18th May, 2007 caught, one ambulance reached the spot in one minute and two more reached the spot in another 15 minutes. Ambulances made 6 trips, shifted 13 severely injured people and 23 people with minor injuries. 5 dead bodies were shifted to hospitals, despite stone pelting, etc. Excellent coordination between ERC team was shown, hospitals and police received recognition from the public, media and Government.

No matter what the scale, nor the incident, the Emergency Management & Research Institute endeavors to respond effectively and prides itself with outstanding achievements, including:

• 433 M population covered in 10 States
• 91% calls taken in first ring
• 9,700 + emergencies handled per day (3.6 Million cumulative)
• Pregnancy related - 25%, Vehicular Trauma – 22%, Acute Abdomen – 14% Cardiac – 4%, Suicidal – 4%, Respiratory – 4%, Animal Bites 3%
• 2,000 Ambulances - 5 trips a day
• < 15 minutes (urban) and < 25 minutes (rural) Ambulances reached
• One Center for 40 M population against one for every 0.05 M population in USA
• Cost per ambulance trip Rs. 600 against $600 in USA
• 13,526 + EMRI Associates
• 6,800 + Private Hospitals / Nursing homes (31% in AP and 15% in Guj - patients admitted in pvt hospitals)
• 2,000 Police / Fire Stations
• 200+ lives were saved (80,000+ till now) and 9,500 victims received timely, high-quality pre-hospital care

Arc Media Global Center for Business Strategy and Tactics interviews Mr. Venkat Changavalli, EMRI’s most revered Chief Executive Officer and delves deeper into EMRI’s secret ingredients and an insider view of its team and the life of an emergency responder:

Arc Media Global: Most people wold have read from the news about your new partner, GVK. Has your organisational direction changed since the introduction of this new partnership?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Since GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK EMRI) was born in April, 2005, we remain committed to provide integrated emergency response services in a Public Private Partnership mode with a vision to provide leadership in saving 1 M Lives per annum nationally by 2011 and establish GVK EMRI as a Premier Research and Training Institute in Emergency Management in Public Private Partnership framework.

Our goal and commitment has not changed since 4 years ago.

Arc Media Global: What impact could we see now that Dr. GVK Reddy took over EMRI management?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: As Dr. GVK Reddy, Chairman of GVK took over management of EMRI in June 2009, he drives EMRI’s further commitment to provide services surpassing global standards with improved transparency following the modern principles of management and leadership to serve the nation of India. We also want to step up further and work towards taking the organization across the Country.

Arc Media Global: Despite all the challenges faced by EMRI, your growth, service, awards and recognition have been unprecented. What would you say be the secret?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: The Public Private Partnership model has been a strong component in our success. It is the way of tapping into various partnerships and leverage on them so you can save more lives and respond to emergencies / disasters more effectively, which I shall be expounding at the EMPRR 2009 Global Summit & Exhibition in October 7-8, 2009 in Singapore.

Arc Media Global: Could you expound on some of your best practices attributed to the implementation of the model?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: The organization is based on the following best practices:

1. Process of Emergency Management

• Emergency victim / helper dials 108
• Sense: Communication Officer (CO) collects facts, Dispatch Officer (DO) scopes emergency and assigns strategically located vehicle (Ambulance/ Police / Fire)
• Reach: Vehicle(s) to reach the site
• Care: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to provide pre-hospital care while transporting patient/ victim to appropriate hospital for stabilization
• Emergency Response Centre Physician (ERCP) supports CO, DO, EMT, patient and hospital admission.

The Government of India has allotted a three-digit number – 108 and made it toll-free across each State for all emergencies. 108 is accessible from fixed lines and mobile phones.

Arc Media Global: Going back to the PPP model, how do you describe this in a nutshell?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Essentially, operational expenses and infrastructure is borne by Government (Public). The GVK EMRI bears costs of Leadership, Technology (Process, Medical & Research) and provide free IT solutions through an agreement with Mahindra Satyam. And finally, management is undertaken by GVK EMRI to sustain long-term performance at international quality and speed.

Arc Media Global: You mentioned international quality and speed. Have you achieved your desired levels in these aspects?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Indeed, we are on track. Now, we have 2006 state of the art Ambulances in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh to provide pre-hospital care covering a population of 433million. Infrastructure-wise, GVK EMRI is housed in 39 acres campus at Hyderabad with modern facilities for Emergency Management, Research and Training. And on the technology front, state of the art integrated technology is deployed in our Emergency Response Centers which enable us to provide world class services.

Arc Media Global: Your staff seems to be making a mark as well in helping build your organisation. Would you say your team is also the key reason for your success?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Certainly, our employees are described as Energetic, Modest, Reliable and Inquisitive with Commitment, Ability, Resourcefulness and Empathy, whether they work as Communication Officers, Dispatch Officers, Emergency Medical Technicians, Pilots and support staff.

