Celebrating 10 years of disaster risk reduction, Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) hosted a gathering of approximately 300 representatives from the Government of Taiwan and various national agencies, as well as well as international participants, on November 20. The event featured panelists that addressed today’s most pressing challenges to disaster risk reduction. The panelists shared strategies for encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and building regional partnerships, both essential to realizing DRR goals.
NCDR Director Dr. Liang-Chun Chen led the main panel session, inviting representatives of four international organizations to serve: Dr. Yoshimitsu Okada, President, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Japan; Dr. Woon Kwang Yeo, Director, National Disaster Management Institute (NDMI), Korea; Dr. Bhichit Rattakul, Special Advisor and Former Executive Director, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), and Deputy Executive Director Chris Chiesa representing Pacific Disaster Center (PDC).
For more than five years, PDC and NCDR have had a strong partnership. That relationship was formalized with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2008, which coincided with the NCDR’s fifth anniversary. In 2010, the relationship expanded with NCDR joining the PDC-hosted Global Hazards Information Network (GHIN), a system for providing access to high quality geospatial information to support risk assessment, early warning, response and other disaster management activities. PDC and NDCR pledged to renew the MOU to provide for continued information exchange and capacity enhancement over the next five years.
For more on the PDC-NCDR partnership:
• Read the article about the formalization of the partnership,
• Find out more about NCDR participation in GHIN,
• Learn about PDC’s participation in a Taiwan training workshop, and
• Read about a delegation of Taiwan military officers visiting PDC.
