Pacific Disaster Center Hosts Delegation from Taiwan

PDC Updates | Jan 28, 2008

Ray Shirkhodai, right, and Dr. Liang-Chun Chen of Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction exchange gifts before moving into a conference room where they exchanged briefings about their organizations.

Officials from around the world charged with disaster risk reduction and involved in disaster management are always looking for the newest technologies and the most effective ways to identify and implement “international best practices.” Partnering with Pacific Disaster Center on Maui is an excellent way to accomplish those goals, and that is why representatives of some of Taiwan’s most prestigious risk reduction institutions recently visited Hawaii.

Representatives from National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) and National Health Command Center–Centers for Disease Control (NHCC-CDC), made a visit to Hawaii to share experiences and knowledge in disaster reduction activities. The delegates, lead by the director and the deputy executive secretary of NCDR, Dr. Liang-Chun Chen and Dr. Wei-Sen Li, respectively, and accompanied by Dr. Yu-Lun Liu, medical officer with the CDC and Dr. Pao-Shan Yu of the Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering at National Cheng Kung University were received on Jan 22 in Honolulu and visited many scientific and emergency centers on the island of Oahu. The following day, the delegates arrived on Maui and then, on January 24, visited the PDC offices for a full day of discussions regarding uses of advance technology in disaster management. The visit paved the way for future information exchange between the institutions.

Members of the Taiwan delegation were greeted in the lobby of PDC.

During the visit on Maui, PDC managers provided briefings on the Center’s capabilities. Hazard Mitigation Specialist Sharon Mielbrecht presented a briefing on PDC’s meteorological products including an emergency operations website, as well as PDC’s support of various disaster events and disaster-response exercises in Hawaii and around the Pacific. Other staff members briefed the visitors on the Asia Pacific and Hawaii Atlases developed by PDC, and on the major project completed on behalf of disaster managers in Thailand—a response to the devastating December 26, 2004, Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami. A PDC applications developer gave a demonstration of a new Multi-Source Map Viewer recently developed for Vietnam.

In return, Dr. Chen provided an overview of the work of NCDR; Dr. Liu made a presentation explaining the work of Taiwan’s CDC; and Dr. Yu, explained the involvement of NCKU in the subjects under discussion.

On January 25, PDC’s Chris Chiesa escorted the delegation back to Oahu where Dr. Chen participated in the Asia Pacific Advanced Network 25th Meeting by joining the Disaster Early Warning Panel chaired by Chiesa. While in Honolulu, Chiesa escorted the delegates to meetings with other key disaster management partners and academic institutions, including the University of Hawaii and the East-West Center.

The visit marked the start of a promising collaboration, and set the stage for further information exchange and sharing of experiences to further the common disaster reduction goals.