Arc Media Global: We also observe that EMRI is already expanding alliances and partnership with global institutions.

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Indeed, GVK EMRI is having partnership with global organizations, such as Stanford, CMU, 9-1-1, STC, AAPI, AAEMI, Geomed, and a lot more in order to strengthen our competencies and skills and to share the best international practices.

For live discussion of the EMRI case study, attend the EMPRR 2009 Global Summit and Exhibition (7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore)—the biggest gathering of emergency and risk professionals in the business of ensuring business continuity, securing businesses and saving lives.

Symantec: Disaster Recovery Pressures Mount for Business

2009-07-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

by By Joan Goodchild , CSO , 07/01/2009

Organizations are feeling the pressure to ensure their disaster recovery plan is ready to go and unfailingly reliable, according to a report released this week by Symantec. The report, the security software vendor's fifth annual IT Disaster Recovery survey, found that while DR times were reduced from previous years, disaster recovery testing and virtualization are still major challenges for organizations.

According to the survey, the average cost of executing/implementing disaster recovery plans for each downtime incident worldwide $287,600. However, for organizations in North America, the median cost can climb to as high as $900,000. Globally, this number is highest for healthcare and financial services organizations. In North America, the median cost for financial institutions is $650,000, according to the report.

Most organizations, 93 percent of respondents, said they have had to put their DR plans to work and that it takes on average three hours to achieve skeleton operations after an outage, and four hours to be up and running. This is dramatically improved over the 2008 findings, where only three percent of respondents reported that they could achieve skeleton operations within 12 hours, and 31 percent believed they would have baseline operations within one day, said Symantec officials in a release on the findings.

The report also said that respondents report DR testing increasingly impacts customers and revenue, and one in four tests fail. Nearly a third of organizations don't test virtual environments as part of their disaster recovery plans, and a slightly larger percentage of virtual environments aren't regularly backed up.

The study also shows that while DR budgets are higher in 2009, they are expected to remain flat over the next few years. The annual median budget for disaster recovery initiatives, including backup, recovery, clustering, archiving, spare servers, replication, tape, services, disaster recovery plan development and offsite costs at data centers surveyed is $50 million. According to respondents, this number will continue to grow throughout 2009, but more than half, 52 percent, of respondents believe that budgets will be flat in 2010.

The report makes no mention of the CSO's role in DR but did find 70 percent of respondents involved the CIO, CTO or IT director on their DR committees. This is a significant increase from last year's research where 33 percent of respondents indicated executive involvement, said Symantec.

"As budgets increased over the past year, disaster recovery initiatives have become more of a competitive differentiator, and impact of downtown on customers is greater than ever. Another reason for executive involvement is the increase of applications that are seen as mission critical," Symantec officials said in the statement. "Sixty percent of applications were deemed mission critical by respondents, and nearly the same amount is covered in disaster recovery plans. Any sort of outage to these systems will have an enormous impact to the business."

Saving Lives Effectively with Public Private Partnership model

2009-07-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

Saving Lives Effectively with Public Private Partnership model

Interview with Mr. Venkat Changavalli, CEO, GVK EMRI

In the city of Hyderabad at a place called Karmanghat, Singareni Colony, a huge cluster of huts caught fire. Fire control at 108 was immediately contacted and the nearest fire station was also informed. Fire was successfully put off with no causalities of life or injury reported. 108 ambulances had also reached the spot.

During the Mecca Masjid Bomb Blast on 18th May, 2007 caught, one ambulance reached the spot in one minute and two more reached the spot in another 15 minutes. Ambulances made 6 trips, shifted 13 severely injured people and 23 people with minor injuries. 5 dead bodies were shifted to hospitals, despite stone pelting, etc. Excellent coordination between ERC team was shown, hospitals and police received recognition from the public, media and Government.

No matter what the scale, nor the incident, the Emergency Management & Research Institute endeavors to respond effectively and prides itself with outstanding achievements, including:

• 433 M population covered in 10 States

• 91% calls taken in first ring

• 9,700 + emergencies handled per day (3.6 Million cumulative)

• Pregnancy related - 25%, Vehicular Trauma – 22%, Acute Abdomen – 14% Cardiac – 4%, Suicidal – 4%, Respiratory – 4%, Animal Bites 3%

• 2,000 Ambulances - 5 trips a day

• < style="mso-spacerun:yes"> (urban) and < style="mso-spacerun:yes"> reached

• One Center for 40 M population against one for every 0.5 M population in USA

• Cost per ambulance trip Rs. 600 against $600 in USA

• 13,526 + EMRI Associates

• 6,800 + Private Hospitals / Nursing homes (31% in AP and 15% in Guj - patients admitted in pvt hospitals)

• 2,000 Police / Fire Stations

• 200+ lives were saved (80,000+ till now) and 9,500 victims received timely, high-quality pre-hospital care

Arc Media Global Center for Business Strategy and Tactics interviews Mr. Venkat Changavalli, EMRI’s most revered Chief Executive Officer and delves deeper into EMRI’s secret ingredients and an insider view of its team and the life of an emergency responder:

Arc Media Global: Most people wold have read from the news about your new partner, GVK. Has your organisational direction changed since the introduction of this new partnership?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Since GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK EMRI) was born in April, 2005, we remain committed to provide integrated emergency response services in a Public Private Partnership mode with a vision to provide leadership in saving 1 M Lives per annum nationally by 2011 and establish GVK EMRI as a Premier Research and Training Institute in Emergency Management in Public Private Partnership framework.

