Disaster Risk Research, Science and Innovation for Sustainability - Asian Case Studies

Disaster Risk Research, Science, and Innovation for Sustainability – Asian Case Studies
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Disaster Risk Research, Science and Innovation
for Sustainability - Asian Case Studies
Editors
Indrajit Pal
Sangam Shrestha
Rajib Shaw
Dyah R. Hizbaron
Tomonori Ichinose
Yon Yonariza
Takashi Oda
Associate Editor
Ganesh Dhungana
The publication of this book is supported by the ProSPER.Net consortium project “Disaster
Education for Integrating SFDRR and SDG in Asia” lead by Asian Institution of Technology,
Thailand in coordination with Keio University, Japan; Miyagi University of Education, Japan;
Andalas University, Indonesia; and Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.

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Acknowledgment
Sincere thanks and recognition to all primary authors, innovators, practitioners,
implementing organizations, policymakers, and everyone for their support in bringing out
stories from the field. Special mention to ProSPER.Net for providing funds for publication.
Disclaimer
All presented studies conducted by authors are based on analysis of secondary data. The
only objective of this publication is to share some good practices of DRR interventions in
the Asian region. The publisher, editors, and contributing authors don’t have any claim over
the approaches and achievements shared in studies.
Published by
Disaster Preparedness Mitigation and Management,
Asian Institute of Technology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand
ISBN 978-616-341-096-2
ISBN 978-616-341-097-9 (eBook)
First Edition August 2021
Printed @ AIT Printing Shop
Asian Institute of Technology,
9 58 Phahonyothin Rd, Khlong Nueng, Khlong Luang District,
Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
Layout and Cover
Jose Luis C. Arboled

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Foreword
There is mounting evidence that concludes that there is a positive correlation
between climate change and the increased incidence and intensity of natural
disasters – coastal hazards, desertification, droughts, earthquakes, floods,
landslides, … The prevention, amelioration, and effective management of disaster-
risks have therefore assumed heightened priorities in the sustainability
frameworks and agendas of various nations. This book – a compilation of the
findings of twenty carefully selected case studies across nine countries in the Asian
region – constitutes an admirable effort to advance our understanding about how
to improve the efficacy of the measures to reduce disaster-risks. Notwithstanding
the diversity of the country settings, the variety of climate-induced risks, and the
ambit of risk reduction strategies and practices across the countries, the common
message in these case studies points to the centrality of community engagement
and recourse to local knowledge, technologies, and wisdom for achieving
practicable and enduring redress of disaster risks. The case studies also
convincingly demonstrate how knowledge germane to modern-science and local
practices could be harmoniously integrated to mitigate disaster risks. Further,
although the case studies are based on the analyses of secondary data, but the
underlying foci and approaches make their findings easy to follow and amenable
to the drawing of some broad generalizations, without compromising their
contextual specificities. Moreover, the erudition and passion of the editors of the
book and authors of the case studies becomes rather evident as one reads the case
studies. Dr Indrajit Pal – the lead editor and a co-author of several case studies –
deserves special commendation for coordinating this initiative – never an easy task
when working with multiple teams, across several nations, under tight timelines!
Lastly, this publication – developed under the aegis of ProSPER.Net – is a testament
to the continuing commitment of ProSPER.Net to promoting discourses on
sustainability themes.
Deepak Sharma
Board Chair, ProSPER.Net
Director, Centre for Global Challenges
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

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Table of Contents
CS 01: Water Management at Community Level by Building Sand Dam 7
Subhajit Ghosh, Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana
CS 02: Improved Quarantine Centers to Mitigate the Spread of COVID -19 12
Ganesh Dhungana, Indrajit Pal
CS 03: Community Based landslide EWS in Indonesia: Contributing to Sustainable
DRR 18
Neshma Tuladhar, Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana
CS 04: Community Based Ecosystem Management for Disaster Risk Reduction 27
Jose Luis C. Arboleda, Indrajit Pal
CS 05: Construction of Sea Walls: A Case Study From Japan 33
Nang Ying Ei Hein Kham, Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana
CS 06: Monkey Cheeks Project for Resilient Livelihood 39
Nonthakarn Benjachat, Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana
CS 07: Tosacho on SDG Mirai City and its Implication to Disaster Resilience 46
Nanami Yamazawa, Ariyaningsih Ariyaningsih, Rajib Shaw
CS 08: Community Network Approach to Risk and Disaster Preparedness
Awareness Amongst Foreign Residents in Jose City, Japan 53
Bismark Adu-Gyamfi, Rajib Shaw
CS 09: Big Data Approach to Disaster Risk and Preparedness for Flood Control
in Guizhou Province, China 59
Jiang Yongxi, Ariyaningsih Ariyaningsih, Rajib Shaw
CS 10: Prevention and Control of Desertification with Comprehensive Measures
in Yulin City, China 66
He Zuqua, Ariyaningsih Ariyaningsih, Rajib Shaw
CS 11: Tsunami Risk Assessment in Gunungkidul Coastal Area using High-Resolution
Aerial Image 72
Hendy Fatchurohman, Muh Aris Marfai, Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron

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CS 12: The Restoration Program of Parangtritis Sand Dunes in Providing Sustainable
Ecosystem to Reduce Coastal Disaster Risk 79
Putri Meissarah, Nicky Setiawan, Farid Ibrahim, Fajrun Wahidil Muharram,
Yuniarsita Setyo Wulandari 79
CS 13: Strengthen Eco-DRR Network for Coastal Hazard and Climate Change
Adaptation Strategies in Semarang and Demak, Central Java 88
Indriya Parahita Adi, Utia Suarma, Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron
CS 14: Case of the Affected School and School District in the Large Scale Disaster 95
Tomonori Ichinose
CS 15: Lake Regulations Area Model for Risk Reduction Flood Disaster in Jakarta 103
Lian Yuanita Andikasari dan Deliyanti Ganesha
CS 16: Development of Local Institutional Networks for Landslide Disaster Risk
Reduction in Cibodas Village, Lembang District, West Bandung Regency 108
Thanthawi Jauhari
CS 17: Preliminary Study on the Readiness of Multi-storey Building in Jakarta Against
Earthquake Disaster 112
Mulyo Harris Pradono, Odilia Rovara, Qoriatu Zahro
CS 18: DRR Integration into the Padding City Development Planning Documents 118
Afriyanni
CS 19: Implementation of Disaster Mitigation-Based Spatial Planning Policy as an
Effort for Disaster Risk Reduction in the City of Padang 123
Roni Ekha Putera, Tengku Rika Valentina, Siti Annisa Silvia Rosa
CS 20: Comperhensive School Safety for Educational Continuity during Disaster 127
Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana

