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I . 10 th C IT YNE T Disaster C luster S eminar in Yokohama to focus on prevention, investment and innovation

With over 80 expected participants from 17 cities as well as country representatives from the World Bank target countries, the 10th CITYNET Disaster Cluster Seminar will focus on various hazard based prevention strategies and preparations to mitigate disasters. The seminar will also present how knowledge gained from other cities can be localized with a particular reference to the progressive developments in Iloilo city on new DRR initiatives.

Innovations on mitigating flood risks, earthquakes and information dissemination from private sectors applicable to Asian cities will also be shared. The participants will also visit relevant DRR facilities in Yokohama with a highlight of participating in the Integrated Emergency Drill conducted annually.

The following are the main session topics included in the seminar.i. Perspectives on Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction Programsii. Urban Crisis managementiii. Enhancing Resilience through City-to-City Cooperationiv. Application of innovations in reducing disaster risksv. Public Outreach Strategies and Process for DRR

A special report on the seminar will be published shortly. The seminar is being organized in collaboration with the

1. 10th CIT YNET Disaster Cluster Seminar in Yokohama to focus on prevention, investment and innovation2. Community mobilization activities on SWM progresses with PIEDAR under the sustainable Materials Management Project3. HELP-O assigns Green Leaders for the Community Based Solid Waste Management Project in Galle4. Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Yokohama City hold the 5th training on Structural and Seismic Engineering in Kathmandu

E-NewsAugust 2017Vol. 4 No. 8

PIEDAR Executive Director Mr. Syed Ayub Qutub orients the school teachers

II . Community mobilization activities on SWM progresses with PIEDAR under the sustainable Materials Management Project

A SMM program assessment workshop was convened on July 31 at PIEDAR under the project supported by CITYNET Yokohama Project Office. Coordinator of the Environmental Education, PIEDAR facilitated the workshop. It was attended by the Principals of three partner schools along with three teachers-in-charge of the SMM program. It is noteworthy that the Principals and SMM program teachers from three out of the four partner schools took out time from their summer holidays to participate in the workshop. Executive Director of PIEDAR welcomed the participants to the work-shop and described its aim and objectives.

Below: Presenters and sponsors in CITYNET’s 10th Disas-ter Cluster Seminar

World Bank. Other partners below are also supporting the sessions.

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The participants also discussed with PIEDAR SMM Resource Person the next steps for installing and managing the hard-ware items under the partnership with CityNet, Yokohama. The schools will establish waste sorting stations in the help of their students.

The participants reached the common opinion that Sus-tainable Materials Management is very different from and better than the 3Rs concept practiced in the previous years. Under SMM with PIEDAR, nothing is to be considered as waste. All the materials are to be used to the utmost by practicing the ‘cradle to cradle’ (C2C) concept. However, 3Rs is an intermediate building block towards achieving SMM.

A participant presenting a list of commitments after the group discussion

There have been significant objectively verifiable changes among the students in the last year since the introduction of SMM in the schools. Along with more awareness, there are positive changes in attitudes and behaviours. Students no longer think it a ‘menial’ task to pick up litter, and to and clean their class rooms and school yards. All the schools have reused paint buckets and cooking oil tins as dustbins, which have been placed in the classrooms, school toilets and in the schoolyards. The SMM concept has been extend-ed by schoolchildren to their parents and siblings. A signif-icant proportion has responded positively by introducing SMM practices in their homes.

I I I . H E L P - O a s s i g n s G r e e n L e a d e r s f o r t h e C o m m u n i t y B a s e d S o l i d Wa s t e M a n a ge m e n t Project in Galle

HELP-O organised a workshop at Southland Girls College in Galle in late June to discuss waste separation and collection with the students and the teachers. During the workshop, HELP-O explained about the diseases that may be caused by Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) when being com-busted. The awareness raising workshop discussed harmful substances to the environment, prevention of dengue, re-duction of natural disasters and proper waste separation at schools and communities.

The key outcomes of the workshop were to raise awareness among the students about proper waste segregation and assigning Green Leaders who may monitor the activities conducted through the Environmental Students Society.

P a r t i c i p a n t s l e a r n a b o u t e f f e c t s o f p r o p e r w a s t e management at the workshop at Southland Girls College

The project is being supported by CITYNET Yokohama Proj-ect Office.

IV. Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Yokohama C i t y ho l d t he 5t h t r a in in g o n St r u c tur a l and Seismic Engineering in Kathmandu

As the 3-year training project approached its half-way mark, the 5th training focused on the inspection process during construction and essential points in seismically strong RC structures. The three-day training was attended by a total of 40 participants from 22 municipalities effected by the earthquake. 11 municipalities were invited by Kathmandu and the other 10 were invited by the World Bank.

The training started with a session by Mr. Masahiro Yoshimura, Housing and Architecture Bureau of Yokohama City, that explained the essential points in constructing safe RC structures resistant to large scale earthquakes in Japan. This was followed by a site visit to a construction site of a residential building of three stories, where Nepali and Japa-nese participants both shared and discussed their opinions on the points to be improved at the construction site.

After a brief introduction to the inspection process in Japan by Mr. Yasuji Horikiri, a workshop was conducted where participants discussed the existing problems in the inspec-tion process in Nepal, and possible solutions and methods to improve the system. This was a great opportunity to gather engineers from various municipalities where they could share their best practices and initiatives with each other.

Also invited were Dr. Tek Raj Gyawali from the University of Pokhara, who has more than 20 years research and work experience in Japan. He gave a presentation on how to ef-fectively localise Japanese techniques and initiatives to the Nepali context. Mr. Suraj Shrestha from Dharan City also presented the city’s initiatives in DRR and construction of safe buildings. To complement this, Ms. Akiko Sugai pre-sented Yokohama City’s initiatives in community based DRR in the urban planning process.

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Engineers discuss the construction quality of an RC pil-lar

Participants discuss the inspection process during the workshop

Mr. Horikiri and Dr. Gyawali explain the distribution of RC bars to participants