UR22 Closing Ceremony

December 16, 2022 10:28 am Published by Leave a comment

  

Closing Ceremony

With an extensive curriculum and a life dedicated to public safety, Araújo Gomes accumulates practical and theoretical knowledge in several areas related to public safety and risk management. The military is Colonel of the Santa Catarina Military Police Reserve, having served in the corporation from 1985 to 2020. He is also known for work in strategic level consultancies in the area of public and private security.

Speakers

Araújo Gomes

Municipal Secretary of Public Security
Brazil


Among his main activities, the period in which he served as: Disaster Response Director of the State Department of Civil Defense of Santa Catarina (2004 and 2005); having participated as a member of the Brazilian Delegation in the World Forum on Disasters which produced the UN World Strategy for Disaster Reduction (Marco de Hyogo – Japan, 2005); General Staff Officer in the area of Operations, Training and Doctrine of the Military Police of Santa Catarina (2005 to 2010); and Invited collaborator of the Ministry of Justice in the Organization of the World Social Forum – Liaison Officer (Pará, 2008).

He was also a guest Collaborator of the Ministry of Justice (Liaison Officer and Theme Leader) in the organization and presentation of the Olympic Project – Security Theme to the delegates of the International Olympic Committee (Rio de Janeiro, 2009); Deputy Commander of the Military Police of Santa Catarina (2017); General Commander of the Military Police of Santa Catarina (2018 to 2020); Secretary of State for Public Security of Santa Catarina (2019); International Observer at the International Qualification Exercise in Romania for the FIEP – International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces with Military Status (Romania, 2017); President of the Superior Collegiate for Public Security and State Official Expertise (Santa Catarina, 2019); President of the National Council of General Commanders of Fire Brigades and Military Police of Brazil (2019 and 2020), among other experiences.

Risk: What Do We Really Need to Know to Take Action

December 15, 2022 6:26 pm Published by Leave a comment

  

Risk: What Do We Really Need to Know to Take Action

Nowadays, we must undertake risk assessment studies to make a risk reduction investment. We must collect and sometimes produce hazard, exposure, and vulnerability data; make the necessary calculations for risk; and finally, draw technical and political conclusions and priorities. On average, these studies take months and even years, costing extensive resources. Still, sometimes, when studies are finished, decision-makers have shifted priorities, or administrations have changed. From different perspectives, this panel will explore how to use the available information, find the right balance on the studies needed to act, and innovate around risk assessment for decision-making.

Speakers

Shanna N. McClain

Disasters Program Manager Global Partnerships & Socioeconomic Assessments Coordinator
NASA

Dr. Shanna N. McClain is the Disasters Program Manager for NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Program. She and her team promote the use of Earth observations to support decisions made across the disaster cycle and at the intersection of human-environment-climate dimensions. McClain endeavors to define new and innovative opportunities for applying Earth science information through the development of partnerships and projects in fragile and crisis-affected communities in order to build a more risk-informed global society.

Nicolas Pondard

Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist
GNS Science


Nico is a Senior Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Specialist at the institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS), based in New-Zealand. He has 20 years of professional experience working for international institutions, academia, government, and private sector. Prior to joining GNS, Nico was a DRM specialist at the World Bank (GFDRR), advising low and middle income countries worldwide in managing disaster risk, with a particular focus on risk assessment, disaster preparedness, and risk financing. He worked also as the lead catastrophe risk specialist for the Bank of England.

Nico trained initially as an earthquake scientist and holds a PhD in Geophysics from the Paris Earth Sciences Institute (IPGP, France).

Hon Dr. Renato Solidum, Jr.

Secretary (Minister)
Department of Science and Technology (Republic of the Philippines)


Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr. is the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines. He has worked with DOST for the past thirty-eight (38) years and rose from the ranks. He started his professional career at the DOST – Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) in 1984 after graduating with a BS in Geology degree from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman in the same year. He served at PHIVOLCS in varying capacities, starting as Science Research Specialist I and became its Director in 2003. He pursued his graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, earning a MS degree in Geological Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (UCSD), obtaining a PhD degree in Earth Sciences.