Our goal and commitment has not changed since 4 years ago.

Arc Media Global: What impact could we see now that Dr. GVK Reddy took over EMRI management?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: As Dr. GVK Reddy, Chairman of GVK took over management of EMRI in June 2009, he drives EMRI’s further commitment to provide services surpassing global standards with improved transparency following the modern principles of management and leadership to serve the nation of India. We also want to step up further and work towards taking the organization across the Country.

Arc Media Global: Despite all the challenges faced by EMRI, your growth, service, awards and recognition have been unprecented. What would you say be the secret?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: The Public Private Partnership model has been a strong component in our success. It is the way of tapping into various partnerships and leverage on them so you can save more lives and respond to disasters more effectively, which I shall be expounding at the EMPRR 2009 Global Summit & Exhibition in October 7-8, 2009 in Singapore.

Arc Media Global: Could you expound on some of your best practices attributed to the implementation of the model?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: The organization is based on the following best practices:

1. Process of Emergency Management

o Emergency victim / helper dials 108

o Sense: Communication Officer (CO) collects facts, Dispatch Officer (DO) scopes emergency and assigns strategically located vehicle (Ambulance/ Police / Fire)

o Reach: Vehicle(s) to reach the site

o Care: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to provide pre-hospital care while transporting patient/ victim to appropriate hospital for stabilization

o Emergency Response Centre Physician (ERCP) supports CO, DO, EMT, patient and hospital admission.

The Government of India has allotted a three-digit number – 108 and made it toll-free across each State for all emergencies. 108 is accessible from fixed lines and mobile phones.

Arc Media Global: Going back to the PPP model, how do you describe this in a nutshell?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Essentially, operational expenses and infrastructure is borne by Government (Public). The GVK EMRI bears costs of Leadership, Technology (Process, Medical & Research) and provide free IT solutions through an agreement with Mahindra Satyam. And finally, management is undertaken by GVK EMRI to sustain long-term performance at international quality and speed.

Arc Media Global: You mentioned international quality and speed. Have you achieved your desired levels in these aspects?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Indeed, we are on track. Now, we have 206 state of the art Ambulances in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh to provide pre-hospital care covering a population of 433million. Infrastructure-wise, GVK EMRI is housed in 39 acres campus at Hyderabad with modern facilities for Emergency Management, Research and Training. And on the technology front, state of the art integrated technology is deployed in our Emergency Response Centers which enable us to provide world class services.

Arc Media Global: Your staff seems to be making a mark as well in helping build your organisation. Would you say your team is also the key reason for your success?

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Certainly, our employees are described as Energetic, Modest, Reliable and Inquisitive with Commitment, Ability, Resourcefulness and Empathy, whether they work as Communication Officers, Dispatch Officers, Emergency Medical Technicians, Pilots and support staff.

Arc Media Global: We also observe that EMRI is already expanding alliances and partnership with global institutions.

Mr. Venkat Changavalli: Indeed, GVK EMRI is having partnership with global organizations, such as Stanford, CMU, 9-1-1, STC, AAPI, AAEMI, Geomed, and a lot more in order to strengthen our competencies and skills and to share the best international practices.

For live discussion of the EMRI case study, attend the EMPRR 2009 Global Summit and Exhibition (7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore)—the biggest gathering of emergency and risk professionals in the business of ensuring business continuity, securing businesses and saving lives.

The only proactive, integrated, multi-hazard, multi-sectoral disaster management event that will help you manage disasters, before, during and after they occur.

Jet didn't break up mid-air

2009-07-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2009

AIR FRANCE CRASH

PARIS - THE Air France jetliner that crashed in the Atlantic a month ago with 228 people on board did not break up in mid-air, the French bureau leading the investigation said on Thursday.

'The plane was not destroyed while in flight,' said Alain Bouillard from the BEA accident investigation agency, which released its first report on the June 1 disaster.

'The plane appears to have hit the surface of the water in flying position with a strong vertical acceleration,' he added, explaining that the plane hit the water belly-first.

The crash of Flight 447 from Rio to Paris was the worst in Air France's history.

There had been speculation that problems with the Airbus' airspeed sensors, or pitot tubes, may have caused the plane to stall or fly dangerously fast, causing a high-altitude breakup.

