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Asia sends
disaster delegates

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

Forty delegates from 11 Asian nations will arrive here tomorrow to learn about disaster management, a budding industry that experts say holds much potential for Hawaii.

In October, a similar conference of 10-20 nations involved in a network started by Vice President Al Gore will also meet here. Gore, who initiated the Global Disaster Information Network, has been invited to attend.

Janis Koh, who helped spearhead a similar program with South Korean delegates here last year, said she believes this is the start of more international gatherings because of the numerous agencies in Hawaii that specialize in disaster preparation, management and recovery, as well as Hawaii's location.

"The whole world is looking at Asia for disaster patterns," said Koh, a former project manager of the Oahu Economic Development Board and now an overseas researcher of Korea's National Disaster Center.

The three-day conference starts tomorrow at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel. Titled "Building a Disaster Resistant Asia," it will be hosted by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which had planned to hold the meeting in Washington, D.C. But Sen. Dan Inouye, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency helped get the meeting here, partly because of the success of the South Korean conference.

"I don't think they (Trade and Development Agency) ever looked at Hawaii as a conference location," Koh said.

FEMA Director James Lee Witt will attend next week, along with representatives from Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The nations attending are South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Thailand.

Hawaii has a number of agencies that specialize in disaster management, including the Pacific Disaster Center, the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance, and observation and forecast centers of major weather disasters such as tsunami, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes and flooding.

The October conference will be held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and is titled the "Information Technology Exposition and Conference."

You can visit the Website on the conference starting tomorrow at www.tda.gov