Rafael Melara

General Secretary of Honduran Social Investment Fund / Social Investment Fund of Honduras


Governments: How Are We Making Risk Informed Decisions

December 15, 2022 5:57 pm Published by Leave a comment

  

Governments: How Are We Making Risk Informed Decisions

Speakers

Claudia Herrera Melgar

Executive Secretary
Coordination Center for Disaster Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic (CEPREDENAC)

First woman to hold the position of Executive Secretary of the Coordination Center for Disaster Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic (CEPREDENAC), since 2019. She is from Central America, born in Honduras. She has a bachelor’s in business management and 20 years of experience in Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management.
Through the leadership of Secretary Herrera, CEPREDENAC has led the processes for the transformation and strengthening of sustainable development in the region, through the promotion, support and development of emergency management, preparation, mitigation and prevention measures and policies.

Ramon Soto

Minister of COPECO


His name is Pablo Ramon Soto Bonilla. He is 55 years old. He´s Honduran. He was born in Tocoa, Colon city on the north coast. He studies at The National Autonomous University of Honduras, graduated from agricultural engineering. In his free time, he likes to share with his family, read and listen to music. He is a born leader and work obsessed, he has a vocation of service to citizens, he has experience in administration of personal, risk, social project, political issues management. In his professional life he has worked in the private company.
Previously, Soto served as Area Manager at Dinant Corporation. He was twice owner congressman for the department of Colon in the years 2018-2022. During his time as congressman, he carried out works such as street infrastructure for the isolated Garifuna’s communities and the support to the teaching profession with retirement time. Pablo Ramon Soto Bonilla has been sworn as Secretary of State in the National Risk and Contingency Management offices, on February of this year. Soto’s vision is to strengthen community organization and compliance with risk management and international cooperation to meet the needs of people in preparedness and response issues. He also belongs to the Liaison Commission with Civil Society and Community Participation, Agriculture and Livestock Commission.

Anil Pokhrel

Chief Executive
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA)


Mr. Anil Pokhrel was appointed as the first Chief Executive of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) to design its organizational structure, prepare Standard Operating Procedures, develop work program and budget, and operationalize Nepal’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management action plan. He also serves as the Member Secretary of the National Executive Committee headed by Hon. Minister of Home Affairs and the National Council for DRRM headed by Rt. Hon. Prime Minister.

Frederico Rudorff

Civil Defense
Santa Catarina


Graduated in Oceanology from FURG (2001), specialization in Remote Sensing from INPE (2002) and master’s degree in Geography from UFSC (2005). He has been a Ciram / Epagri researcher since 2008 and has been available to the Civil Defense of the State of Santa Catarina (DCSC) since 2011 as Monitoring and Alert Coordinator. He works in the area of risk and disaster management, water resources management and monitoring and alert systems.

Avoiding Disasters

December 15, 2022 4:58 pm Published by Leave a comment

  

Abstract

When it comes to extreme hazard events, the overwhelming focus is on catastrophe and destruction. Yet the goal of disaster risk management is precisely to ensure that society continues to function – and even thrive – despite shocks arising from natural or human actions; in short, to ensure that “nothing happens” in the face of extreme events. This challenge creates a dilemma for recognizing and incentivizing important investments to reduce risk since these investments go unnoticed precisely because they are successful.

Yet the innumerable successful risk reduction interventions implemented in communities worldwide represent a critical data-set from which learnings may be drawn, to assist disaster risk management professionals and communities in replicating, adapting, and scaling similar disaster-prevention activities where they are further needed. This is only possible if these successes are identified, analyzed, and celebrated. In the session, we present the “Averted Disaster Award” (ADA), created to recognise, highlight and celebrate disaster risk reduction initiatives around the world that are often invisible by the very nature of their success.
We also highlight the development and use of probabilistic counterfactual analysis to identify and quantify successful risk reduction interventions, and how this has led to the creation of the Averted Disaster Award. Launched in 2022, the Averted Disaster Award received nominations from around the world, and highlighted amazing narratives of lives saved and avoided loss in the face of earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and more. We are excited to announce the winners of the 2022 Averted Disaster Award, and share a video feature of the winning nomination.

And that’s not all! We’re also happy to announce the opening of the 2023 Averted Disaster Award nomination period, and invite you all to nominate projects that are having significant risk reduction impacts, often not recognized, for communities.