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Case Study 01
Water Management at Community
Level by Building Sand Dam
Subhajit Ghosh, Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana
Copyright © Free Vector Maps.com

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INTRODUCTION
Thoomba Ka Goliya is situated within the Thar desert in Marwar, Rajasthan,
India. To address the severe water crisis in the Thar Desert, stakeholders from
the different regions in the Thar mandated the formation of the Jal Bhagirathi
Foundation (JBF). Therefore, the JBF was formed as a public trust in 2002 in
Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Their mission is to alleviate water scarcity in rural
communities in Marwar with adequate drinking water, leveraging traditional
knowledge and cost-effective technology.
A sand dam is a hydraulic retention structure built above the ground
and into the riverbed of an ephemeral river. The sand accumulates upstream
of the dam during the rainy season, resulting in additional groundwater
storage. Saltwater intrusion is a major growing issue and water scarcity due to
low hydraulic heads (Ghosh, 2019). A sand dam is one of the best solutions for
storing additional water to recharge groundwater in the semi-arid area as it
helps to reduce evaporation.
OUTCOMES
Since the construction of this community-owned dam, the returns have been
tremendous financially and in terms of public health (Akhilendra et al., 2013).
The sand dam built in the village was initiated as a pilot project to enhance
irrigation, contribute to food security, and alleviate poverty. As a result, farmers
report that saline water has turned sweet, enabling them to drink healthily and
grow a range of fruit and vegetables new to the Thar Desert. Fifteen sand dams
have already transformed the thousands of people, and communities are
asking to build more in the Jodphur, Jalore, and Balmer Districts of Rajasthan
- contributing 20% of the cost themselves. Reported Impacts from Thumba ka
Goliya, Jalore District, Rajasthan:
o Output from government tube wells has increased by 50%, and water
availability increased from several hours to 24 hours per day.

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o The impacts initially affected tube wells for 23 farmers, but in 2015, it
was realised that 109 private tube wells in the area were positively
impacted.
o Water levels reported by local farmers in the tube wells were at 75
meters but reduced to 60 meters by 2015 and 45 meters in 2016.
o The salinity reduction has enabled a change of crops from castor to
vegetables and even Thai apples
Figure 1: (A) Location Map (B) Sand Dam (C) Tube well,
Source: ( Kanwal, S., 2019)
LESSONS LEARNED
Decentralized community-led institutions help facilitate a bottom-up
approach to water management that can enable behavioral and attitudinal
change. Individual contribution and participation help inculcate a sense of

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ownership and value, ensuring the maintenance of the facility, thereby
enhancing the project’s sustainability.
The JBF was encouraged to develop group micro-projects where a fixed
number of households generally ten and applied for grant approval. Successful
implementation of those projects builds community trust in implementing
agencies. This was also done to put the onus on the community to make it a
collective effort. The idea behind the process is to provide an enabling
environment for people to work together for well-being. It is important to be
successful at the first one, to replicate a similar project. As the Thumba ka
Goliya sand dam successfully provided water security for nearby villagers, it
encouraged others to replicate the same and actively support the project even
for funding (Maddrell, 2017).
CHALLENGES
Sand dams and subsurface dams are similar technologies to store large
volumes of water to compensate for the long dry periods in arid and semi-arid
regions across the globe, such as sub-Saharan Africa. Although in India, it is not
a traditional water harvesting technique that is widely used. However, it is an
easy technical solution but needs to be precise to be effective. At first, the
technical expertise was not present within the community, but the JBF
foundation provided that partnering with other institutions who already have
the expertise in building sand dams.
As it is not a common traditional solution, members of the community
were hesitant to implement it. Most people fear the sustainability of the project
in the longer term. Without having local expertise, it will be difficult to solve or
expand any unforeseen problem. The JBF foundation assured people that they
would continue to provide solutions in the future and trained community
members for continuing basic technical work. Without a Successful example,
people were hesitant to participate and less enthused to provide financial
support to the project. Also, sand dam type structure takes a long time to
provide encouraging benefits. But after successful completion of the first

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project, it worked as an example to encourage nearby villages to participate
with greater enthusiasm and financial stake.
CONCLUSION
The drylands of the Marwar region in western Rajasthan, located in the Thar
desert in India, is the most densely populated arid land in the world. The word
“Marwar” has its roots in the Sanskrit word “Maruwar,” which means Land of
Death, referring to the harsh environment characterized by drought and
scanty and erratic rainfall. With the changing climate, this scarcity might
become acute. Decentralized community-led institutions help facilitate a
bottom-up approach to water management to enable behavioural and
attitudinal change. Individual contribution and participation help inculcate a
sense of ownership and value, ensuring the maintenance of the facility,
thereby enhancing the project’s sustainability. This project ensures safe health
and sanitation by providing water and bringing economic prosperity to the
region.
REFERENCES
Akhilendra, B., Gupta, & Gupta, S. (2013). Issues of water quality, health, and poverty: the
Indian scenario. 361. https://iahs.info/uploads/dms/15579.20-142-149-361-09-
H04_Gupta_ABG_final_Final_2_Paper_ISH_July-2013_Sweden_10-
pages_corrections--marked.pdf
Ghosh, S. (2019, September 11). Groundwater in Rajasthan fouled by natural and human-
made toxins. Mongabay-India. https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/groundwater-
in-rajasthan-fouled-by-natural-and-human-made-toxins/
Kanwal, S. (2019, September 12). Evaluation of Microbial Drinking Water Quality and
Related Health Impacts in Thoomba Ka Goliya, Rajasthan, India. Reposit.haw-
Hamburg.de. https://reposit.haw-hamburg.de/handle/20.500.12738/8957
Maddrell, S. (2017, December 21). Sand Dams in Rajasthan, India. Crowdfunder UK.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/sand-dams-in-rajasthan-india#start

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Case Study 02
Improved Quarantine Centers to
Mitigate the Spread of COVID -19
Ganesh Dhungana, Indrajit Pal

