Summary Paper on Best Practices in Disaster Mitigation

The seven-year-old Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP) has produced substantial
achievements, outputs, and lessons learned. In order to share and showcase these experiences and lessons learned, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) organized a Regional Workshop on Best Practices in Disaster Mitigation on September 24-26, 2002, in Bali, Indonesia. Almost 150 project participants, elected and appointed officials and representatives of governmental agencies, academia, and non-governmental organizations participated in the workshop’s intense discussions which covered every major component of comprehensive risk management. 

Purpose of the Summary Paper
This summary paper highlights the mitigation work being undertaken by various organizations in the AUDMP and other programs and captures the overall essence of urban disaster mitigation in Asia as presented and discussed at the Regional Workshop. While this summary cannot convey the sense of energy and passion for their work that was expressed by workshop participants, it hopes to do justice to the thoughtful processes devised by AUDMP participants and their energetic and persistent efforts against heavy odds, as well as their actual accomplishments.