Speakers

David Lallemant

Assistant Professor
Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University

Prof. Lallemant joined the NTU faculty from Stanford University, where he was a researcher and founder of the Stanford Urban Resilience Initiative. He holds a PhD from Stanford University (2015), master’s degree from UC Berkeley (2010) and a bachelor’s degree from MIT (2007). His academic background is in earthquake sciences and engineering, predictive modeling, geostatistics, reliability analysis and others, used to conduct novel and impactful research to promote resilient societies.

Prof. Lallemant is also active in post-disaster response and recovery, which forms the basis for his research on post-disaster assessment and community resilience. He worked for two years in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake and has been involved with the response and recovery following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and 2015 earthquake in Nepal. He regularly consults for the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

His awards include the 2018 National Research Foundation Fellowship ($3M grant for 5-year research), the Shah Family Fellowship on Catastrophic Risk, the John A. Blume Fellowship in Earthquake Engineering, the Development Impact Award and the World Bank Vice Presidential Unit Award (for work conducted in Haiti).

Maricar Rabonza

PhD Candidate
Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University


Maricar Rabonza is a final-year PhD candidate at the Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), working under Asst. Professor David Lallemant. The working title of her thesis is “Dynamic urban risk modelling for long-term disaster risk reduction.” Her current projects involve policy-related modelling of future risk of cities, counterfactual risk analysis (i.e. imagining the ‘what-ifs’ in disaster risk), and calibrating hazard models using geostatistics. Maricar holds an MSc in Civil-Geotechnical Engineering from University of the Philippines Diliman.
Prior to that, she spent 5 years as a senior modeller to support capacity-building of remote communities in the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, and to develop nationwide landslide susceptibility maps. She is now a recipient of scholarship funding from the National Research Foundation Fellowship and Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Kara Siahaan

Head
Anticipation Hub


Kara Siahaan is the Berlin-based Head of the Anticipation Hub, a platform to facilitate learning, guidance, exchange and advocacy on anticipatory action. An initiative of the German Red Cross, the International Federation Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the Hub brings together more than 100 partner organizations across the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, universities, research institutes, NGOs, UN agencies, governments, donors, and network initiatives.
An Indonesian national, Kara has over 15 years of experience in leading, programme management, technical assistance, partnership and policy roles in the areas of humanitarian response, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. She co-led the development of the first-ever global funding mechanism at IFRC attached to its Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) that enables fast and systematic release of funds to implement early action based on weather forecasts to reduce the impacts of predictable disasters. Kara holds a business degree in marketing from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master´s degree in development studies from Technische Universität Darmstadt and Institut d’urbanisme de Grenoble.

Menu_02

December 15, 2022 3:32 pm Published by Leave a comment

<<< BACK TO UR22

OPENING CEREMONY:

The opening ceremony was moved from the Fortaleza de São José da Ponta Grossa as continues rain fell upon Florianopolis. Plan ‘C’ moved everything to P12, the Main Event venue. The inspirational talks were followed by a spectacular performance by Cosmobloco, a Theatre and dance group from Porto Alegre.

Johannes Zutt

Director for Brazil
World bank

Mr. Johannes Zutt is the Country Director for Brazil of the World Bank. Mr. Zutt, a Dutch national, joined the World Bank in 1999. Since then, he has taken positions of increasing responsibility. He has a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto, a Law degree from Harvard University in Law, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Oxford.

Prior to his role as Brazil Country Director, he was the Director for Strategy, Results, Risk and Learning in the Operational Policy and Country Services (OPCS) Vice Presidency at the World Bank.

From 2000 to 2006, he worked as the Country Program Coordinator for (at various times) Angola, China, Malawi, Mongolia, Mozambique, and Zambia, as well as the team leader for numerous country strategies and operations. In July 2006, he was appointed the Adviser to one of the Bank’s two Managing Directors.

This is Mr. Zutt’s fourth assignment as a Country Director. In January 2009, he was appointed the World Bank Country Director for Comoros, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles and Somalia. In May 2013, he was reassigned to be the Country Director for Bangladesh and Nepal, and in July 2014, Bhutan was added to his portfolio. Then, in November 2015, he was reassigned again to be the Country Director for Türkiye. He took his present position in August 2022.