Brazil decided on June 27 to call off the recovery operation but France has maintained its nuclear submarine, research vessel and other boats in the area on a final hunt for the black boxes.

The BEA lead investigator said the search would continue until July 10.

The homing beacons on the flight recorders emit signals for about one month after the crash and the BEA hopes that they will have a longer-than-usual shelf life.

Investigators have been scrutinising some 640 pieces of debris recovered from the crash zone for any clue as to what brought down the plane as it flew through turbulence over the Alantic.

Autopsies were being performed on 51 bodies pulled from the disaster area, some 1,000 kilometres off Brazil's coast. -- AFP

Human-Induced Disasters: National Security Concern

2009-07-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

A wounded woman lies on the ground following a blast at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in central Jakarta July 17, 2009

REUTERS/Lydia Ruddy.

Jakarta hotel bombs kill 9, dent investor confidence

2009-07-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

By Telly Nathalia and Olivia Rondonuwu

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Bomb blasts ripped through the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's business district on Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens in attacks that could dent investor confidence in Indonesia.

A car bomb also blew up along a toll road in North Jakarta, police said without giving further details. Indonesia's Metro TV said two people had been killed. An unexploded bomb was also later found at the Marriott, police said.

The apparently coordinated bombings are the first in several years and follow a period in which the government had made progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups, bringing a sense of political stability to Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Suspicion is likely to fall on remnants of the Jemaah Islamiah militant group, blamed for previous attacks including a car bombing outside the Marriott in 2003 as well as bombings on the island of Bali the previous year that killed 202 people.

"I think the attacks are devastating for the image of security that Indonesia has built up painstakingly over the past four years," said Kevin O'Rourke, a political risk analyst in Jakarta.

"The attack is particularly severe for investor confidence because it took place despite strenuous counter-terrorist efforts by the government and has affected the hotels that are seen to be among the most secure in Jakarta and also either killed or wounded numerous prominent expatriate businesspeople."

Tim Mackay, president director of cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia, was among those killed in the hotel attacks, the company said. Police said nine people had been killed including foreigners. More than 42 people were wounded.

INDONESIAN MARKETS DIP

Indonesian financial markets fell after the blasts, with the rupiah down 0.7 percent at 10,200 per dollar, prompting state banks to sell dollars to support the currency, traders said. Indonesian stocks were down some 2 percent.

A spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called the blasts a "terrorist" act. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also condemned the attacks.

The Manchester United soccer team said it had canceled the Jakarta leg of an Asian tour. A Ritz-Carlton employee said the team had been due to stay at the hotel ahead of a game in Indonesia early next week.

Witnesses said the bombings at the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton were minutes apart and it appeared both had occurred inside the hotels, judging from the way windows were blown out.

That will raise inevitable questions about how tight security at the luxury hotels could be penetrated.

At the Ritz-Carlton, torn curtains flapped around broken windows and glass lay around the hotel. There was blood on the street across from the Marriott. The hotels are near each other in a business area home to many offices, embassies and bars.

Scores of foreigners and Indonesian hotel guests milled behind police lines in the hours after the blasts, some still wearing bathrobes.

"It was very loud, it was like thunder, it was rather continuous, and then followed by the second explosion," said Vidi Tanza, who works near the hotel, describing the blasts.

PROGRESS SINCE SUHARTO FELL

The bombings will also be a blow for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, re-elected last week in a crushing election victory that reflected the former general's steady leadership and firm stance on security.

Both parliamentary elections in April and the presidential poll this month passed peacefully, underscoring the progress made by the world's most populous Muslim nation since the chaos and violence that surrounded the downfall of ex-autocrat Suharto in the late 1990s.

"I would say it damages foreign investor confidence since the attacks appear aimed at Westerners, but not shatter it, so long as there is no further violence for some time," said Sean Callow, currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney.

Lydia Ruddy, a witness who lives in the area, said she heard an explosion and saw smoke coming from the Marriott, followed five minutes later by another explosion at the Ritz-Carlton.

Jemaah Islamiah, which wants to create an Islamic state across parts of Southeast Asia, was blamed for a string of attacks between 2002-2005 in Indonesia. Many militants have since been arrested. But an Australian security report on Thursday said Jemaah Islamiah could be poised to strike again.

Leadership tensions in the group and recent prison releases of its members raised the possibility that splinter groups might now seek to re-energize the movement through violent attacks, said the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The report said Jemaah Islamiah was now a splintered group which may not be capable of replicating mass casualty attacks, but warned there was evidence that JI members released from prison "are gravitating toward hardline groups who continue to advocate al Qaeda-style attacks against Western targets." "These hardline groups continue to believe that the use of violence against the "enemies of Islam" is justified under any circumstances," said the report.

