Dear readers and the ADN community,
Welcome to our third newsletter for the Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN). ADN is a global membership network, dedicated to finding theoretical and practical solutions to reducing avoidable deaths from disasters.
As we reflect on 2021, it has been another eventful year for the ADN community due to the challenges related to ongoing COVID-19, economic lockdown, concurrent disasters, and emergence of Omicron leading to needless avoidable deaths. Despite these challenges, the ADN community responded wherever and whenever they could.
We initiated the ‘Meals on Wheels’ project and distributed 821 food parcels across 18 villages of Kandamahal district of Odisha in India during the second surge of COVID-19. We did this in collaboration with the ADN’s India Hub host, Orissa State Volunteers Social Workers Association. We are grateful to those who have donated for this initiative.
Last year, on 4 December 2020, we launched our knowledge exchange event on avoidable deaths at the ‘International Conference on Geographical Science for Resilient Communities, Ecosystems and Livelihoods under Global Environmental Change’ of the University of Makerere in Uganda. This year in collaboration with our Organisational Partners and Regional Coordinators in India, Pakistan, UK and Nigeria, we have delivered four knowledge exchange events, which attracted more than 200 audiences, and we have received very positive feedback on these events.
We ended the year by successfully organising a high-profile Symposium on ‘Integrating Disaster Risk Management with Emergency Services and Defence to Reduce Avoidable Disaster Deaths’ in the Caribbean region on 10 December 2021. The Symposium was opened by Ms. Mami Mizutori, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Head of the United Nations Office for DRR. We have received inspiring feedback, such as: ‘history being made by bringing the emergency services and defence together in the Caribbean region’, ‘it was a phenomenal Symposium’, etc.
We have compiled this Newsletter to showcase a small vignette of newsworthy work conducted by the ADN Team and the Regional Coordinators across the globe, including updates on a couple of our projects. The newsletter also features updates on the ‘multiple perspectives to avoid disaster deaths’ and ‘Sendai Framework’s first two targets. For the former, I have interviewed our two highly esteemed Advisors, Professor Michael Petterson and Mr David Wales to solicit their views on how to avoid disaster deaths. For the latter, we have reviewed the emergencies database for the Caribbean region in order to forecast whether this region is on track to meet the Sendai’s first two targets.
We hope that you will enjoy reading this newsletter.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett
President and Editor-In-Chief for the Avoidable Deaths Newsletter
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No comments were gathered from our readers last year, but this is a practice we would like to adopt going forward. Therefore, we welcome your comments and suggestions on this Newsletter, which we can then feature in our next edition. Please email us at: contact@avoidable-deaths.net
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The ADN Community has steadily been growing. In total, ADN has attracted 15 Advisory Board Members, 34 Organisational Partners, 20 Regional Coordinators and 419 members.
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As of December 2021, ADN has attracted 557 followers on Facebook (an increase of 86 from last year), of which 32.4% are female and 67.6% are male. Additionally, ADN has 540 followers on Twitter (an increase of 179 from last year), 225 followers on LinkedIn (an increase of 127 from last year) and 58 brand new followers on Instagram.
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Between January and November 2021, ADN published 4 blogs. The blogs can be found on our website: https://www.avoidable-deaths.net/blog . If you would like to write a blog or short article for ADN, please contact: contact@avoidable-deaths.net
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On 10 December 2021, ADN organised its first Symposium on Integrating Disaster Risk Management with Emergency Services and Defence to Reduce Disaster Deaths in the Caribbean region in collaboration with Leicester’s students from the MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management, and Crisis Management, Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Prepared International, Shared Aim, and Gannon Emergency Solutions. The regional partners included: Rights Insight, Caribbean Development Bank, Caribbean Association of Fire Chiefs, Barbados Fire Services, and Regional Security System. The Symposium brought together 15 speakers representing the emergency services (viz. fire and rescue, police, civilian), defence (viz. navy, army and civilian), researchers, UNDRR UNDP, CDEMA and the Caribbean Development Bank. The keynote speakers for this event were: Ms. Mami Mizutori, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Head of the United Nations Office for DRR, and Ms. Elizabeth Riley, the Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). The Symposium was viewed by more than 500 people.
