Regional Office Science Planning Group on Hazards and Disasters Meet in Kuala Lumpur
The newly established Science Planning Group on Hazards and Disasters of the ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific met in Kuala Lumpur to plan the agenda for a programme on hazards and disasters in Asia and the Pacific on 4 and 5 June 2007. In attendance were Harsh Gupta (National Geophysical Research Institute , India), Daniel Murdiyarso (Centre for International Forestry Research, Indonesia), Sereee Supharatid ( Rangsit University, Thailand), Chen Dehui ( Center for Numerical Prediction Research, China), Cao Dinh Trieu (Institute of Geophysics, Vietnam), James Terry (The University of the South Pacific, Fiji Islands), and Chamhuri Siwar (National University of Malaysia). Two other members of the planning group were unable to attend.
The Planning Group took note of the pressing importance of addressing the knowledge needs of the Asia Pacific region where the incidence of hazards and disasters and loss of human lives from hazards and disasters was highest of all the regions of the world. The aim of the plan was to guide the work of the ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in the next three to ten years in enhancing research activities and understanding on hazards and disasters in Asia and the Pacific especially in areas where there are significant gaps. The Plan will focus on three primary hazards viz. earthquakes, floods and landslides that frequently become disasters especially in highly populated regions of Asia. In islands of the Pacific, although total loss of lives in disasters may be small, it is disproportionately high when considered in relation to the total population of a particular island. The proposed plan will also suggest how the negative economic and health impacts of hazards and disasters in Asia and the Pacific can be mitigated from past experience in the region.
The Science Plan will be tabled to ICSU members and the science community, especially that of the Asia and Pacific region at a Regional Consultation in November 2007. The Consultation will also discuss plans for work on the other priority area for the Regional Office i.e. promoting the ecosystem approach to water and food management systems. A scoping exercise to determine the agenda for work on sustainable energy, the third priority area identified by the Regional Committee of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, will also be undertaken at the Regional Consultation.
