Together We Stand

[ 157 ] This was followed by hands-on activities to develop risk reduction projects for country-specific disasters. The back- drop of the entire discussion was the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, the Rio+20 outcome ‘The Future We Want’ and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. A three-day ‘learning lab’ (training workshop) was conducted in December 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attended by 48 local participants and 12 participants from the South-East Asia Sustainability Network. Then learning labs were conducted in Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam (January 2016), Vientaine, Lao PDR (January 2016) and Siem Reap, Cambodia (February 2016). The learning labs were attended by about 30 participants. CGSS and APN have worked closely with their collaborative partners, International University and Viet Nam National University (Viet Nam), the National University of Laos (Lao s) and the University of Battambang (Cambodia), to ensure the success of the programme in their respective country, and feedback indicates consider- able capacity-building. Kelantan Flood Disaster Management, Malaysia Massive flooding struck the east coast of Malaysia in December 2014, affecting the states of Kelantan (the worst affected state), Terengganu and Pahang. USM, in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, the Federal Development Department of Kelantan and the State Secretary Office of Kelantan, organized a stakeholder conference which took place on 14-16 February 2015. The conference was intended to explore post-flood response. About 500 participants attended, including experts from various fields, agencies and institutions of government and non-governmental organizations, academia and the victims. Through a World Café-Town Hall discussion approach they discussed five major flood-related issues: social, infra- structure, economy/production, environment/cross-cutting and framework/policy. Each issue was discussed using the four pillars of DRM-SD and governance as a special case. Resulting from the conference, 225 recommendations were compiled and distributed to all participants, stakeholders and ministries throughout Malaysia. 5 In 2015 the Ministry of Education of Malaysia announced a RM20 million research grant for disaster management and flood mitigation by tertiary education institutions. As an outcome of the post-conference activity, CGSS was awarded a project grant for its proposal ‘Integrated Governance Approaches to Flood Disaster Management in Malaysia Using Risk Reduction Tools Leading to Sustainable Development’. The project is currently nearing completion. Workshop on hospital disaster resilience The USM in Kelantan was the only remaining, fully func- tioning hospital to treat patients transferred from other hospitals during the 2014 flood. The hospital’s resources were stretched to their limits and it was decided that an institutional strategy to address disasters needed to be devel- oped for future management. CGSS was hired to manage this project and a similar stakeholder discussion organized at the hospital in August 2015 based on DRM-SD. A special feature of the meeting programme was the use of a custom- built risk assessment model that featured categories specific to hospital activities. Fifty-one specific recommendations were arrived at which will guide the hospital’s preparations for future DRM and disaster response. The Resolution of Kelantan Flood Disaster Management Conference 2015 The APN DRM-SD Training Image: CGSS Images: CGSS T ogether W e S tand