DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT: CONTROL MEASURES & MITIGATION PLANNING

Professor Kenichi Tsukahara is a Professor of Kyushu University in the Faculty of Engineering, Urban System Engineering, and also a senior professional engineer.

Professor Tsukahara is a specialist in Regional Science, Infrastructure Development and International Cooperation brining research and fieldwork experiences in areas including Database Development for Disaster Risk Reduction, Efficient Land Use Management with Sustainable Infrastructure Provision and Disaster Risk Reduction in Depopulated Disaster-prone Communities. Outside of Japan he has been involved in research projects such as Effective Water Supply System for Low Income Households in Asian Developing Countries and Evaluating Effectiveness of Public Service Provision. He also holds position as the Director of the Natural Disaster Information Center of Western Japan.

Professor Tsukahara is a graduate of Kyushu University (BA, MA Civil Engineering) and University of Pennsylvania (PhD Regional Studies).

Ir Dr Zuhairi Abd. Hamid is the Chief Executive Officer of Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM), a research institute established under Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) which he joined in January, 2006. He has over 32 years of experience in the construction industry and started his professional career as a civil and structural engineer with Public Works Department of Malaysia in 1984. He has worked under various capacities as road engineer, bridge engineer, building engineer, district engineer, assistant director of planning, forensic and structural design engineer. He joined CIDB in 1998 as a senior manager at the Technology Development Division and later was appointed to his current post at CREAM.

He holds a B.Eng. (Hons.) Civil from University Technology Malaysia. He gained his Masters in Structural Dynamic Engineering from Kanazawa University, Japan and his PhD in IT Construction majoring in Healthcare Facilities Management from University of Salford, United Kingdom. He is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in the Board of Engineers Malaysia and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (FIEM). He is active in engineering education and research and has been appointed by six local universities in various capacities; from Adjunct Professor to member of the Advisory Panel. He also sits as a Board Member in the United Nation support International Research Council, CIB “Conseil International du Bâtiment” (International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction).

His research interest and expertise is within the area of Strategic Management of IT in Construction, Strategic Facilities Management in Health Sector, Structural dynamic (wind engineering and earthquake engineering), Prefabricated building construction and Open Building System and Manufacturing, Occupational and Health related to site workers’ amenities and accommodation.

Prof. Reimund Schwarze is head of the research group on ‘climate change and extreme events’ at the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ and Professor for Environmental Economics at the University of Frankfurt/Oder. He graduated in the field of economics at the University of Berlin in 1984. Throughout 1985-1988, he worked for the Environmental Protection Agency of Germany in Berlin. He had various research fellowship in the U.S., among them the Institute for International Studies (IIS) of Stanford University (1999/2000), the University of Pennsylvania (2008) and the environmental think tank „Resources for the Future“ in Washington D.C. (2014). He is author of several books and journal papers on Climate Change Policy and Natural Hazards Economics, and has served as an expert for public hearings on climate change and extreme events of the German Parliament and the German Ministry of Environmental Affairs. He coordinated the EU FP 7 project ‘Cost of Natural Hazards’ at UFZ and is a executive board member to the German Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV). He is coordinating lead author of the chapter “Urban resilience finance and economics” in the 2nd Assessment Report “Climate Change in Cities” (ARC3.2) of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN).

Dato’ Zakaria has been appointed as a scientific expert panel to National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA). He is the former Director of Mineral & Geosciences Department, Malaysia (JMG) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) and currently a National Fellow of SEADPRI-UKM. He is a practitioner and researcher in geoscience disciplines including geological mapping, engineering geology, geological hazards, environmental geology, and geophysics. He is a member of Board of Study (BOS) of the Disaster Risk Management Programme of Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) Chair of the International Association of Engineering Geology Malaysia, and the member of the Board of Geologists Malaysia.

Dr. Matsuura brings his experiences as both practitioner and researcher in Disaster Risk Reduction from Asia-Pacific (Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Fiji, etc.), Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) and South America (Brazil) regions. He has been involved in advising disaster management offices for developing DRR plans at national and local levels as well as assisting post-disaster countries in drafting national recovery and reconstruction plans.

Dr. Matsuura is a graduate of International Christian University, Japan (BA Liberal Arts), University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK (MA Water Resource Management) and Kyoto University (PhD Global Environmental Studies).

Dr. Khamarrul Azahari is currently a research manager at UTM RAZAK School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur and affiliated to the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Center (DPPC), Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT). He received a PhD from Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences, the Netherlands, with cooperation of Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, United Nation University (UNU) Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Centre for Spatial Analysis and Risk Management. In 2013, he was awarded the Top 11 Young World Geomorphologist given by the International Association of Geomorphology in Cite des Science de La Villette, Paris, France. He was the 2016 Merdeka Award Grant recipient, one of prestigious awards for young scientists in Malaysia. He was appointed as a technical expert in the National Project (Slope Hazard and Risk Mapping; 2014-2016) managed by the Minerals and Geoscience Department Malaysia, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia, worth about RM46 million. He involved in many consultations projects, e.g. Revised National Slope Master Plan 2009-2023 Public Work Department, and Disaster Resilient Cities 2017-2018 Federal Department of Town and Country Planning Peninsular Malaysia. He has published many research- and technical articles at international and national levels. He is currently a program coordinator of Master of Disaster Risk Management (MDRM), UTM Kuala Lumpur. More info @ http://razakschool.utm.my/khamarrul/

Ir Bibi Zarina Che Omar is a Director of Mitigation Department, Sector of Policy and Planning, National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA) Malaysia, Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia. She is an expert in both structural and non-structural approach in mitigating flood damage. She is a leading author from Malaysia in the publication on “Science Technology Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction: Asian Perspective” published in March 2017. This publication is supported by Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) International programme Office (IPO), International Council for Science (ICSU) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), IRDR International Centre of Excellence (ICoE)-Taipei and National Council of Thailand (NRCT). She has recommended flood-proofing new homes as the best way to protect people from damage, given that the method can be adopted as we can no longer afford to widen and deepen rivers. With a long-served technical expert in the Department of Irrigation Drainage Malaysia, and also known as a women leader in the National Disaster Management Agency recognized by Global Water Partnership Southeast Asia made this exciting session worth.