Topázio Silveira Neto

Mayor of Florianópolis

Alexandre Lucas Alves

National Secretary / Civil Protection
Brazil

Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch

Pacifico

Risk communications and behavioral science specialist.
Director of Pacifico Risk Communications, with projects deployed in more than 50 countries, using non conventional tools to tackle risk posed by natural hazards.
Creative Director of the Disaster Fighters campaign.
Producer of the Tsunami Ladies documentary series, a Sendai Framework commitment.
His work on risk communications with Greenpeace was awarded a Gold Lion at Cannes Festival of Creativity.
His work was presented at UNDRR, Harvard, MIT, US Geological Survey, Natural History Museum in Los Angeles and SXSW in Austin.
Bachelor in Science in Multimedia Computing. University of West London.
Masters of Behavioral Science candidate at the London School of Economics.

Fernanda Carvalho

Journalist

Fernanda Carvalho is a journalist from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Graduated in Brasília, is a reporter and an anchor/TV host for RBS TV, afilliate of Rede Globo in Rio Grande do Sul. In 2016 was in the list of 20 most influential black journalists in Brazil. For three years presented Nação, an award-winning TV show about black history and culture produced by TVE/RS and TV Brasil. Creator of the webpage Em Negritto about black feminism. Black movement activist.

UR22 Opening Ceremony

December 13, 2022 12:24 pm Published by Leave a comment

  

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was moved from the Fortaleza de São José da Ponta Grossa as continues rain fell upon Florianopolis. Plan ‘C’ moved everything to P12, the Main Event venue. The inspirational talks were followed by a spectacular performance by Cosmobloco, a Theatre and dance group from Porto Alegre.

Speakers

Johannes Zutt

Director for Brazil
World bank

Mr. Johannes Zutt is the Country Director for Brazil of the World Bank. Mr. Zutt, a Dutch national, joined the World Bank in 1999. Since then, he has taken positions of increasing responsibility. He has a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto, a Law degree from Harvard University in Law, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Oxford.

Prior to his role as Brazil Country Director, he was the Director for Strategy, Results, Risk and Learning in the Operational Policy and Country Services (OPCS) Vice Presidency at the World Bank.

From 2000 to 2006, he worked as the Country Program Coordinator for (at various times) Angola, China, Malawi, Mongolia, Mozambique, and Zambia, as well as the team leader for numerous country strategies and operations. In July 2006, he was appointed the Adviser to one of the Bank’s two Managing Directors.

This is Mr. Zutt’s fourth assignment as a Country Director. In January 2009, he was appointed the World Bank Country Director for Comoros, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles and Somalia. In May 2013, he was reassigned to be the Country Director for Bangladesh and Nepal, and in July 2014, Bhutan was added to his portfolio. Then, in November 2015, he was reassigned again to be the Country Director for Türkiye. He took his present position in August 2022.

Topázio Silveira Neto

Mayor of Florianópolis


Alexandre Lucas Alves

National Secretary / Civil Protection
Brazil


Fernanda Carvalho

Journalist


Fernanda Carvalho is a journalist from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Graduated in Brasília, is a reporter and an anchor/TV host for RBS TV, afilliate of Rede Globo in Rio Grande do Sul. In 2016 was in the list of 20 most influential black journalists in Brazil. For three years presented Nação, an award-winning TV show about black history and culture produced by TVE/RS and TV Brasil. Creator of the webpage Em Negritto about black feminism. Black movement activist.

UR Floripa – Towards Safer Built Environment: Risk-Informed Policy Making

December 4, 2022 4:33 pm Published by Leave a comment

UR FLORIPA – TOWARDS SAFER BUILT ENVIRONMENT: RISK-INFORMED POLICY MAKING

Organized by UNESCO’s Unit of Disaster Risk Reduction, Natural Sciences Sector

More than 50% of people live in urban areas and that proportion is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. In low- and middle-income countries, rapid urbanization has not always kept pace with improvements institutional capacity for building control and the application of up-to-date risk information and engineering knowledge for a safer and more resilient built environment. A strong building regulatory framework such as this is one of the most cost-effective ways a country can reduce disaster risks in the built environment. In fact, in 2019, an exhaustive benefit-cost analysis from the National Institute of Building Sciences found that adopting and implementing the latest hazard-risk informed building codes improves the disaster resilience of society’s while yielding a USD $13 national benefit for every USD $1 invested. In addition to disaster risk reduction and cost-effectiveness benefits, building regulations are also used to address broader societal needs such as accessibility in the built environment and facilitating the resource efficiency of buildings, which helps households save on energy and costs as well as contributes to the Paris Agreement’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Description

This session is jointly organized by UNESCO and GFDRR’s Building Regulation for Resilience Program and will focus on practical ways to improve the resilience and sustainability of the built environment through regulatory and institutional reforms, providing examples from Zanzibar, the Maldives, and Malawi. The session will share different approaches to enhancing building regulatory frameworks and strengthening institutional capacity building to increase compliance with risk-informed building codes.

