Together We Stand

[ 21 ] the vulnerable, the disabled, disenfranchised and forgotten, without risking leaving our communities, countries, even our world more vulnerable. When the catastrophic Indian Ocean Tsunami struck in December 2004, the scale of the impact in nearly a dozen countries was actually hard to comprehend. 1 At the time, there was no effective tsunami monitoring or warning system in the Indian Ocean. The tsunami was not the only example of massive impacts in the recent past. For instance, according to the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, flood-related disasters between 1980 and 2009 caused over 15,000 deaths in Viet Nam, affected over 66 million persons, and caused over US$7 billion in damage and economic losses nationwide. Glancing back an additional decade, we see the unforgetta- ble Red River Delta-Hanoi Flood of 1971 that killed more than 100,000 in a single event. 2 In the twentieth century, Viet Nam’s flood monitoring involved a patchwork of citizen physical-observers, phone calls, long walks and other pre- technological elements. Such glimpses of countries at risk, with little or no hope of reducing their disaster risk level without the help of partners, could go on and on. It could include the Philippines, where the impacts of typhoons are very frequently catastrophic; the entire Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, where coordination of disaster management efforts among the member states would mean having neighbours ready to help when disasters strike; and Nepal, where earth- quakes — from the very large (~8 M Earthquake, April 2015) to the common and small — are constant threats. The places mentioned above are very different from each other, but when it comes to the hope for a safer and more resilient future, they are identical. They all need the same things: timely, reliable information about hazards; up-to-the- minute technology to help monitor events, assess impacts, and share information (including warnings); and lasting partnerships to contribute to the solutions’ adaptation and implementation. If each of them — each of us, wherever we live — has that much, we are empowered to reduce risks and save lives in our own communities and to contribute to the safety of our neighbours, near and far. Pacific Disaster Center Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) was created following the destructive Hurricane Iniki, which passed through Hawaii, heavily impacting the island of Kauai on 11 September 1992. Seeing the destruction, Hawaii’s US Senator Daniel K. Inouye realized that information resources with the potential to reduce hurricane damage were, in fact, available. He knew about space-based imagery libraries, for instance, and near- real-time satellite observation. He also understood that these Cold War technologies could be repurposed for the civil- military needs of disaster management. It was not easy. It took four years, working on everything from funding chan- nels to writing new software, but 20 years ago, in February 1996, PDC opened. Since then, PDC has actively applied information, science and technology to enable effective evidence-based decision- making and to promote DRR concepts and strategies. The centre provides multi-hazard monitoring, warning and decision support tools to facilitate critical information sharing, supporting effective actions throughout the disas- ter management cycle. PDC also conducts advanced risk assessments that integrate hazard exposure with socioec- onomic factors to define vulnerability and resilience, so the disproportionate impact of events on various popula- tions can be better understood, and then mitigated through improved preparedness and planning processes. All this, however, can only be accomplished through working partnerships: working with stakeholders to under- stand gaps and needs, collaborating with a broad range of data providers to collect information, and partnering with scientists and technologists to develop solutions. PDC could not possibly hope for better partners in establishing disaster management best practices for any place than the people who call that place ‘home’. PDC’s flagship technology PDC’s disaster monitoring and early warning decision support platform is DisasterAWARE (All-hazard Warning, Analysis and Risk Evaluation). This web-accessed resource provides situational awareness, decision support and information exchange capabilities to disaster managers around the world. DisasterAWARE is available through freely accessible public versions, a password-protected version for those with disaster management or humanitarian assistance responsibilities, and various custom versions. DisasterAWARE is an ever-evolving solution to the every- day challenges of hazard monitoring and the related urgent needs. When the critical — possibly life-saving — disaster information exists, it is often scattered across national and subnational agencies and lacking any risk context. If the information can be found, it will be at the cost of time (and sometimes money) disaster managers can ill-afford, and Image: PDC As the Government of Viet Nam modernized river level monitoring tools, PDC worked with national institutions to automate and bring near-real-time water measurements into VinAWARE T ogether W e S tand