To encourage collaboration and build communication within the humanitarian community, nearly 300 leaders and executives gathered at the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) Asia: Aid & Response Summit 2015. The event took place June 16–18 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok and was attended by representatives from national government agencies and militaries, UN agencies, regional and international nongovernmental organizations (NGO), research institutions, and private sector companies.

The Summit concentrated on the significant role of mobile technology and its impact on development and humanitarian work, such as mobile emergency support capabilities to facilitate communications between communities, first responders, and other stakeholders. Additionally, the Summit focused on disaster and community resilience, with presentations on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and how preparedness activities and early warning systems help increase resilience to climate change, disaster events, and disease outbreaks. Other topics included human security, public health, at-risk populations, and building successful public-private partnerships to help address these challenges.

During the event, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Southeast Asia Program Advisor Victoria Leat chaired a roundtable discussion on “Data and knowledge management for disaster risk reduction (DRR)” that offered participants insight into PDC’s early warning and decision support platform, DisasterAWARE, and its practical applications for DRR. Leat also delivered a presentation on “DisasterAWARE for Emergency Logistics and Operations,” demonstrating how the platform can help the humanitarian community plan and prepare logistical responses to emergency events and address critical gaps in supply chains during mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery operations.

Anyone interested in learning more about DisasterAWARE is encouraged to visit the PDC website or contact PDC at info@pdc.org.

Learn more:
View the event website