At the August launch in Suva of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Projects Portal for Asia and the Pacific, host of the new portal, Mr Loy Rego, Deputy Executive Director of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Bangkok, Thailand, emphasised in his opening address that, “The success of the system depends upon the usage by all partners for ongoing and proposed DRR initiatives, with regular input and update of project information.”

Launched at the fifth Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network meeting, this requirement for the portal’s success is being met. Of the 300-plus project information records in the DRR Projects Portal, more than 170 relate to the Pacific, and cover initiatives and activities of the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network.

Disaster risk reduction partners are using the portal on a daily basis to share information about frameworks, and proposed, current and completed projects, which can be listed by country, hazards, themes, partners and donors. This information helps donor agencies identify priorities and maximise resources, assists governments in accessing regional assistance, and helps organisations implementing projects to plan better, find partners, and learn from partners’ work.  

Partners accessing the website can do a quick analysis of the number and type of completed and ongoing disaster risk reduction projects, and generate customised graphs and maps.

Because partners have access to more information about the disaster risk reduction frameworks and action plans, and the organisations implementing regional projects, it is easier to identify priority areas for providing support and implementation of projects.  

The DRR Projects Portal is building on, and adding to, existing initiatives such as the Pacific Disaster Net, which has been developed and maintained in SOPAC under a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme Pacific Centre, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and the SOPAC Disaster Risk Programme’s Projects and Capacities Portal for the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network, which hosts project information relating to the Pacific.

Having the mandate to coordinate Disaster Risk Management in the Pacific Region, and coordinating the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network, SOPAC’s Disaster Risk Programme is an essential partner of Disaster Risk Management stakeholders in the region.

More information about the Partnership Network can be found at http://www.sopac.org/index.php/pdrmpn

DRR Projects Portal can be found at http://www.drrprojects.net

Photo caption: Dr Russell Howorth (SOPAC), Mr Loy Rego (ADPC), Ms Jutta May (SOPAC), Ms Angelika Planitz (UNISDR), Mr Edy Boroitsworo (Asian Development Bank) at the portal launch.