March 2009: The Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will convene the First Session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, from 25-27 March 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop will include a high-level roundtable on regional cooperation for disaster risk reduction as well as sessions on: implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action in Asia and the Pacific; enhancing regional cooperation on disaster risk reduction in Asia and the Pacific; activities of ESCAP cooperative mechanisms on disaster risk reduction; and the strategic framework and proposed outputs for the proposed programme of work for 2010-2011.

The Typhoon Committee as well as the Panel on Tropical Cyclones, a regional body jointly established by the World Meteorological Organization and ESCAP, will also convene during the meeting. The objective of the Panel is to promote measures to improve tropical cyclone warning systems in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. It develops activities under three substantive climate change related components, namely meteorology, hydrology and disaster prevention and preparedness. [Meeting Website]