WORKSHOP ON ICT FOR PROMOTING INCLUSIVE AND DISASTER RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT TO RUN

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The first important step towards reducing disaster impact are correctly analyze the potential risk and identify measures that can prevent, mitigate or prepare for emergencies. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can be used to minimize the impact of disasters in many ways. Highlighting the importance of the ICT, the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (ITT for LLDCs) and UN-ESCAP are organizing joint expert Workshop on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) for promoting inclusive and disaster resilient development on May 14-15 May, 2015, Ulaanbaatar. The workshop will be held in UN House, at 9.30am. International experts from Thailand, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Germany, India, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and local government officials responsible for disaster risk management and ICT experts will be invited to the workshop. The key objectives of the workshop is to examine the role of the ICT as a critical tool in a disaster management context, as well as to share lessons learned and good practices from countries in the region, facilitate ongoing interaction and peer-learning, identify and discuss programs and initiatives, especially those based on public-private sector partnerships that can enhance e-resilience in disaster resilient development, identify key ICT activities which are relevant to disaster resilient development. Experts will also discuss regional and national experiences related to these issues, and will also explore represent improvements in well-known strategies in use of ICT for disaster risk management or should be characterized by new ideas that were not previously known or implemented in the past. Such innovative strategies should also be considered effective in terms of achieving the goals of utilizing ICT for promoting inclusive and disaster resilient development. In this regard, the workshop could also provide relevant recommendations which could be useful for other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. A case study of ICT readiness aspects of Disaster Risk Management in Mongolia will be launched during the two day workshop. At the case study a special attention is given to fibre-optic connectivity networks and broadband as critical infrastructure in DRM, as well as the need to significantly increase access to ICT and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet by 2020.