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Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction Program (CBDRR2021) @ Pulau Redang

DATE: 30 MARCH – 1 APRIL 2021

VENUE: PULAU REDANG, TERENGGANU

The Disaster Preparedness & Prevention Centre (DPPC), Malaysia – Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur will be organizing the Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR2021) program that will be held from 30 March until 1 April 2021 in Pulau Redang, Terengganu. It is a community empowerment program that aims to strengthening preparedness and resilience to maritime, archipelago and pandemic environments of COVID-19. This event will be jointly organized by National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), Malaysia Civil Defence Force (APM), Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, National Disaster Management Association (NADIM), UNHRD, Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters’ Society (MARTS) and the Deparment of Social Welfare. This event is supported by the Terengganu state government, Terengganu Tourism Department, Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Ministry of Health (KKM) and GPS Lands Sdn. Bhd. PHARMANIAGA, which one of the supporters of this event, will provide donation on healthcare equipments to all the local people in Pulau Redang for this program.

 

PROGRAM BOOK

You can download the program book HERE

 

PROGRAM TENTATIVE

You can download the program tentative HERE

 

COVID-DRR Webinar

DATE: 17 MARCH 2021

VIA ZOOM PLATFORM (link will be provided later) and FACEBOOK LIVE

The Disaster Preparedness & Prevention Centre (DPPC), Malaysia – Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur will be organizing the COVID-DRR Webinar on “Responding and Preparing for Natural Hazards under the COVID-19 Pandemic: Sharing Challenges and Lessons from Malaysia and Japan” that will be held on 17 March 2021 via ZOOM platform and Facebook Live. This program aims to share the challenges and lesson in Malaysia and Japan on responding to compound disaster under COVID-19 pandemic and suggest the way forward to better reduce and prevent future disasters. Several distinguish guests will be joining this program, whom are Tan Sri Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Health; Prof. Datuk Ts. Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, the Vice Chancellor of UTM; H.E. Hiroshi Oka, Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia; and Mr. Masahiko Takizawa, Chief Representative of JICA Malaysia. Invited panelist are Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shinji Akitomi, Director of Department of Medical Crisis Management at the Medical Corporation Ioukai, Japan; Mr. Said Alhudzari Ibrahim, General Manager of Program Operations in MERCY Malaysia; Dr. Naoki Sakai, Chief Researcher at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Japan; and Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, Director of Operations at the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) Malaysia

 

VACANCY: Research Officer (Hydrologist)

BACKGROUND

The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Centre (DPPC) is a research centre established in 2015 at Malaysian-Japanese International Institute of Technology, University of Technology Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur aiming to become a world-class research and training centre for building resilience to natural hazards, disasters and climate change. DPPC coordinates national and international effort in building community resilience towards disaster by bringing together various stakeholders, policy makers, leading academic scientists and researchers in conducting multi-disciplinary applied research, training, and field practice in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Management (DRM). DPPC targets to assist in the global achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) implemented and outlined by the United Nations.

VACANCIES

1. Research Officers (Hydrologist)
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Department/Office: Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Centre (DPPC), Malaysian-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT)
Organization: University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Start date: Immediately

a. Duties and Responsibilities

  • The research officer is expected to work closely with our existing project team and carry out the following responsibilities:1) Processing of hydrological data i.e. quality control of hydrological data, frequency distribution and development of IDF curve for an ungauged basin.
  • Prepare various maps and figures such as spatial interpolation maps.
  • Prepare written reports and presentations of the findings.
  • Perform any other duties as assigned by supervisor.

b. Competencies and requirements

  • Candidate must possess at least Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent.
  • Familiar with ArcGIS or QGIS software.
  • Familiar with MSMA 2.0.
  • Meticulous and able to handle multi-function/routine-tasks.
  • Good interpersonal and communication skills and able to work independently.
  • Programming skill in C language will be added advantage.

c. Salary information
Salary is determined based on the candidate’s qualifications and the professional and scientific pay rate set by the university.

d. Contract duration
The duration for this contract is 3 months

Kindly forward your CV and cover letter to dppc@utm.my and indicate your availability date. Write an email/contact us at 0322031585 if you have further inquiries.

DPPC MJIIT: Not Just Another Ordinary ‘Mission’

DPPC MJIIT: Not Just Another Ordinary ‘Mission’

The recent and current flooding occurring across Malaysia poses both economic and life-threatening challenges to the thousands of families affected. The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Center (DPPC) of Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia spearheaded a one-of-kind ‘mission’ targeted to achieve eleven unique objectives in 5-days, both in Johor and Pahang beginning on the 8th January 2021. This mission was made unique due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders from the private sectors, NGOs, a Deaf Society, ‘local champions’, and respected public agencies. Among these related parties are the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), Malaysia Civil Defence Force (APM) Malaysia, Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia (BOMBA), Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters’ Society (MARTS), National Disaster Management Association (NADIM), I-Divers, the Malaysia Deaf Sports Association (MSDeaf) and the Pertubuhan Gabungan Bantuan Bencana NGO Malaysia (BBNGO). This mission was made possible by the strong support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and all public contributors alike.