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INTRODUCTION
Dhading is one of the remote districts of Nepal (HRRP, 2017). During the onset
of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was one of the vulnerable districts as it is
adjoining with the country's capital and has a huge number of out-migrants.
The district was categorized as one of the red zones for COVID-19 transmission
by the government of Nepal. The returnee migrants, especially from India and
other gulf countries, were transmitted in the highest number, followed by
community transmission.
The situation assessment of the district conducted by a local
organization Action Nepal suggested an immediate need for Water,
Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in isolation and quarantine centres.
Based on the assessment, Action Nepal and Dan Church Aid, with financial
assistance from the UK Aid, coordinated with the local governments to
provide the necessary support for Isolations and Quarantines of seven rural
municipalities (Gajuri, Galchhi, Benighat Rorang, Ganga Jamuna, Thakre, and
Jwalamukhi ) of the district to strengthen their capacity to fight against
COVID 19. The designed project engaged and collaborated with local
governments to adopt and implement COVID-19 related policies, processes,
and procedures endorsed by the federal government (Mott MacDonald,
2020).
OUTCOMES
The project had set the four different outputs to achieve its objectives. The
project supported rural municipalities to draft and endorse Standard
Operation Procedure (SOP) and Code of Conduct (COC) to manage the
quarantine/isolation centres in a proper way and to prevent gender-based
exploitations and violence. The endorsed SOP and COC played a vital role in
motivating rural municipalities to set a vision to improve their efficiency for
the proper management of quarantine/isolation centres targeting the most
vulnerable ones. The project provided demand-based psycho-social
counselling in isolations and quarantines through trained facilitators. Besides,

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the project supported psycho-social counselling to 418 individuals through
phone calls. The psycho-social counselling supported mental wellbeing and
helped to create enjoyable moments during the hardest time. As per the
recommendation from counsellors and requested by the local government,
the project provided recreational materials such as television sets, sports
materials, yoga mat, musical set, books and so on to isolation/ quarantine
centres. 1075 standard hygiene kits were distributed to the municipal health
units to support personal hygiene management of people, especially women,
children, elderly, and pregnant women staying at quarantine/isolation
centres.
In addition, 17 semi-permanent toilets, 26-bathroom spaces, and 27
pedal touch handwashing stations (along with cleaning material) were
installed at 12 quarantine centres, ensuring the proper sanitation of people
during their quarantine stay. Virus preventive materials like masks, sanitizer,
face shields, and gloves are provided to the front-line health workers, security
personnel, and members of the quarantine management committee (Action
Nepal, 2020). The project's interventions contributed to the hygiene and
sanitation behaviours of the community people and sensitized them to take
more care of their personal hygiene as a first step to mitigate the spread of
the COVID -19 Pandemic.
Figure 1: Hand washing training at a quarantine center

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LESSONS LEARNED
The existing presence of implementing organization Action Nepal within the
targeted rural municipalities helped in coordination, communication, and
implementation of activities. Initial Rapid Assessment contributed to identify
key concerns of rural municipalities, their shortcomings, vulnerable segments
of the society and helped in understanding their approach in fighting against
the COVID -19 outbreak.
A need-based approach adopted by the project through various
assessments and coordination was helpful to identify the most
suitable/relevant activities (Adhikari, 2020). During the project
implementation, it was noticed that the political ideology of the local leaders
played a deciding factor behind any decision taken by the local government.
Due to which the quarantine location was not appropriate, staff selected and
mobilized to manage the quarantine were selected based on their political
ideology rather than their technical capabilities. The most important lesson
learned during the implementation was the dependence nature of the local
government. Though the local government had enough financial resources
to manage quarantine and isolation, they were more interested in spending
their resources in normal development rather than contributing in mitigation
of the spread of the pandemic.
Figure 2 : Focus Group Discussion at Khaniyabas RM

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CHALLENGES
The frequent changes in the COVID -19 context, its modes of transmission, its
frequency, and the change in directives of the central government made it
challenging to achieve the target as per the plan. The Ministry of Education
(MOE) decision to stay back from using school buildings as quarantine
centres created confusion to rural municipalities as there were no appropriate
alternative spaces for quarantine. This ultimately affected the timely
implementation of planned activities as those schools were assessed to
develop quarantine centres.
The rural municipalities being supported by the project also suffered
from the landslide and had an adverse effect on COVID 19 management.
Limited available funds allocated for COVID 19 management was diverted to
the landslide management as well. The rural municipalities were facing
challenges to manage both COVID 19 and landslides with a limited available
budget. Another key challenge was that a few rural municipalities were
unable to provide the exact location for the quarantine centres. They didn’t
have suitable spaces for quarantine centres. Besides, the political interests of
the local government and lack of qualified human resources in rural
municipalities to facilitate and support was another challenge faced by the
project.
CONCLUSION
The project successfully enhanced the capacity of the local government to
improve quarantine management services at rural municipalities with
standards and systems. With the technical support from the project, the local
government developed quarantine management SOPs with clear roles,
responsibilities, and requirements at municipal level. Through the project,
communities and the people living in quarantine/isolation centers have an
adequate water supply for drinking purposes and proper sanitation. They also
got psycho-social support /motivational orientation through trained
facilitators. The basic sanitation facilities and wastewater management in the

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existing and newly established health facilities, including quarantine and
isolation centers are improved. Awareness and knowledge on COVID-19 and
the necessary WASH and hygiene measures to mitigate the risk of infection
are improved at the project implemented municipalities.
Though the project supported most of the immediate needs of Rural
Municipalities, the support was not adequate as the local government didn't
have enough human resources to continue the activities initiated by the
project, such as psycho-social counselling. Besides, the rural municipalities
were unable to maintain the regular supplies of the hygiene kits and other
facilities provided by the project during the project duration.
REFERENCES
Action Nepal. (2020). WASHing Away Hazard (pp. 1–8). Action Nepal.
HRRP. (2017, October 17). District Profile - Dhading. Relief Web; HRRP.
https://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/nepal-district-profile-dhading-10-oct-2017
Keshav Adhikari. (2020, October 3). Code of conduct for quarantine, isolation facilities in
Dhading. The Himalayan Times. https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/code-of-
conduct-for-quarantine-isolation-facilities-in-dhading
Mott MacDonald. (2020). Purnima newsletter COVID-19 response special edition. In
Purnima. Mott MacDonald.https://purnimanepal.com/wp-
content/uploads/2020/10/Purnima-Newsletter_COVID-19-Special-Edition_English.pd

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Case Study 03
Community Based landslide EWS in
Indonesia: Contributing to Sustainable
DRR
Neshma Tuladhar, Indrajit Pal, Ganesh Dhungana

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INTRODUCTION
Landslides are one of the deadliest and most common hazards in the world,
triggering great social and economic loss. Indonesia has reported more than
3753 landslides from 2010 to 2018 with more than1661 fatalities (UGM, 2021).
About 40.9 million people in Indonesia are estimated to live in landslide-prone
areas. Landslide risk can be reduced via structural and non-structural
mitigation measures. Relocation of the population at risk is difficult, hence,
preparing communities via implementation of Landslide Early Warning
(LEWS) contributes to reducing vulnerability.
Figure 1: Pillars of the LEWS- 4 key elements of UNISDR 2006 and seven-
subsystems

