EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC NEWSLETTER MARCH AND APRIL 2012

Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) Regional Office for Asia-Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand, has been actively involved in disaster response and preparedness efforts in the East Asia and Pacific Region. In Cambodia, a flood response program supported by USAID/OFDA and implemented by World Vision has helped families recover from the 2011 floods. The program provided new crops and safe drinking water to affected communities, with families planting new crops and selling them at the market. Additionally, World Vision upgraded existing community wells and latrines to prevent contamination of drinking water during annual floods. In Thailand, USAID/OFDA launched two disaster preparedness programs in April 2012, in collaboration with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). The Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) aims to train healthcare providers to respond effectively during crises, while the Program for Reduction of Vulnerability to Floods in Thailand seeks to strengthen the capacity of the Government of Thailand Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and related national and local institutions to develop and implement flood mitigation projects. The programs were launched at Ayutthaya Hospital, which was severely affected by the 2011 floods. The hospital's effective evacuation of patients during the floods was cited as an example of the importance of disaster preparedness. The PEER program has been expanded to 10 Asian countries, and community members are learning first responder skills, including collapsed structure search and rescue and basic first aid. In Fiji, USAID/OFDA responded to floods in April 2012, providing $150,000 to the Fiji Red Cross Society and the Rotary Club of Suva to procure and distribute emergency relief supplies, including blankets, hygiene kits, and water purification tablets. The floods resulted in four deaths and destroyed at least 96 houses, with almost 200 people remaining in evacuation centers one month after the onset of the rains. In Vietnam, USAID/OFDA-funded Community Action for Disaster Response (CADRE) trainings were conducted in February and March 2012, in collaboration with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS). The trainings aimed to equip community members with critical first response skills, including disaster first response, collapsed structure search and rescue, and basic first aid. Forty-seven participants completed the course and became CADRE instructors, who will pass the training on to more than 800 VNRC volunteers in 40 disaster-prone communes of central Vietnam. The USAID team visited the severely affected Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia to monitor World Vision activities, observing that the organization had used USAID/OFDA funds to upgrade existing community wells and latrines, train individuals in flood-prone areas on hand-washing techniques, and provide cash crop seeds to nearly 4,500 poor households. Local residents participated in rehabilitating damaged infrastructure through cash-for-work projects, giving them a hand in restoring their communities.