Among the eleven aims of this mission is the performance of a rapid assessment in all the locations visited, namely Kluang – Johor Bahru – Kota Tinggi – Mersing – Pekan – Kuantan – Maran – Jerantut – Temerloh. This included studying the impacts of recent monsoons resulting in riverine floods, landslides, and high-tide disaster-related phenomena while exploring good practices, benchmarking local commitments, understanding emerging risk needs and demands, climate-induced disasters, cascading hazards and community-led disaster risk reduction in the most vulnerable states to extreme weather, environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, and anthropogenic activities. This mission additionally represents the progress made towards achieving the global G-target on the multi-hazard early warning system and details on disaster risk and people’s assessments as set by 2030, emphasising the co-design and co-development of local Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) resilience strategies to rejuvenate DRR investment, and the promotion of a public-private-academic-civil society model of five-fold helix innovation characterized by environmental disasters and systemic risk.

What makes this mission more unique is the efforts made by MSDeaf and I-Divers in the engagement with the special needs community, particularly the deaf. As many do not realise the challenges faced by these communities during and after a disaster, this mission inspires more of such engagements and the understanding of the special needs community in the future. MsDeaf provided help to disabled and underprivileged victims by seeking to recognize and investigate disabled deaf victims and to offer them assistance by providing education in sign language.The mission even succeeded in locating a few deaf adults who have never been exposed to any sign language training in their lives (they are between 29 to 50 years old), unemployed and deeply neglected in terms of communication skills.

On top of this, special sessions on basic life-saving, surface water danger detection, and CPR was also done with the communities by I-Divers, which was also telecasted live via Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia (Malaysian Sign Language) by MSDeaf. Led by YBhg. Ustaz Muhamad bin Abdullah, or popularly known as Ustaz Amin, I-Divers even contributed in a few short post-traumatic healing sessions to psychologically motivate the affected victims.

In addition to achieving the mission aims, a part of this mission is to aid in a way of donations under the supervision of NADIM, cleaning and donating dry foods for the victims of the floods. Several ‘local champions’ were identified prior to the mission to assist with the more targeted assistance (to the most deeply affected families or individuals in each area or kampung). This mission hence uniquely empowers local champions to work alongside DPPC in data collection, aids distribution and special needs assessments. The mission was also made unique with the involvement of the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters’ Society (MARTS) as the mission’s communications leader in guiding the entire convoy of seven 4x4s (including one with a boat). Sharing sessions were also held by MARTS to expose to the public what amateur radio is all about and how valuable their services are in times of disasters.

Within 5-adventurous days, journeying throughout Johor and Pahang, the mission delegates achieved all the eleven aims of the mission and built new networks and future collaborations. The delegates safely arrived back in MJIIT UTM KL on the late evening of the 12th January 2021.

DPPC MJIIT UTM hopes to inspire many other such collaborative efforts towards learning from each other and towards building a resilient nation.

Not-another-ordinary-mission. Accomplished.

Reported by:
Dr. Rahayu binti Tasnim
Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
rahayutasnim@utm.my

DPPC Disaster Relief and Rapid Assessment Mission 2021

DATE: 8 – 12 JANUARY 2021

LOCATION: KLUANG – JOHOR BAHRU – KOTA TINGGI – MERSING – PEKAN – KUANTAN – MARAN

The Disaster Preparedness & Prevention Centre (DPPC), Malaysia – Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur will be organizing the DPPC Disaster Relief & Rapid Assessment Mission 2021 that will be held from 8 until 12 January 2021 that covers various locations in Johor and Pahang which affected by the recent flood. This tour aims at observing the impacts of recent monsoons resulting in many riverine floods, landslides, and high-tide phenomenon related disaster in the most developing states, e.g. Johor and Pahang. We also aim at exploring good practices, benchmarking local commitments, understanding needs and demands for emerging risk, climate-induced disaster, cascading hazards, and community-led disaster risk reduction in the most vulnerable states to extreme weather, environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, and anthropogenic activity. This program also reflects the progress of achieving global target G on multi-hazard early warning system, and disaster risk information and assessments to the people, as set by 2030. This program highlights co-design and co-develop practices of local DRR resilience strategies towards rejuvenating DRR investment, and promoting a quintuple helix innovation model on public-private-academia-civil society characterized by environmental disaster and systemic risk. A multi-sectoral engagement, benchmarking good practices, field reconnaissance and site visit are the focus of our activities with the great support of various strategic partners at federal, state and local level. This program objectives are to:

  1. To perform a series of disaster relief mission at targeted areas covering the most affected states with the support of the Secretariat to the District Disaster Management Committee;
  2. To do a fact-finding mission and gather first-hand information about the impacts of water-related disaster in the vulnerable areas;
  3. To physically observe the disaster losses and damages especially the critical infrastructure, business discontinuity, and socioeconomic impact in the ground zero;
  4. To evaluate root causes of water-related disaster (floods and landslides) due to extreme weather events and land-use changes;
  5. To assess the local adaptation and implementation of new COVID-19 related SOPs especially in the temporary designated evacuation centers;
  6. To observe the local coordination between governments and civil society organizations/NGOs in the epicenter of the disaster;
  7. To explore preventive and mitigation measures towards preparing dual challenges of water-related disaster and COVID-19 pandemic during monsoon season;
  8. To understand the needs and demands by local governments, local disaster managers, and local actors for adopting better risk governance;
  9. To educate and train basic survival skills related to flooding and lifesaving. This involves communicating with disabled communities;
  10. To rejuvenate local DRR resilience strategies by empowering local actors and expert- and traditional knowledge, and risk-sensitive development plan of action;
  11. To increase visibility of DPPC and its strategic partners in conjunction    with the commemoration a 5-years anniversary of DPPC and 10-year   commitment to global agenda on disaster risk reduction and resilience in Malaysia.