Regional community based disaster risk management

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) is a non-governmental organization specialized in working with communities to develop locally relevant projects that will improve their preparedness for a range of natural disasters; and to help those communities to respond to them more effectively.

Having already partnered with ADPC in several projects to improve the resilience of communities and small enterprises in Thailand, we have decided to extend our support to ADPC for a project that will be implemented regionally.

Through this latest initiative, ADPC will enhance community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) capacities in five Asian countries: Bhutan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

CBDRM are usually complex projects involving multiple actors, and regional programs still more so. This challenging regional initiative will build capacities of hazard-prone communities in Bhutan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – enabling them to reduce local disaster risks by designing and implementing CBDRM activities.

This project also aims to utilize CBDRM outputs, such as risk assessment plans, and integrate them into the ongoing local processes for the long-term sustainability of these communities. Finally, the project will enhance the technical capacities of local government officials enabling them to include CBDRM techniques and learnings into their annual and long-term development plans.

ADPC has been working in disaster management in Asia for nearly three decades, and is using this experience to implement a regional CBDRM program drawing together communities, and local and regional authorities on a wider scale.

ADPC estimates that around 70,000 people in 20 communities across the five countries will benefit directly from the project.