Space Apps Challenge 2018

References:

1-https://hazdoc.colorado.edu/bitstream/handle/10590...

2-http://archives.datapages.com/data/geological-soci...

Disaster Risk Reduction in South East Asia

Disaster Risk Reduction within GRC Disaster Management, GRC has a long history in helping victims of natural disasters, and disaster management is still one of its core capacities.

However, over the past decades GRC has become increasingly engaged in long-term development projects that build local capacity, preparedness and resilience, and reduce vulnerabilities.

This shift towards DRR is part of a wider process in the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, with the aim of assisting communities in building their self-help capacities and strengthening the resilience of particularly vulnerable groups such as women, children, elderly people and people with disabilities towards potential disasters.

GRC support to all DRR programs of Sister National Societies follows the priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015 by:

• Identifying, assessing and monitoring disaster risks and enhancing early warning through risk assessments, risk mapping, elaboration and dissemination.

• Using knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels both by including DRR in school curricula as well as training DRR at Local Government Unit and community levels.

• Strengthening disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels through volunteerism and participation as well as exercising preparedness through the D

All cross-cutting issues – multi-hazard approach, gender perspective and cultural diversity, community and volunteer participation and capacity building are addressed, therefore working clearly towards the overall goal of ‚substantial reduction of disaster losses, in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries.‘

In addressing DRR, the GRC tries to combine three fields of action:

The first contains measures to analyse natural hazards and people‘s resilience on site (vulnerability and capacity assessments),

the second comprises activities designed to prevent or reduce adverse effects of future disasters (disaster prevention and mitigation) and

the third is about effectively preparing the people at risk for future disasters and strengthening their capacities to cope (disaster preparedness).

Implementing small-scale mitigation measures is proving most successful and sustainable with a counterpart contribution by Local Government Units or the communities themselves either through financial contributions or material and labour. Disaster preparedness is one of the GRC´s top priorities in DRR.

The geographical focus is mainly on disaster-prone coastal areas, through the establishment of disaster management teams at local level, training teachers and students in DRR, encouraging communities to develop contingency and evacuation plans using a participatory approach and holding regular evacuation drills. These and similar preparations save lives during earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and tropical wind-storms Disaster Action Plan, Philippines, 2011 in coastal countries. Disaster mitigation: cleaning drainage canals, Palawan, Philip.2009 8 Strengthening local capacities to cope with the impact of disasters is a standard endeavour in DRR, aiming to reduce future needs for emergency intervention to a minimum. Therefore GRC has a dual focus on assistance during and after disasters, and in particular assistance before the next disaster. Though activities aimed at DRR play a rather minor role in disaster relief, efforts to improve the linkage between the emergency response, reconstruction and the rehabilitation phase start as early as possible in the emergency phase. This approach known as Linking Relief, Rehabilitation & Development (LRRD) requires that a framework for sustainable development following emergency relief is established from the very beginning of an intervention. DRR can be integrated early to function as a link in the LRRD approach. Sustainable DRR activities are particularly well suited to put the LRRD approach into practice by acting as an effective link between emergency aid, reconstruction and subsequent development. The GRC provides DRR assistance all across the globe, with DRR and its elements accounting for a major part of the inputs into the disaster management spiral. GRC launched the first Community Based DRR projects together with its partners in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) in the early 1990‘s. In the wake of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, it started similar programmes in South-East Asia. DRR context in South East Asia and the climate change challenge The DRR support for South-East Asia started first in Indonesia in 2007, where five DRR projects have now been concluded and another five are currently being implemented. In the Philippines, GRC has assisted the Philippine Red Cross with the implementation of five DRR projects since 2007 and participated very closely in the DRR standardisation process throughout all programmes of Philippine Red Cross. Since 2010, GRC transferred lessons learned from Indonesia and the Philippines and adapted them to the Vietnamese context, supporting Vietnam Red Cross in implementing DRR projects. The major challenges currently facing DRR are the effects of climate change combined with demographic growth, urban development, often unplanned in less developed countries and the resulting reliance on vulnerable means of livelihood. The overall regional impact of climate change in Asia is likely to include:

• Increased flooding, and rock avalanches from destabilised slopes due to Himalayan glacier melts, affecting water resources within the next two to three decades. This will be followed by decreased river flows as the glaciers recede.

• Coastal areas, especially heavily-populated mega delta regions in South, East and South-East Asia, will be at greatest risk due to increased flooding from the sea

• Epidemic morbidity and mortality due to diarrhoeal disease primarily associated with floods and droughts are expected to rise in East, South and South-East Asia due to projected changes in the hydrological cycle associated with global warming. Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.