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Gadjah Mada Early Warning System (GAMA-EWS) was developed by
Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) to predict landslide events at local level and
support disaster preparedness. It was done in collaboration with national
governmental bodies like Indonesian National Authority for Disaster
Management (BNPB), Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical
Agency (BMKG), Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions
and Transmigration (KEMENDESA), Regional Authority for Disaster
Management (BPBD), private sector (also the user groups), non-
governmental and international bodies.
The simple, low cost and real –time landslide risk assessment and
monitoring project was a success in its pilot phase. Adopting the community
based LEWS grounded on four key elements of people centered EWS
(UNISDR, 2006), a hybrid socio technical approach for disaster risk reduction
comprising seven sub-systems as shown in Figure 1 has obtained a universal
standard as ISO 22327.
Figure 2: Prof. Teuku Faisal Fathani, Lead Researcher of GAMA-EWS,
Source : (Humas FT UGM, 2019)

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Implementation of GAMA-EWS has contributed to building community
preparedness, capacity and resilience at local, national and international level.
The standard contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) 11 Sustainable cities and communities and is in line with the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Prof. Teuku Faisal Fathani
(Figure 2) is currently active as lecturer in the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UGM. He holds
numerous intellectual properties or patents as well as honors and awards in
the continuous development of LEWS together with the research team
(Humas FT UGM, 2019).
OUTCOMES
The landslide monitoring system has been installed in different parts of
Indonesia. Initiated with a manual monitoring device and paper-recorded
device, the system has been updated to real-time monitoring systems. The
upgrading of socio-technical and people centered approach in the
implementation of LEWS has ministered multi-stakeholder provision,
community-based disaster risk reduction practice and ensured sustainability
suited for developing countries. The community is the key stakeholder and
owns the entire process from installation, ownership, maintenance to
security. The primary motive of the project is enabling timely independent
evacuation of communities before landslide strikes.
GAMA-EWS detected a landslide in Banjarnegara, Central Java Province
on November 7, 2007 just four hours before the occurrence allowing
evacuation of a total of 35 households (Fathani et al., 2016). On 28 November
2016, the LEWS saved 100 households in Aceh Besar Regency from landslide
and flash floods. UGM in collaboration with local BPBD were conducting
evacuation drills when warning alerts were provided. The system alerted the
community five hours before the incident and evacuation was carried out
ascertaining the necessity of integrated approach in DRR (UGM, 2021). The

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Indonesian government has incorporated the standard as reference for the
National Medium-term Development Plan (2015-2019).
GAMA-EWS has been installed in over 32 provinces in Indonesia and
Myanmar. Recently in 2019, the system has been installed throughout Central
Java. The uniqueness and contribution of the hybrid socio-technical LEWS
has been recognized and commemorated as an international standard as
published by the International Organization for Standardization: ISO 22327
“Community-based landslide early warning system” in 2018 (BNBP, 2018). The
successful achievement of ISO 22327 is a part of the continuous efforts of the
UGM LEWS research team consisting of Prof. Teuku Faisal Fathani, Prof.
Dwikorita Karnawati and Dr. Wahyu Wilopo. The team has applied for LEWS
to be appointed as a reference in international certification (Humas FT UGM,
2019).
Figure 3: Installation area of GAMA-EWS,
Source: (UGM, 2021)

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LESSONS LEARNED
The installation of GAMA-EWS simply isn’t enough and doesn’t guarantee the
effectiveness of disaster risk reduction (UNECE , 2018). It definitely is the entry
point into the community and will only be successful when the community
understands the importance and functionality of the system and leads it. The
project has achieved this milestone by integrating the interdisciplinary role
of community as key stakeholder in terms of establishing the landslide
preparedness protocol, developing a response team, evacuation map, a
standard operating procedure, and enhancing local commitment for
monitoring and security of the installed system. The standard pledges
community independence in preparedness and improved response
capacities by embracing different structural and non-structural measures.
Community centered landslide risk reduction measure is also backed
by continuous support from like Universitas Gadjah Mada in terms of public
education, consultation, trainings, drills and enhancing public participation.
The role of the national and local governmental bodies is equally important
for the sustainability of the DRR measure like encouraging the communities
to actively participate, support them in operation and maintenance. The
inclusion of the standard into national/local level plans and strategies has
ensured sustainability. Community centered landslide mitigation initiative in
Indonesia is setting an important example in the world in disaster resiliency.
The features such a low cost, local applicability and prioritization of the risk
knowledge, social, cultural, and economic components of the community are
the highlights of the initiative. The technical system remains constant and
caters into the location specific social system which makes the standard
reliable, unique and replicable.
CHALLENGES
The application of ISO 22327 requires consistent commitment and support
from multi-stakeholders, however, hitches in institutional and strategic

24
approaches have been investigated. Since multi-stakeholders’ participation is
a key factor for functional operation of GAMA-EWS, lack of coordination and
cooperation affects the social aspect of the hybrid socio-technical system.
Diverse challenges were encountered: multiple-early warning instruments
were installed in the same area by different stakeholders due to different
funding sources leading to confusion; technical aspects like data collection
and research over community response and capacity building were
prioritized defying the actual purpose of the system. This exhibited the
essence of SOPs in the entire cycle of installation, operation, maintenance,
and security of LEWS.
The maintenance of continuous engagement of the local community
throughout the programs of disaster risk reduction has always been a
struggle. The level of community involvement, awareness and preparedness
is high post-disaster; however, the consistency and continuity is not
guaranteed. As per the SOPs, locals and disaster agencies are liable for
frequent use, monitoring and maintenance of early warning devices which
were neglected in Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra Province (Fathani et. al.,
2016). The project aims at implanting the concept and awareness about the
EWS as the first step for saving the community not stopping the hazard; and
further preparing them to cope with the hazard via structural and non-
structural landslide mitigation measures.
CONCLUSION
The case study is a portrayal of how an EWS has been advanced from a
technical system into a community centered DRR measure by constituting a
social approach into the process. GAMA-EWS is recognized as a simple, low
cost EWS catered for local landslides in developing countries specifically. The
community-based landslide early warning system has succeeded in receiving
the international standard ISO 22327 and saved countless lives in Indonesia.
Accommodating the Sendai Framework based priorities, key elements of