(Additional reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney, Harry Suhartono in Singapore, Writing by Dean Yates and Sara Webb, Editing by Jerry Norton)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56G0EX20090717?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11569

Access EMPRR Updates on Twitter!

2009-07-16T08:22:00.001-07:00

FACT: Do you know that Twitter actually saved someone's life in danger as early as 2006? Tweet with EMPRR to know facts and trivia on emergency preparedness and response.

EMPRR09 tweets on www.twitter.com/emprr - 140 words of pure non stop updates leading to the event!!!

Attendees EMPRR 2009

2009-07-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

EMPRR 2009 (7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Level 2, Singapore) gathers Permanent Secretaries, Director-Generals, Chief Executives, Other Heads of Agencies and Disaster Recovery Coordination Councils.

Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery 2009 also brings to you Directors, Chiefs, Heads, Managers and Project Officers in these disciplines:

Emergency First Response

Disaster Management

Business Continuity

Risk Management

Crisis Management
Policy & Planning

Plans

IT/Infocomm

Operations

Audit

Doctrine

Security

Personnel & Manpower

Policy Development

Building and Facilities Management

Human-induced disaster: Acts of terror costs Nigeria USD 1.5 billion dollars a year

2009-07-16T03:48:00.000-07:00

A Classic Lesson from the Nigerian Pipeline Disaster

2009-07-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

“Effective emergency preparedness is a task that is never done, but requires continuing commitment and leadership because circumstances change and continuing trade-offs because we will never have the funds to do everything we might like to do.” - Statement of William O. Jenkins, Jr., Director Homeland Security and Justice Issues, State of California

The impact of regular terror attacks is too big to be ignored
Aside from natural and accidental calamities, man-made catastrophes have grown to such a scale that they have become almost anticipated disasters. In Nigeria, for example, a total of 1 million barrels’ worth of oil exports are lost every day due to human-induced disasters resulting from intentional acts of terror.

Just barely 3 months ago, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited had to shut down a number of oil installations after suspected sabotage led to explosions on a pipeline. This shutdown has led to a loss of about 70,000 barrels per day for the oil giant.

Two days ago, Nigerian militants admitted to a separate pipeline bombing incident of a Chevron facility delivering crude between Olero and Abiteye. And recently, The Italian gas company, Agip, was forced to shut down its oil facilities, after “heavily armed fighters” bombed the Niger Delta facility.

In an act of intimidation, the insurgent group MEND on July 14 has warned the international football association FIFA that it should "rethink" allowing Nigeria to host the upcoming under-17 World Cup series later this year as the safety of international players and visitors cannot be guaranteed.

Nigeria loses about $1.5 billion yearly to terror attacks, and there is an urgent need for the government to address the situation.

The incomplete agenda
Laudably, the recently concluded Nigeria 2009 Oil and Gas Conference has agreed to reinvest profits to infrastructure to reduce poverty, an answer to terror attacks. Uplifting economic conditions is indeed one way to mitigate the growth and support for militants. The militants themselves admitted that the acts of terror were borne to advocate reinvestment to development projects and campaign for anti-corruption.

Tactically, however, this move alone is not sufficient to address the challenges posed by the destabilizing forces. Building infrastructure will take several years, but direct action is needed now for a more complete and immediate response to the challenges. There is still work to be done in saving lives and securing the physical assets of businesses, the government and the private sector, and in formulating a clear response and recovery plan.

There are multiple facets to disaster preparedness. Are your disaster recovery plans adequate?

Addressing limits to our disaster response capacities
The classic lesson highlights the limitations of our current understanding and capacity to respond effectively to human-induced hazards. Not to mention the severity of catastrophic events which almost immediately overwhelm national, local and organisational response capacities that require response almost immediately.

The acts of terror and natural hazard do not recognize political or organisational boundaries and could impale economies and businesses. Addressing catastrophic events must be well-catered for in every budget, but even beyond that, sometimes addressing them requires unconventional means.

The evolving role of the emergency and risk manager and the need for further collaboration
Your role as an emergency manager is now more important than ever. It goes beyond just coordinating disaster response or crisis management activities, providing disaster preparedness training, and preparing emergency plans and procedures for natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes), wartime, or technological (e.g., nuclear power plant emergencies, hazardous materials spills) disasters or hostage situations.
For example, the US’ 9-11 cataclysmic terror attacks expanded the extent of emergency preparedness to also include public safety, homeland security, emergency medical facilities, the international community and the private sector.

While the private sector must compliment the government, the size of the investment needed usually means that government is the best-equipped agency to do so, as noted by Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of SPDC.

Effectively dealing with emergency requires a proactive, integrated, multi-hazard, multi-sectoral and full-cycle approach. As the rules of the game get tougher, are you confident that you know everything there is to know about how to mitigate effectively against disaster, manage rescue and response or organise and deliver relief?