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On 1 December 2021, Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett launched a new consultancy research project on ‘Understanding the impact of climate change on drowning risk in Bangladesh and Tanzania’. Funded by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) this is a collaborative research project between the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Water Security Research Centre, Climate UEA, and ADN. The project is led by Professor Roger Few from the Climate UEA.
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On 24 November 2021, the ADN Information Coordinator, Ms. Lauren Macleod attended the European Forum on DRR session entitled ‘All-of-society engagement accelerating the implementation of the Sendai Framework’. Yuki Matsuoka, Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in Japan, introduced the UNDRR’s Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform.
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On 12 November 2021, the ADN Team released the second Annual Report. To read this Report, please click here.
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On 10 November 2021, ADN gained a membership of the Asia-Pacific Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) working group (WG). The GiHA is the main coordination platform for advocacy, knowledge management, and technical support on gender in humanitarian action in the Asia-Pacific region. The GiHA WG is co-Chaired jointly by UN Women and UNHCR.
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On 26 June 2021, Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett provided keynote address on the “Importance of Mixed Method Approach in Health Research” at the “National Workshop on Methods and Approaches for Health Research in Social Sciences” organised by ICMR-NIRTH, Jabalpur School of Social Sciences and Humanities, VIT-AP University, and Department of Geography, SES and Central University Karnataka.
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The ADN’s Core Team in collaboration with Regional Coordinators, Organisational Partners and Advisors organised five virtual Special Sessions in Uganda, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and the UK. The Special Sessions in Uganda and Nigeria involved national disaster management authorities, African Union and non-governmental organisations to raise awareness on avoidable disaster deaths. The five Special Sessions attracted more than 222 attendees and 20 global speakers.
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On 12 June 2021, Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita delivered one-hour lecture on Sakura FM Radio Station. This lecture was part of the City of Nishinomiya’s Lifelong Learning Programme in Japan.
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On 20 May 2021, ADN joined PMNCH (Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health), WHO, as a member reinforcing ‘our commitment to working in partnership to build a more equitable world and ensure the best possible future ‘every woman, Children and adolescent’.
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On 19 May 2021, Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett presented the concept of avoidable deaths for the session ‘NGO Access to Disaster Zones: The Importance of Collaboration and Enhancing Cooperation Between Agencies and Government in the Field’, at the International Disaster Management Exhibition organised by World Humanitarian Forum in London.
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On 31 March 2021, the ADN team successfully concluded the IPPF-South Asia Region Office funded project titled ‘Upscaling RHCC by Developing a Protocol for Low-Budget Reproductive Health Kit’. The research project was led by Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett in collaboration with Dr Fariha Haseen (Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University), Maqbul Bhuiyan (Data Management Aid), Ms Nimisha Goswami (IPPF-SAR), Ms Denise Corsel, and the Government of Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Family Planning. The policy brief and the leaflet can be accessed here.
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On 12 March 2021, ADN celebrated its second birthday. We received birthday wishes from all over the world. Please see ADN's Photo Gallery.
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On 4 March 2021, Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita delivered a lecture on ‘Implementation of Disaster Risk Education for Tsunami Hazard in Osaka, Japan’ for the Special Session ‘Disaster Risk Management: Discourses from Asia and Latin America’ facilitated by the University of Management and Technology’s Center for Disaster Management.
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On 5 February 2021, Mrs Denise Corsel delivered a lecture on ‘Lessons from the Livelihood-Based Flood Response in Cambodia’, for the Special Session ‘Responding to Domestic Fires and Coastal Flooding: Lessons from UK, India and Cambodia’ facilitated by Disaster Alert, Nigeria.
