YAN, Aug 19—The Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (STDR3) Week took place from August 17th to 19th, 2024, commemorating a three-year geological disaster in Jerai Geopark, Yan, Kedah. The aim of STDR3 Week is to address the urgency of re-strategizing local action to prevent future climatic risks due to extreme weather events, urbanization, and human activities in a changing climate.
STDR3 Week was jointly organized by the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Center (DPPC), Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), Yan District Office, Department of Minerals and Geoscience (JMG), and international partners from Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Rwanda, Germany, and the Netherlands. The aim was to accelerate the global agenda, particularly the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030.
The event’s theme was mainstreaming geo-resilience, geo-heritage, and geo-tourism into the local disaster risk reduction and resilience agenda. The event featured the International Workshop and Field Practices on Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM), with supporting programs such as Community-led Disaster Risk Reduction (CLDRR) and School Resilience and Disaster Education (SRDE). Notably, the Treasure Hunt Debris Flow 2024, a part of CLDRR, was successfully implemented on August 17th, 2024. This innovative activity served as a form of disaster education. It demonstrated the impact of sediment-related disasters in tourism-dominated regions, emphasizing the important roles of communities and the need to rethink the local disaster risk reduction and resilience agenda.
This year, the event integrated the Local, Traditional, and Indigenous Knowledge (LTIK) approach with informatics tools and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which was introduced by Mr. Kuo-yu Chuang of GeoThings Inc. in Taiwan.
The SRDE aims to empower vulnerable children and school administration to promote the disaster risk reduction (DRR) agenda for societal resilience by equipping them with proper disaster knowledge and bridging students through technology in an Arduino Workshop conducted by UTM.
Watch the full video on the DPPC YouTube channel.
This impactful program offers a fresh perspective on locally-led and nationally-supported disaster risk reduction strategies. Importantly, we showcase regional benchmarking, national commitment, and local wisdom to decrease the number of disaster losses through an impact-based early warning system. This system is led by vulnerable communities and facilitated by humanizing technology to build societal resilience.
The debris flow in 2021 has highlighted the need for a disaster management plan. One of the initiatives involved the development of an Early Warning System (EWS) across various sectors. The EWS was carefully installed based on detailed geological surveys, geohazard mapping, vulnerability analysis, and risk assessment across several water catchment areas. Interestingly, a local disaster risk reduction model, the YAN DRR Model, was co-developed through public, private, academia, and NGO partnerships. This model aims to support the build-back-better agenda and promote safe tourism, food security, and climate resilience on multiple scales.
As we confront a future increasingly influenced by natural and man-made disasters, STDR3 Week serves as a beacon of hope for the future and intelligent innovation. This event highlights the significance of collective action, uniting the most brilliant minds to develop community resilience. This powerful initiative calls on all stakeholders to participate in this vital endeavor, collaborating to construct a more resilient and sustainable world. Together, we can create a safer, more resilient world for future generations.
Prepared by: Ms. Nur Aqila Alias & Dr Khamarrul Azahari Razak