EMPRR 2009 Global Summit & Exhibition, 7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfont Hotel Level 2, Singapore — the biggest gathering of emergency managers and business continuity experts in Asia — will provide you the platform to explore what you had to know, and partner with the right people for you to be able to reduce the risk, damage, and loss, shorten the recovery period, and ensure business continuity.

During the occurrence of a major disaster is too late a time to be exchanging business cards
Assessing, developing, attaining and sustaining needed emergency preparedness, response and recovery capabilities is a difficult task that requires sustained leadership, and the coordinated efforts of many stakeholders from a variety of first responder disciplines, levels of government, the community and the business sector at the right time.

Don’t wait for disaster to happen! EMPRR 2009 brings an agenda that:
• provides numerous case studies,
• showcases new technologies and strategies to predict hazards,
• teaches you to assess the risk to human life and property,
• guides you in planning a response to an emergency,
• illlustrates how to discover and recover from damage,
• discusses how to manage ongoing hazardous conditions,
• demonstrates how to plan and mitigate for future hazards, and,
• leads the discussion to impact policy and decision making.

Grab the opportunity of our early bird promotion!
Save your company 30% off the regular price if you confirm and register before 31 July 2009. EMPRR09 provides preferred rates to government and partner organisations and emergency first responders, kindly send me an email for more info.

As for the terror attacks, I hope I could meet you in Singapore to discuss how strategically and tactically, these could best be solved!

Sincerely,

Paul Adams
Marketing Manager
EMPRR 2009

P.S. As an emergency or risk manager, you are also in charge of protecting your organisational assets, ensuring business continuity and forge partnership to help you fulfil your task better. Attend Workshop B to find out more strategies you can employ and claim your complimentary copies of 2 books related to BCP/BCM.

Clinch some deals despite the downturn

2009-07-16T03:03:00.000-07:00

EMPRR 2009 offers a different kind of value proposition--a summit with a unique trade show experience that goes beyond plain window shopping into actual buying and selling, with high-level think tanks and decision-makers who shape the field of Emergency Management, Business Continuity and other Disaster Management Disciplines.

The purpose of the delegates is straightforward-they want to ensure prepared and resilient corporations, small businesses and communities.

They are government officials whose track is in monitoring billion's worth of assets and protecting millions of loves from disasters.

They are top corporate executives who are upgrading their business continuity systems in the face of new regulations.

They are business owners who are in the process of complying with regulations.

They are influencers who set the path and priorities in the field.

And the great thing is: They're all here.

Supported by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), ASEAN Disaster Management Committee, International Association of Emergency Managers, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Canadian Red Cross, Business Continuity Institute and Singapore Contractors Association and the Singapore Tourism Board, EMPRR 2009 is the only event that you need to sponsor or exhibit in in 2009, if you are offering strong products and services in the emergency, business continuity and risk management disciplines.

For more info on super early bird packages for sponsorship and exhibition packages, please email info@arcmediaglobal.com or call +65 6844 2080 and mention, EMPRR 2009.

RE: Computer failure may have caused US train crash

2009-07-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

“At the time of the crash, the train was also operating in automatic mode, meaning it was controlled primarily by computer. In that mode, the operator's main job is to open and close the doors and respond to emergencies.”
- Associated Press, 24 June 2009

In the deadliest accident in the 30-year history of the Washington DC Metro, a train plowed into a stopped train ahead of it at the height of the Monday evening rush hour, killing nine people and injuring more than 70.

In an interview, Debbie Hersman, an investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board, said that the trains were in automatic mode, as was standard procedure. She also revealed that it wasn’t known if the emergency brake was used. She said, “It was unclear if the emergency brake was actually engaged when Monday's crash occurred. But the mushroom-shaped button that activates it was found pushed down in the operator's compartment.” However, Hersman stressed that it wasn't known whether the button was pressed before the crash, or in the aftermath. – AP

Automation of your processes does not ensure that your operations are disaster-resilient. It is impossible to predict or prevent all causes of system failure. Crews spent Tuesday pulling apart the wreckage and searching for bodies in a highly automated train. Authorities are still working to determine why the train's safeguards apparently did not kick in. There is a clear need for a comprehensive emergency preparedness plan that can be called into action in unforeseen and unforeseeable contingencies.

When you are in a bottoming economy especially, you can’t afford to make mistakes. Companies have increased awareness and focus on business continuity and making sure that their operations are disaster-resilient. “I’m no longer surprised when my colleagues across the region talk about business continuity. The efforts and awareness on business continuity and managing emergency have indeed increased,” added Julius Seno, ConocoPhillips Indonesia in an interview with the Center for Business Strategy and Tactics, the organiser for this year’s Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery 2009.

EMPRR 2009 Global Summit & Exhibition (7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Singapore) will gather leaders in emergency, disaster management and business continuity disciplines, policy makers, regional players, business owners and top corporate executives and aims to achieve a region of disaster-resilient nations and safer communities, through early warning systems and new technologies, strong global public-private partnerships and regional capacity-building. Delegates will also pick up early updates on current regional regulations, national government initiatives and industry partnerships on emergency management and benchmarking.

