Webinar: Understanding Disaster Management in Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia

By Aina Mardhia Ismail

GOMBAK, 24 April 2021: Erratic weather patterns, frequent flash floods, unexpected landslides, sudden drought and out-of-season heavy rainfalls are examples of natural disasters that call for efficient disaster management and planning where foremost in handling the catastrophe will be the role expected of town planners.

Final year Urban and Regional Planning (URP) students of Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design (KAED) will be organising an international webinar on the theme “Disaster Resilience and Sustainability” which is scheduled to take place on Zoom platform on Tuesday (27 April) from 9.00 a.m. until 5.30 p.m. Malaysia Standard Time (MST).

The event will be held in two sessions. The morning session will commence from 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. featuring presentations from academics while the evening session from 2.15 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. will hold youth’s exchange session from each participating country on different disaster management approaches.

The webinar will present on board the guest of honour, Executive Director of United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Dato’ Seri Maimunah Sharif, to deliver her keynote address on how cities should be disaster resilient.

IIUM lecturer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rustam Khairi Zahari, with a niche on Disaster Management and Urban Management, will present on how the community could participate in managing disaster risk through his presentation on “Community-Based Disaster Management in Malaysia”.

Meanwhile, the Director of East Zone Project Office Plan Malaysia (Federal Department of Town and Country Planning), TPr. Dr. Dzul Khaimi bin Khailani, will share on “Creating Disaster Resilient Cities in Malaysia”.

As Japan is the world leader in disaster management, the webinar would introduce Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) University professor, Dr. Hitoshi Nakamura who will give his presentation on “Tohoku Earthquake Recovery Process in Onagawa Town and Ishinomaki City”.

This will be followed by a presentation by a fellow Malaysian PhD student from the university, Nurul Ashikin Binti Mabahwi who will be speaking on “Malaysia’s Flood-Related Agencies Issues and Challenges”.

Two presentations from Indonesia will be featured in the webinar: Dr. Syamsidik, the Head of Tsunami Research Cluster at Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Centre, Universitas Syiah Kuala (USK) will make a presentation on the “Impacts of Future Tsunamis Coupled with Sea Level Rise on Banda Aceh: Projections and Alternative Mitigation Measures”. While Prof. Imam Buchori of Universitas Diponegoro will present on “Adaption to Coastal Flooding and Inundation: A Case of Semarang and Surroundings”.

To coincide with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 11 on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, students will present their findings on comparative study of different countries’ approach in disaster management and planning based on the four Disaster Management cycle – Preparedness, Mitigation, Recovery and Response.

The line-ups of presentation are as follows:

From IIUM:

“Preparedness Approach in Disaster Management, Case Study in Malaysia and Indonesia.” by Sofwan al-Farris Shah bin Amirrul Azam Shah

“Response Approach of Disaster Management: A case study Of Malaysia and Indonesia” by Zulhusni bin Aminudin

“Managing Disaster: Recovery” by Nur Afzan binti Mazli

“Mitigation Initiatives Towards Sustainable Disaster Management in Malaysia & Indonesia” by Innasha Razak

From other participating universities:

“Disaster Management Based on Local Wisdom in Indonesia” by Nabilla Safira from Universitas Syiah Kuala, Indonesia

“Hydrometeorological Disaster in Central Java: Preliminary Study of Damage and Loss Assessment due to Disaster Event” by Intan Hapsari Surya Putri from Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia.

The webinar is free and participants will receive an international e-certificate for attending. IIUM community and members of the public are invited to join by registering through the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdu2w0B3VsExKUE-FyziUwclFEckFw12b0ptPnY1Ja5crEkJQ/viewform.

More updates and information on the webinar can be found on the event’s Instagram, Facebook and Official website.***

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