25
people cantered early warning system and the seven sub systems have
contributed to achieving SDG 11 Making Cities and Communities Resilient.
This model of landslide early warning has been quite effective and
strategic to improve the community resilience in landslide vulnerable villages.
The amalgamation of technical and social systems in building resilience is
unique. Community leads preparedness activities, conducting dissemination
of information and communication, developing standard operating
procedure and evacuation map, as well as strong commitment which is
facilitated by the national and local disaster management agencies and other
stakeholders. This feature of catering social, economic, and cultural features
of the community into the implementation of the EWS makes this standard
unique, sustainable, and replicable.
REFERENCES
BNBP. (2018, 03 16). Community Based Landslide Early Warning System from Indonesia
Becomes an International Standard. From Badan Nasional Penanggulangan
Bencana: https://www.bnpb.go.id/berita/sistem-peringatan-dini-longsor-berbasis-
masyarakat-dari-indonesia-menjadi-standar-internasional
Fathani, T. F., Karnawati, D., & Wilopo, W. (2016). An integrated methodology to develop a
standard for landslide early warning systems. Natural Hazards and Earth System
Sciences, 16(9), 2123–2135. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2123-2016
Humas FT UGM. (2019, 08 21). The 2019 Pancasila Achievement Appreciation Icon from
UGM: Prof. Teuku Faisal Fathani. Retrieved from Universitas Gadjah Mada:
http://ft.ugm.ac.id/ikon-apresiasi-prestasi-pancasila-2019-dari-ugm-prof-teuku-
faisal-fathani/
SHNet. (2016, 10 06). GAMA-EWS, Global Landslide Early Detection Tool. From
SinarHarapanNet: https://sinarharapan.net/2016/10/gama-ews-alat-deteksi-dini-
longsor-mendunia/
UGM. (2021). GAMA EWS . From SDGS Center Universitas Gadjah Mada:
https://sustainabledevelopment.ugm.ac.id/gama-ews/
UNECE . (2018). Case Studies. From UNECE:
https://standards4sdgs.unece.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/SDG11_Indonesia.pdf
UNECE. (2019). In U. N. ECE, Standards for Sustainable Development Goal . United
Nations ECE.

26
UNISDR. (2006). Developing Early Warning Systems : A Checklist. In Third International
Conference on Early Warning (Issue March).
https://www.unisdr.org/files/608_10340.pdf

27
Case Study 04
Community Based Ecosystem
Management for Disaster Risk
Reduction
Jose Luis C. Arboleda, Indrajit Pal

28
INTRODUCTION
Sustainable development requires a balanced progress in three main
components, namely: social, environment, and economic. These components
are threatened with disaster risks that have the potential to ultimately disrupt
any progress that have been made in terms of development. Therefore,
disaster risk reduction (DRR) is considered a key element in securing
continued development in the long run (United Nations, n.d.).
Various approaches, in different scales, have been championed in order
to reduce disaster risks. One of the main considerations of DRR is that it should
address the risks in all its forms and levels (PreventionWeb.net, n.d.). Thus, a
more inclusive and integrated approach is necessary to effectively reduce
disaster risks (Benson, 2016). Two among different approaches have been
considered towards effective DRR, namely: community-based approach and
ecosystem-based approach. Community based approach in DRR is a strategy
wherein empowerment of the local community with more localized tools and
processes is key to ensure sustainability. While ecosystem-based approach is
a strategy wherein strengthening the capacity of the ecosystem increases the
resiliency of the environment to buffer the impacts of natural hazards. In this
light, the combination of the two is believed to be effective in ensuring
sustainable development by reducing the risks of having disasters.
Figure 1: Location Map of Panay Island, Western Visayas, Central Philippines.

29
Study Area: The Philippines is a developing nation located in Southeast Asia.
Due to its geographical characteristics and climate, it is considered to be one
of the most prone countries to natural hazards, especially to typhoons.
Coupled with underlying factors, the Philippines faces high disaster risks. It is
also the country where Typhoon Haiyan of 2013 (locally known as Typhoon
Yolanda), one of the strongest typhoons in recent history, made land fall. One
of the islands of the Philippines where the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan was
severely felt is Panay Island in Region VI, Western Visayas, Central Philippines
(Figure 1). Panay Island is divided into four provinces: Aklan, Antique, Iloilo, and
Capiz.
OUTCOMES
The project by ZSL-PHI was funded by the Forest Foundation Philippines
(formerly Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation, Inc.) and is
implemented in a duration of 1 year. It was implemented in 2 provinces in
Panay Island, Philippines. With a total of 12 people’s organizations as
beneficiaries. The following are the outcomes and impacts of the project
based on the analysis of the report:
Direct Outcome: Throughout the implementation of the project, it has
achieved multiple benefits that directly affected the resilience of both the
ecosystem and the community in the sites. For the ecosystem, a total of 307.1
hectares of coastal area was rehabilitated through mangrove reforestation
and afforestation. The main actors of the process of both reforestation and
afforestation were the POs with respect to the area. This, in turn, also directly
gave a temporary source of income for the POs through incentive-based
planting of mangrove propagules. Moreover, mangrove nurseries were
established in each area of the beneficiaries that can be sustained for further
cultivating propagules. In terms of social enhancement outcomes, the project
was able to greatly increase the capacities of the partner People’s
Organizations for the long run. These PO’s directly received training programs
on Organizational Management Training, Mangrove Ecosystem

30
Management, Project proposal making and process for future funding, and
other relevant trainings tailored to each PO based on their needs. This ensures
the sustainability of the initiatives that took place during the project. Lastly,
potential Alternative Livelihoods were introduced, and networks were
established to help the community maintain strong and sustainable projects
with different stakeholders.
Long-term Impacts: The direct outcomes that were produced by the
project is believed to support an increase in long-term self-sufficiency and
resiliency for the community and the environment within the project sites,
especially against complex and compound disasters, induced by typhoon
hazards. Such impacts include a stronger and expanded mangrove
ecosystem to serve as a buffer against coastal hazards. Another long-term
impact is the sustainability and independence of the communities to
continue the expansion and/or maintenance of mangrove ecosystems.
Furthermore, there is an overall increase in capacities of the members of the
POs partners through capacity building. Lastly, the diversification of the
sources of income of the communities would render a stronger
socioeconomic resiliency to safeguard communities.
LESSONS LEARNED
Aside from the issues that were mentioned, the project proponent was
also able to highlight key learnings that should be considered in
implementing future similar projects. One of these lessons is the option to
involve trusted local non-government organizations to boost efficiency in
conducting trainings and capacity building. The POs trusted NGOs can
eliminate some steps in establishing rapport and social dynamics since it is
already present between the two groups. Another key learning is the necessity
to involve local government in these kinds of projects. Their involvement will
greatly help in project sustainability by ensuring all operations are transparent
to and permitted by local authorities and will avoid future legal hiccups along
the way. Meanwhile, prioritization between recovery and capacity building