Please contact Paul Adams for information on sponsorships, exhibition, partnerships, speaking slots or delegate registration:
· Call +65 6844 2080
· Fax +65 6844 2060, or
· Email info@arcmediaglobal.com (subject line: EMPRR 2009)
· For more info, kindly visit www.arcmediaglobal.com/emprr09

Please include your name, job title, company name, direct telephone and email address in your fax or email, and we will call you back. Special super early bird discounts of up to 30% apply to sponsorship agreements and delegate registrations finalised before 30 June 2009.

We look forward to welcoming you in October in Singapore!

Sincerely,

Paul Adams
Marketing Manager
EMPRR 2009 Desk
AMG CBST

EMERGENCY MITIGATION, PREPAREDNESS,RESPONSE & RECOVERY 2009

2009-07-16T02:46:00.000-07:00

Onward to a region of disaster-resilient nations and safer communities through early warning systems andnew technologies, strong global public-privatepartnerships and regional capacity-building

Grand Copthorne Waterfront Level 2, Singapore, 7-8 October 2009

Dear colleague,

“The need for business continuity and disaster recovery has come to the fore in the light of a possible H1N1 outbreak that could impale firms. However, most businesses have yet to fully understand what is involved, thinking that business continuity and disaster recovery is just an IT exercise.”- The Straits Times, 10 June 2009

The recent Air France crash in Brazil killing 228 people on board, the outbreak of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 bringing 100 casualties in less than a month, the Victorian bushfire killing 200 adults and children one fine day in February this year and hundreds of thousands of casualties and survivors from last year’s Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar resulted from disasters that prompted emergency managers and disaster experts to converge in an impactful 2-day Asia-Pacific World conference, Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery 2009 (EMPRR 2009), on 7-8 October 2009 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Singapore organised by the AMG Center for Business Strategy and Tactics (CBST).

With the impetus from the 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action, the global instrument for promoting disaster preparedness, “governments and firms are now focusing heavily on risk reduction, aside from response,” said Adelina Kamal, Head, ASEAN DMHAD. Pundits say that ideally the CEO or the business decision-maker should lead (business continuity and disaster management) efforts as the potential impact of a disaster especially on the industry, public and profitability is dire. (source: Straits Times)

Ideally the CEO or the business decision-maker should lead (business continuity and disaster management) efforts as the potential impact of a disaster especially on the industry, public and profitability is dire.“When you are in a bottoming economy, you can’t afford to make mistakes. Your processes should be 101% resilient to potential disasters that could harm your business and the community,” said CBST Director Francis Mercado.

The EMPRR 2009 Asia Pacific Convention and Exhibition is attended by industry leaders, decision makers, international players in charge of emergency management, risk management and business continuity from all over Asia Pacific, including ASEAN Head of Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance Division Adelina Kamal, SCDF Commissioner Peter Lim, Undersecretary of Maritime Transport Tom Lantion, NSWFB Commissioner Mark Whybro, IAEM Asia Pacific President Nathaniel Forbes, Le Commissaire Divisionnaire Yves GODIVEAU (Attaché régional de sécurité intérieure à Singapour).

The impetus for this conference is fourfold:

1) Grave disasters can be avoided if early warning technologies were available and implemented

2) A unique kind of alertness and preparation is critical and should be available even without early warning

3) Government readiness for disasters is strengthened with the recognition that emergency response is not just an ad-hoc function but a full time

4) In face of disasters, your neighbours are your best allies – therefore regional cooperation and readiness have to exist readily for effective disaster management

The international convention aims to achieve a region of disaster-resilient nations and safer communities, through early warning systems and new technologies, strong global public-private partnerships and regional capacity-building.

Delegates will also pick up early updates on current regional regulations, national government initiatives and industry partnerships on emergency management and benchmarking.Please contact Paul Adams for information on sponsorships, exhibition, partnerships, speaking slots or delegate registration:· Call +65 6844 2080· Fax +65 6844 2060, or· Email info@arcmediaglobal.com (subject line: EMPRR 2009)· For more info, kindly visit www.arcmediaglobal.com/emprr09

Please include your name, job title, company name, direct telephone and email address in your fax or email, and we will call you back.

Special super early bird discounts of up to 30% apply to sponsorship agreements and delegate registrations finalised before 30 June 2009.We look forward to welcoming you in October in Singapore!

Sincerely,
Paul Adams
Marketing Manager
EMPRR 2009 Desk
AMG CBST

Ensuring Emergency Preparedness During Times of Scarce Resources

2009-07-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

By E. Francis Mercado, Emergency Preparedness Desk

“There’s no low-cost emergency,” says Mr. Sarig, as he explains in an interview by Arc Media Global Center for Business Strategy and Tactics on 22 June 2009 at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore.

