Asian disaster management officers to learn from Christchurch’s earthquakes

March 6, 2015

A group of South East Asian disaster management specialists will be in New Zealand later this month taking part in training hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Centre for Risk Resilience and Renewal (UCR3).

The group of future disaster management leaders come from eight of the ten ASEAN countries and will be undertaking a comprehensive two week programme focusing on strategic crisis leadership and an introduction to emergency exercise science to help better equip participants for crisis leadership roles in the future.

UCR3, headed by director Chris Hawker, is hosting three programmes over three years in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade who is funding the activity under the NZ Aid programme.

The UCR3 programme is a key component of the ASEAN Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) six-month Executive Development Programme (ACE). The AHA Centre is an inter-governmental organisation, established by Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, to support the coordinated response to any disaster event which occurs across the ASEAN region.

The group will be meeting with a range of Government Agencies and organisations in Wellington and Christchurch and will be in New Zealand from March 22 to April 5.

The university’s UCR3 has organised a range of experiential activities and key speakers, including Professor Tim Davies, leader of the university’s Hazard and Disaster Masters Programme, Dr Christopher Gomez, who studied aspects of the 2011 Japan earthquake, Associate Professor Nilakant Venkataram who will discuss the issues of leadership’s highs and lows and Dr Erica Seville who will highlight issues of organisational resilience. Dr Gomez will be emphasising how important ethical aspects of disaster management are for ASEAN countries.

UCR3 is supported by Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research and Auckland University of Technology’s Emergency Management Programme, showcasing the best of New Zealand’s knowledge in the field of disaster management.

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