31
needs to be done equally to ensure long-term resiliency. The disaster cycle
dictates stakeholders should proactively manage risks in order to avoid
disasters. This entails systematically implementing both risk mitigation and
disaster recovery and rehabilitation. Lastly, integrating activities geared
towards the improvement of the social, environmental, and economic
dimensions is a must in inclusive and integrated project implementation.
CHALLENGES
The implementation of this project was successful and achieved its main
goals. However, it did encounter some challenges along the way. One
challenge is the unpredictability of human nature. The perception of
community members in terms of short-term and long-term benefits needs to
be established before-hand. Failure to do so resulted to “short-cuts” in
reforestation and afforestation process in order to fast-track the incentives in
the planted mangroves. Another challenge that was encountered was in
dealing with multiple POs with the variations in baseline capacities and needs.
Due to these discrepancies, the project required additional resources to carry
out activities to attain the objectives of the project. Since other beneficiaries
needed more compared to others, additional time and trainings were
conducted.
CONCLUSION
Programs and projects geared towards sustainable development should
consider integrating activities that reduce disaster risks as risks continuously
threaten any progress made for long-term and mindful development.
Community-based approach for ecosystem management is proved to be an
effective way in strengthening the capacity and resiliency of local
communities in the long run. Select POs in Panay Island can be considered
success beneficiaries of the ZSL-PTFCF Project which can be validated
through the thriving mangrove ecosystem in the region and the sustained
operations of the select organizations.

32
REFERENCES
Benson, C. (2016). Promoting Sustainable Development through Disaster Risk Management. Asian
Development Bank, 41, 29.
EM-DAT (n.d.). The Emergency Events Database. Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)—CRED, D. Guha-
Sapir—www.emdat.be, Brussels, Belgium.
ZSL PHI. (2015). Strengthening PO Capacities for Post-Yolanda Ecosystem Services Restoration and Resilience
Building Project in Panay (p. 1-16) [Terminal Report]. Zoological Society of London - Philippines.
OECD. (2020). Chapter 6: Approaches in the Philippines to increased coherence in climate change adaptation
and disaster risk reduction. OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/4ec0f8bc-
en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/4ec0f8bc-en
PreventionWeb.net. (n.d.). Disaster risk reduction & disaster risk management. PreventionWeb.Net. Retrieved
April 22, 2021, from https://www.preventionweb.net/disaster-risk/concepts/drr-drm/
United Nations. (n.d.). Disaster risk reduction. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. Retrieved April
22, 2021, from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/disasterriskreduction

33
Case Study 05
Construction of Sea Walls: A Case
Study From Japan
Nang Ying Ei Hein Kham, Indrajit Pal,
Ganesh Dhungana

34
INTRODUCTION
Japan is a disaster-prone country and is also known for its capacity to
prevent and manage unpredicted events. Natural disasters like tsunamis,
earthquakes, floods, typhoons and many others are frequently occurring,
yet Japan has been recovering and dealing with all sorts of calamities. So,
studying Japan's approaches to mitigating and managing disasters is
becoming great learning for many countries with similar topography. For
instance, since early 1930, Japan is constructing structural measures like
coastal barriers and sea walls to prevent and mitigate impacts of the
tsunami at the coastline of Japan, protecting many villages located in
Iwate Prefecture (Matanle et al., 2019). Before 2011, Almost 40 percent of
the 29,751-km coastline was bordered by concrete seawalls (Onishi, 2011).
Like in many other places, a sea wall of 2 to 10 meters high was constructed
in Taro town located at Shimohei District, Iwate Prefecture (Limited, 2021),
to protect the town from the Tsunami. Afterward, Taro faced three
tsunamis, and those tsunamis destroyed the wall. In the 1970s, the town
rebuilt two-lined 10 m high seawalls, 2.4 km long (Suppasri et al., 2012),
which is also famously known as "The Great Wall of Japan '' and it has been
protecting the community from small and massive Tsunami strokes.
Figure 1: Tsunami 2011 wave in Miyako,
Source: (Mainichi Shimbun, 2011)

35
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9 struck Honshu Island,
the northeast coast of Japan, and triggered a massive tsunami with a high
wave. The earthquake and Tsunami massively impacted social, economic,
and environmental aspects of the reason. Therefore, after 2011 struck, the
country's authority began building a massive new seawall along 400 km of
coastline with up to 14.5 meters high to help the community from the future
waves.
Figure 2: Houses behind seawall at Iwate Prefecture
Source: (The Guardian, 2018)
OUTCOMES
The seawalls in Taro are working as tsunami barriers and somehow protected
the town from the 1960 Chile Tsunami. The 4.5 m high seawalls also protected
the town from the 1993 tsunami (Shuto & Fujima, 2009). The inhabitants felt
safe behind a great seawall, though some have migrated to higher ground.
The presence of seawalls increased the evacuation time by 30% during the
2011 tsunami (Troncoso Parady et al., 2018). Therefore, the scale of the damage
and loss was reduced to some extent due to seawalls. The Great Wall of Japan
(the 10-meter-high old seawalls) has 44 evacuation routes with good lights on,
and it helped the residents to get to the safe place within ten minutes
(Limited, 2021).

36
LESSONS LEARNED
The seawalls built before 2011 could not withstand the 2011 tsunami, and the
eastern part of the seawall was destroyed (Suppasri et al., 2012). Its remains
were left floating on the surface, and the debris hit back to the houses and
other things (Suppasri et al., 2012). The seawalls were completely damaged
with waves higher than 3 meters. The 2011 tsunami destroyed one-third of the
seawalls in Miyagi, Fukushima, and Iwate prefectures (Suppasri et al., 2012).
The destroyed length was about 190 km (Suppasri et al., 2012). The rebuilding
of old seawalls and building new seawalls resulted in many difficulties for the
villagers' livelihood. Many fishermen lost their lives when they had a duty to
close the gates in seawalls and tsunami gates when the gate control system
was not appropriately designed during that time. After building the seawalls,
the residents underestimated the Tsunami because they thought those
structures would protect them. So, they just stood still rather than initiating
the evacuation process or moving to safer areas. Many tsunami
countermeasures like seawalls and coastal barriers failed in 2011 as they were
not designed by considering the magnitude of the 2011 earthquake. So, after
2011, learning a lesson, they constructed the seawalls 2-3 times higher than
the old ones and with more precise design and structure.
The experience from 2011 made a new technology that was possible to
build the high resistant structure for various return periods of a tsunami and
also work on risk communication to deliver the factual information about the
sea wall and the measures to be taken during the Tsunami (Suppasri et al.,
2012). Afterward, the resilience capacities (both structural and non-structural)
of the communities were increased. Coastal residents have now realized the
practical function and limitation of the seawalls and the other structural
measures. As the Tsunami can come larger than expected, the government
has been continuously encouraging villagers and coastal residents not just to
rely on seawalls and to be aware of how to evacuate and respond during the
calamities. Besides, the endorsed protocols after 2011 are further strict
(Koshimura & Shuto, 2015).