Speakers:

Soichiro Yasukawa: Programme Specialist on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) / Especialista em Programa de Redução de Risco de Desastres (RRD)

Keiko Sakoda: Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Specialist / World Bank (GFDRR)

Fernando Castanaza: Consultant / UNESCO

Muchi Juma Ameir: Director of the Development Control Unit & Director of Planning / Commission of Land, Zanzibar

Fathimath Shaufa: Director, Construction Regulations and Standards Section / Construction Industry Development Department, The Maldives

UR British Columbia

November 20, 2022 1:16 pm Published by Leave a comment

URBC x UR22

The national EEW rollout is complete by 2024. Where does that leave us in BC? What thresholds will activate public alerting? How does the EEW system connect to building-level instrumentation across the province and what does that mean for our rapid damage assessment programs? Hear from practitioners working in this space and contribute to the conversation.

This session will be hosted as a satellite session to the UR 2022 Global Forum in Brazil and we will also host a watch party for the Global Forum in conjunction.

Hosted by: Monrit Chatha, Vice President EERI BC & RJC
Moderated by: Jessica Shoubridge, EERI BC & Program Lead for URBC, Founder & Principal of Thrive Consulting

Featuring:
John Sherstobitoff, Ausenco
Henry Seyward, Natural Resources Canada
Teron Moore, NSC Seismic Consultants
Evan Reis, Safehub and US Resiliency Council
Amin Kassam, Metro Vancouver

Register here

The event is free to join for the BC Community with your code, you get access to the UR Global Platform. Donations are welcome

Read More

Preliminary Agenda

Main session (UR Global Forum session) breakdown: 

09:00

09:30

09:30

10:45

11:00
–

12:00
–

EERI Board Members arrive and ensure setup 

Doors to public 

UR Global Watch party * JS confirm programming at this time 

Logistics and speaker ready for main session 

Main URBC programming- Earthquake Early Warning and Instrumentation in BC: Getting to a Less Wild West 

Social lunch with colleagues somewhere nearby (lunch not provided)  

When and Where

Date and time

Tue, 29 November 2022, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST

Location

The University of British Columbia 6250 Applied Science Lane Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada

UR Niger ENG

November 16, 2022 1:52 pm Published by Leave a comment

  

UR Niger

The Programme de Gestion des Risques de Catastrophes et de Résilience Urbaine (PGRC-DU), together with the Agence Nationale pour la Société de l’Information (ANSI), the Direction Générale de la Protection Civile du Niger (DGPC), and other key partners, will implement a satellite of the UR Global conference in Niamey – the UR Niger HUB 2022.

UR NIger was a unique opportunity for Niger’s academics, institutions, innovators and students to have access to the main UR 2022 conference. Nigerien partners will present their achievements in the field of disaster risk reduction, such as the use of drones to map flood zones in Niger’s main cities, support for innovative start-ups and coders, and the future use of digital technologies to improve resilient planning in Niger’s cities.

Sessions

Cette session permettra aux participants de découvrir des initiatives récentes dans le domaine de la Gestion des risques au Niger.

Abdoul Salam Koroney

ANSI
(Agence Nationale pour la Société de l’Information)


Dr Abdoul Salam KORONEY est enseignant-chercheur à l’Université de Tillabéri en sciences agronomiques. Il est chargé de mission pour l’ANSI où il a la responsabilité de la mise en œuvre des activités NTIC du projet de la Banque Mondiale du PGRC-DU.

Aerocene

November 3, 2022 6:44 pm Published by Leave a comment

Open-sourced and collaborative portable atmospheric floating kit, which enables anyone to launch their own aerosolar sculpture, just with heat of the sun.