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On 28 January 2021, Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett moderated/chaired the Townhall Meeting on ‘COVID 19: Delivering SRHR in Crises Settings’ with the Independent Panel Exchange for Preparedness and Response, organised by IPPF-South Asia Region Office and WHO’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). The Chairperson for this Townhall Meeting was the Rt Honourable Helen Clarke. The event can be viewed here.
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News from the Regional Coordinators and Advisory Board Members
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On 1 December 2021, Mr Daniel Mendez and Mr Krishna Clarke, Regional Coordinators from the Caribbean region were interviewed by the Barbados Government Information Service division ahead of ADN’s symposium. The episode entitled Insider’s Report - Advancing the prevention of avoidable deaths agenda and also featured Errol Maynard of the Barbados Fire service department. Listen on SoundCloud by clicking here.
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On 7 November 2021, the ADN India Hub host and Regional Coordinator, Mr Dillip Pattanaik and Dr Nibedita Ray-Bennett presented the ‘role that youths, especially the ADN’s Junior Champions and Future leaders are playing in reducing the impact of the climate crisis and avoidable disaster deaths in India’ at the COP26 side event entitled ‘STEM for All and the Climate Crisis’.
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From 31 October to 12 November 2021, the ADN UK Regional Coordinator, Dr Christian Morgner attended the COP26-UN Climate Change Conference in the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, UK.
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On 28 October 2021, the ADN India Hub advisor, Ms Nimisha Goswami attended a session on the Gender equality, diversity and inclusion support resilience hosted by Integrated Disaster Risk Management Society (IDRiM) in collaboration with IDRiM Women in Disaster Risk Science and Practice Committee, University of Twente and ITC.
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From June to August 2021, ADN India Regional Coordinator, Ms Anuradha and Deputy Director of Doers facilitated training sessions on 'Mental Health and Self-care during COVID-19' in-person with three training centers of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The SSB is a paramilitary police force under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India which is responsible for guarding the international borders of India with Nepal and Bhutan. While exchanging the experiences, concerns, and queries regarding mental health during the COVID-19 times, participants discovered some very crucial aspects of self-care and mental health in the sessions'.
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On 26 June 2021, ADN India Regional Coordinator, Dr Madhulika Sahoo organised the “National Workshop on Methods and Approaches for Health Research in Social Sciences” in collaboration with ICMR-NIRTH, Jabalpur School of Social Sciences and Humanities, VIT-AP University, and Department of Geography, SES and Central University Karnataka.
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From May-July 2021, Mr Dillip Pattanaik, ADN India Regional Coordinator and the Executive Director of Orissa State Volunteers and Social Workers Association (OSVSWA), supported ADN with the launch of an appeal to raise funds as a response to the second surge of COVID-19 in India, through a novel initiative called ‘Meals On Wheels’. The objective of this targeted initiative was to reduce avoidable deaths from nutritional crisis and starvation amongst the tribal community of Kandamahal district in Odisha who have been the hardest hit by the impact of economic lockdown. Through this initiative ADN and OSVSWA distributed 821 food parcels across 18 villages of Kandamahal district from the 2-5 July 2021.
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Mrs Denise Corsel, Dr Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett, Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita and Dr Paul Reilly have written a short article titled: Risk, Crisis, Disaster and Development Management (RCDDM): Future Leader Programme. To read this article, please click here.
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Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita has written a short article titled: School Pupils in Osaka are Champions for Avoidable Deaths from Tsunamis. To read this article, please click here.
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Short interviews were conducted to gain multiple perspectives on avoidable deaths.
Dr Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett interviewed two ADN’s Advisors Mr David Wales and Professor Michael Peterson to gain multiple perspectives on avoidable deaths. To read Mr David Wales’ interview transcript, please click here. To read Professor Michael Peterson’s interview transcript, please click here.
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As a part of Sendai Update, Dr Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett and Julian Coetzee have written a short article titled: Disaster Trends, Deaths and People Affected in the Caribbean Region Over 20 years
To read this article, please click here.
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