37
CHALLENGES
Building huge seawalls is costly and needs a lot of effort; there were also many
challenging tasks that the government needed to overcome when building
seawalls, and some of those challenges are still existing. Besides, convincing
the communities to build the wall was another key challenge. The
government had to convince them, as some were taking seawalls as a greater
danger than protecting them from the Tsunami. It was also directly impacting
the livelihood of the residents, especially those who were completely
dependent on the oceans. Besides, as the structure was very costly, the
financial challenge was also there even though they had better technology to
build well-structured seawalls and other barriers (Suppasri et al., 2012). The
government has also been criticized for disconnecting settlements off from
the sea, leading beaches to worthless and frightening wildlife, which has also
impacted marine ecology, tourism, budget, livelihood and fishery industry,
environment, and many more.
CONCLUSION
In this case study, we could see many pros and cons. Some other countries,
too, have seawalls like Japan to resist the tsunami's impacts and stop them as
much as possible. So, this mechanism is a practical structural measure to
mitigate the impact of tsunami. The seawalls can delay flooding, buy more
evacuation time, halt the big waves, and prevent the land from inundation. As
we cannot prevent a tsunami completely from its occurrence, implementing
resilient structural and non-structural measures will increase the defense
capacity of the exposed communities. So, building seawalls is impactful but
we also need to make sure that the mechanism being used to protect people
will not have its adverse effect. The engagement between communities and
the authorities is most. Nevertheless, these kinds of structural measures are
helping in reducing the damage and loss and developing coastal areas more
sustainably, balancing in terms of all social, environmental, and economic
aspects by properly emphasizing structural and non-structural measures.

38
REFERENCES
Koshimura, S., & Shuto, N. (2015). Response to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and
Tsunami disaster. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical,
Physical and Engineering Sciences, 373(2053), 20140373.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0373
Limited, B. P. P. C. (2021, March 5). Towering sea wall legacy of Japan's 2011 tsunami.
Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2078823/towering-sea-wall-
legacy-of-japans-2011-tsunami
Matanle, P., Slay, O., & Littler, J. (2019). Imagining Disasters in the Era of Climate Change: Is
Japan's Seawall a New Maginot Line? The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 17(13).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334448650
Onishi, N. (2011, March 13). Japan's Seawalls Were Little Security Against Tsunami. The New
York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seawalls.html
Shuto & Fujima, K. (2009). A short history of tsunami research and countermeasures in
Japan. Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B, 85(8), 267–275.
https://doi.org/10.2183/pjab.85.267
Suppasri, A., Shuto, N., Imamura, F., Koshimura, S., Mas, E., & Yalciner, A. C. (2012). Lessons
Learned from the 2011 Great East Japan Tsunami: Performance of Tsunami
Countermeasures, Coastal Buildings, and Tsunami Evacuation in Japan. Pure and
Applied Geophysics, 170(6-8), 993–1018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0511-7
The Great Wall of Japan. (2021, March 3). Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/the-great-wall-of-japan/13207460
Troncoso Parady, G., Tran, B., & Gilmour, S. (2018). Effect of seawalls on tsunami evacuation
departure in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Injury Prevention, 25(6), 535–539.
https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2018-042954

39
Case Study 06
Monkey Cheeks Project for Resilient
Livelihood
Nonthakarn Benjachat, Indrajit Pal,
Ganesh Dhungana

40
INTRODUCTION
Heavy rains, floods, and droughts are common in Bang Rakam, one of the
flood-prone districts in Phitsanulok province. In the 2011 Thailand flood, a
massive amount of water was transferred from Uttaradit province (the north
of Phitsanulok), causing severe flooding and other consequences such as life
loss, property loss, and livelihood loss. Even though Sirikit Dam is situated
north of Phitsanulok, however, it is unable to cope with the high-water
content. Furthermore, Phitsanulok continues to experience agricultural
drought during the dry season for about eight months (Sep-Jun). Although
the government recommends growing other plants that require less water,
community people are more interested in cultivating rice, the primary income
source of the local people.
Therefore, His Majesty King Rama IX created the Monkey Cheek Project
to tackle the issues in 1995. The concept is that a monkey stores food in its
cheeks to be able to chew it later. In Phitsanulok, the Monkey Cheek was
established in 2017 by the Thai government. According to the Royal Irrigation
Department, 2020, The Monkey Cheek Project in Phitsanulok Province has an
area of approximately 424 square kilometers with a water receiving capacity
of 400 million cubic meters. It serves as a reservoir to receive water in the rain
season and collect water for agriculture.
Figure 1: Location of the Monkey Cheek project in Bang Rakam,
Source: (Phitsanulok News, 2017)
Phitsanulo
k
Bang Rakam District

41
OUTCOMES
The Monkey Cheek project has been working perfectly to slow down the flow
of water by constructing a watergate before entering the central region of
Thailand. Royal Irrigation Department and related agencies; Third Army
Region, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Interior,
Department of Highways, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation,
representative of the water user group, and farmers agree to adjust the
calendar in the year of farming for farmers in the low-lying areas of Bang
Rakam in Phitsanulok Province and some areas of Sukhothai province, faster
than usual, so that farmers can harvest before the flood season. It reduces the
risk of rice production being damaged by flooding and provides farmers with
better income and quality of life.
After harvesting, it can also use such areas as a natural reservoir to
support water in the flood season and help to reduce the impact from the
floods that may occur in the community and government offices of
Phitsanulok Province. As well as delay water waiting for drainage not to affect
the lower Chao Phraya River basin (Siamrath, 2020).
Figure 2 : Villagers fishing to earn extra income during flood season
Source: ( Phisanulok Hotnews, 2013)

