High-impact Visit by the International Expert from the United Kingdom to Strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in Malaysia.

Nur Aqila Alias

In a significant of our regional commitments and national aspiration to the global agenda on disaster risk reduction and resilience (DRR), a distinguished expert from United Kingdom has embarked on a collaborative effort with Technology Enhanced Stakeholder Collaboration for Supporting Risk-Sensitive Urban Development (TRANSCEND), involving the multi-project partners from the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. TRANSCEND Project aimed at investigating the nature of a socio-technical system, enabled by a collaborative foresight and consensus-building virtual workspace, which can promote an adaptive governance approach across relevant stakeholders to analyse, forecast, visualize, and debate disaster risk trade-offs and development plans that ensure sustainability and equitable resilience considering climate change adaptations.

The expert is also a TRANSCEND Project leader, Professor Terrence, University of Salford, United Kingdom, renowned for his extensive experience in disaster management and DRR Strategies, arrived in Kuala Lumpur on 26th July 2023 (Wednesday). Dr Khamarrul Azahari Razak, Director Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Center (DPPC), Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Univerisiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur one of TRANSCEND Project Team co-design and organised the benchmarking and high-impact visit as part of the ongoing efforts under the TRANSCEND Projects, which seeks to reflect our achievements and progress to achieve global agenda and re-strategize our action and prospective views as aligned to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

The TRANSCEND Project, funded by Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate processes, governance structures, policies and technology that can enable a transition towards a more risk-sensitive and transformative urban development approach. UTM has signed a collaborative agreement with Salford University in 2019 on the TRANSCEND project in Malaysia for research and to establish Living Labs in various disaster prone areas. Therefore investigation had been done in Bukit Antarabangsa and Hulu Langat as disaster case studies in Selangor and presented the report to the local council and also explored the integration of MOBILISE system. Reporting results to THINKLab, University of Salford, United Kingdom networking on MOBILISE Training and field study. The TRANSCEND international workshop held on 31st July 2023 at UTM Kuala Lumpur demonstrated its contribution towards the development planning process and disaster management context.

Professor Terrence expressed his enthusiasm for the collaborative effort stating “I am honoured to see the progress of the TRANSCEND Project last for three years and work alongside dedicated professionals in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). By Sharing our knowledge and experiences, we are working as a team to create a more resilient future for this community”.

Courtesy visit to National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), Prime Minister’s Department and Discussion with YBhg. YBhg. Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus, Director General National of NADMA

Technical Visit to National Disaster Command Center (NDCC)

The high-impact visits with various activities aimed at furthering the project’s objective through experience exchange from the United Kingdom as well as various local stakeholders that ensure that the best practices, benchmarking and local actions are shared in order to prevent future disaster risk.

Local project partners have welcomed Professor Terrence’s high-impact visit, recognizing the value of international expertise in addressing the unique challenges faced by the region. The collaboration between UTM and Salford University is seen as a crucial step toward our action and prospective views as aligned to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). As Professor Terrence begins his work on the ground and expands to Malaysia, hopes are high for a brighter and more secure future for the people of Malaysia.

The visit is scheduled to last until 3rd August 2023, with various activities such as international seminar, international workshop and courtesy visit to agencies with initiatives planned throughout the Professor Terrence stay.

International Seminar on Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience with a theme “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (DR3) into Disaster Risk-Information Sustainable Development”