“It’s easy to use the economic downturn as a reason for not investing in emergence preparedness. But it will turn out that such activity will actually be more costly in the long run, especially in an unexpected turn of events.”

For Ben-Gurion International Airport, cited as one of the safest airports in the world in its size and category, investing in emergency preparedness is a key priority, aside from keeping the airport profitable. In fact, it’s probably one of the fewest airports in the world that has the General Manager also heading up safety and security.

Recently, the airport completed an emergency preparedness drill involving 1,500 people, 2 air force helicopters, 5 hospitals and different vital agencies. They performed an extensive and complicated drill, prepared for 3 nights and encompassing proper response to on-the-ground disastrous scenarios, even including the burning of a 747 and airplane crash. He was quite pleased with the unity of the response team as they performed the drill and said that this was a kind of preparation and alertness that’s needed–i.e., the airport has to be prepared even out of a sudden crisis.

Achieving the impossible is what’s needed, such as, being ready to respond, despite no early warning. “Early warning is useful,” Mr. Sarig said, “but most of the time, emergencies happen so suddenly, you only have 7 minutes to respond. The question is: Are you prepared to handle such a scenario?”

Several methods that Mr. Sarig used can be adapted to different companies, and will be shared at the upcoming, Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery 2009 Global Summit and Exhibition (7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Level 2, Singapore).

For more info, contact Paul Adams atinfo@arcmediaglobal.com.

EMPRR 2009

Civil Defence and Emergency Preparedness

Asia-Pacific Region: Working Better Together on Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recover

Asia-Pacific Region: Working Better Together on Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery

Natural Hazards

China Disaster Preparedness and Reduction

Aid Groups Reaching Quake-Ravaged Indonesia

Multimedia

Rescue Efforts Continue in Quake-Ravaged Indonesia

Deadly Earthquakes

Related

Living on the Edge, Geologically Speaking (October 2, 2009)

The Lede: Earthquake Updates(September 30, 2009)

List of Countries That Have Sent Aid to Indonesia (October 2, 2009)

INDONESIA: Aid slow to arrive after quake

INDONESIA: Aid slow to arrive after quake

INDONESIA: Climate change worsening disasters, says UN

INDONESIA: Climate change worsening disasters, says UN

DPWH Forms "Permanent" Disaster Preparedness Teams for Calamity-Prone RP

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009DPWH Forms "Permanent" Disaster Preparedness Teams for Calamity-Prone RP

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009

Triple punch tests disaster preparedness in Asia-Pacific region

Triple punch tests disaster preparedness in Asia-Pacific region

U.N. urges Asia to spend more on disaster preparedness

Top 3 Insights on Managing Emergencies on the Headlines

Fresh tremors felt in S'pore

Tremors hit S'pore, KL

Unit to fight cyber threats

New IT Security Authority to safeguard Singapore against cyber threats

New IT Security Authority to safeguard Singapore against cyber threats

Call 995, show a video

EMPRR Global Summit Features Award-Winning Experts in Emergency and Business Continuity Management

Major safety lapses

9/11 ANNIVERSARY: EXPERTS WARN AGAINST COMPLACENCY

Building resilience in rapidly urbanising Asia: International conference to bring back your business back to normalcy if there’s a crisis

Pandemic, emergencies, disasters and their impact on business continuity

Saving Lives Effectively with Public Private Partnership model

Symantec: Disaster Recovery Pressures Mount for Business

Saving Lives Effectively with Public Private Partnership model

o Emergency victim / helper dials 108

o Sense: Communication Officer (CO) collects facts, Dispatch Officer (DO) scopes emergency and assigns strategically located vehicle (Ambulance/ Police / Fire)

o Reach: Vehicle(s) to reach the site

o Care: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to provide pre-hospital care while transporting patient/ victim to appropriate hospital for stabilization

o Emergency Response Centre Physician (ERCP) supports CO, DO, EMT, patient and hospital admission.

The Government of India has allotted a three-digit number – 108 and made it toll-free across each State for all emergencies. 108 is accessible from fixed lines and mobile phones.

Jet didn't break up mid-air

Human-Induced Disasters: National Security Concern

Jakarta hotel bombs kill 9, dent investor confidence

Access EMPRR Updates on Twitter!

Attendees EMPRR 2009

Human-induced disaster: Acts of terror costs Nigeria USD 1.5 billion dollars a year

A Classic Lesson from the Nigerian Pipeline Disaster

Clinch some deals despite the downturn

RE: Computer failure may have caused US train crash

EMERGENCY MITIGATION, PREPAREDNESS,RESPONSE & RECOVERY 2009

Ensuring Emergency Preparedness During Times of Scarce Resources

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
DPWH Forms "Permanent" Disaster Preparedness Teams for Calamity-Prone RP