The eighth meeting of Regional Consultative Committee (RCC-8) on Disaster Management is being held from 22 to 24 February at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila in Ortigas, Quezon City, Philippines, with the special theme on "Implementing National Programs on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction in High Risk Communities". RCC-8 is being jointly hosted by the Office of the Civil Defense, National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), Philippines and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), with support from the Australian Government Overseas Aid Program.

Reviewing progress of implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA), which was adopted at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in 2005, is one of the key agendas of the eighth RCC meeting. Continuing challenges and priorities for the years to come will be discussed as well. The meeting will also look into the progress of “Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) into development” which ADPC has been strongly advocating. Given that the region is prone to major natural hazards and recently experienced numerous major disasters, it would be essential to observe what are the lessons learned and how each government has been dealing with post-disaster situation. Government of China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan will provide examples of post-disaster response and changes in DRR systems.

A session has been arranged to highlight the importance of linking climate change adaptation with disaster risk reduction. ADPC, UNISDR and the Government of Bangladesh will share regional and national experience and lessons learnt. Besides, Philippines, the hosting country, will have a separate session showcasing the achievements and practices on DRR.

The meeting will have 27 participants from 20 RCC member countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam as well as 11 international observers from Asian Development Bank (ADB), Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Comprising of heads of the national Disaster Management Offices in 26 countries around Asia and Pacific, the RCC meeting has been organized annually since 2000, providing a forum to identify disaster-related needs and priorities, to promote regional and sub-regional cooperative programs, and to develop regional action strategies for disaster reduction. The first two RCC meetings were held in 2000 and 2001 in Bangkok, Thailand while the third meeting was held in New Delhi, India, the fourth in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the fifth in Hanoi, Vietnam and the sixth in Kunming, China and the seventh meeting was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2008.

For more information, please contact Hailey Kim, Communications Coordinator, ADPC at +66 2980681 to 92 ext. 256 / This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Mrs. Crispina Abat, Chief of Planning Division, OCD at +63 (917) 8210682.