42
Furthermore, the monkey Cheek project also helps farmers earn extra income
from the fishing profession, which is an alternative way of earning for farmers
in low-lying areas. Allowing the water to flood the fields provides food (fallen
rice grains) for fish in the flooded areas (Fig.2, right). Further, retaining water
can be used as cost-effective water management, said Dr. Thongplew
Kongjan, Director-General of the Royal Irrigation Department, 2020.
LESSONS LEARNED
The majority of the Phitsanulok population are getting benefits from the
water sources for irrigation as it allows them to grow crops all year. However,
some of the cultivated land in Phitsanulok is currently outside irrigated areas
(in the south-west) (Fig.1 right). Rainwater and water from natural sources are
only sources of water. As a result, crop production is disrupted by
inconsistencies in water supply and variations in rainfall, both of which are
insufficient to meet the needs of the crops (Office of the Royal Development
Projects Board, n.d.). Due to which farmers are suffering from flood for four
months and droughts in remaining eight months. Although agricultural crops
have changed but appears as an unsustainable development practice.
Figure 3: Rice product from early harvesting,
Source: (Technology Chaoban, 2018)

43
The Royal Irrigation Department has a policy for building the Monkey Cheek
Project to boost people's livelihoods. The participation of the villagers in the
project is very important to share their opinions, problems, and alternative
suggestions (Fig.3 left). In the past, a water barrier or diverted water was used
to avoid flooding without the participation of residents, causing the
misunderstanding of state functions. Therefore, learning from past problems
can help achieve sustainable development.
CHALLENGES
The adaptive capacity of locals in changing crop calendars is one of the
challenges. For example, farmers doubt planting the rice crop in April because
rainfall is significantly lower than in May, requiring them to pump more
irrigation water. Farmers also mention that they lack the appropriate fishing
equipment as well as fishing skills during the flood, they are unable to support
themselves by fishing (Trakuldit & Faysse, 2019). Furthermore, it remains to be
argued that farmers who allow flooding of farmland to be compensated or
paid some compensation because local people sacrificed their living space to
support water and are willing to change the behavior of agriculture for the
public.
The state's responsibility is to provide compensation and remedies to
people of the water retention area who are experiencing unreasonable
hardship. This challenge still cannot be concluded (Thepsitthar & Boonwanno,
2018). In addition, another challenge is the quality of stored water. In the first
phase of the project, polluted water was a big problem, becoming a breeding
ground for Aedes mosquitoes and dengue fever in some areas. Although it is
possible to catch fish, the poor water quality creates breeding problems in
some fishes. In addition, the low-quality water cannot be used for other
purposes such as for personal uses of community people (Songma, 2011).

44
CONCLUSION
Flood and drought have been a problem almost every year, and some areas
are far from irrigation and unable to access the water source from Sirikit dam
in Uttaradit Province. The people are repeatedly suffering from these events.
Having the Monkey Cheek project supports their livelihood. However, the
project's initial phase contains many problems and difficulties of adaptation
of the farmers, particularly the change of crop calendar, which is faster than
usual. Moreover, challenges facing the government and villagers to tackle are
still waiting to be addressed. Therefore, stakeholders' participation, including
local farmers, solves the mentioned problems. The Monkey Cheek Project has
done an outstanding task of converting natural disasters into better livelihood
opportunities for the locals. Learning from past mistakes and disasters has
made the Monkey Cheek Project more sustainable, and it can be a model for
other provinces that suffer the same condition from floods and droughts as
well. In addition, the monkey Cheek in Phitsanulok has become a tourist
attraction, which could provide local people secondary income by selling local
products or being a cultural learning center for the next generation. Therefore,
the Monkey Cheek project is an excellent example of disaster Risk Reduction
interventions for sustainable development.
REFERENCES
Office of the Royal Development Projects Board. (n.d.). Development of Water Sources.
RDPB. http://www.rdpb.go.th/en/Projects/project-categories-c54/development-of-
water-sources-v60
Royal Irrigation Department. (2011, December 21). Expansion of the Monkey Cheek area 61.
https://www.rid.go.th/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4985:-
382000----61&catid=23:2009–12-21-08-25-31&Itemid=54=54 (in Thai)
Siamrath. (2020, March 13). Bang Rakam Model preserves water for dry season.
https://siamrath.co.th/n/138902 (in Thai)
Songma, S. (2011, September 27). Answer of Bang Rakam Model. Isra News Agency.
https://www.isranews.org/community/comm-scoop-documentary/3508

45
Thepsitthar, Y., & Boonwanno, T. (2018). Reconstruction Bang Rakam Model: The Inequality in
Public Duty. CMU Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 11, 142–167. https://so01.tci-
thaijo.org/index.php/CMUJLSS/article/view/140748
Trakuldit, T., & Faysse, N. (2019). Difficult encounters around “monkey cheeks”: Farmers’
interests and the design of flood retention areas in Thailand. Journal of Flood Risk
Management, 12(S2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12543s

46
Case Study 07
Tosacho on SDG Mirai City and its
Implication to Disaster Resilience
Nanami Yamazawa, Ariyaningsih Ariyaningsih,
Rajib Shaw
Graduate School of Media and Governance,
Keio University, Japan

47
INTRODUCTION
Tosa Town is located in the center of Shikoku which has a population of about
3750 people and the area is 212.13km². The city is 87% forested and rich in
natural materials and water. The abundant water in the area supports
agriculture, livestock, and forestry. These activities create the city's core
industry. In agriculture, the city is one of the prefecture's leading high-quality
rice-producing areas that make use of topography such as terraced rice fields.
In terms of livestock, the city is the largest producer of Japanese beef "Tosa
Akaushi" which is typical of Kochi prefecture. The town has villages formed
along the Yoshino River and its tributaries flowing from east to west and there
is the Hayamiura Dam which was built in 1973. The river divides Shikoku's four
prefectures and supports industry and life there.
Figure 1: Map of Tosa Town
Source : ( 土佐町地図 )
The terrain is 300-500m above sea level, and Mt. Inamura, the highest
mountain in Tosa Town, is 1,506m. The climate of Tosa City belongs to the warm
temperate zone. Tosa City has a lot of rainfall annually. Even in the driest
months, it rains a lot. The average annual rainfall is 2,500 mm. The main rivers
are the Yoshino River, Jizoji River, Seto River, Seto River Gorge. Nankai–

48
Tonankai megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis pose significant risks to
coastal communities in western and central Japan. Historically, this seismic
region hosted many major earthquakes, and the current national tsunami
hazard assessments in Japan consider megathrust events as those having
moment magnitudes between 9.0 and 9.1(Goda et al., 2020). Kochi Prefecture
has been strengthening protections against earthquakes and tsunami in
preparation for a Nankai Trough earthquake anticipated to break out shortly.
Nankai Trough has had repeated big earthquakes at intervals of some 100 to
150 years (Shibata et al, 2018) .
So, the disasters that occurred in this Tosa town are tsunamis and
earthquakes too. A massive earthquake can cause a huge tsunami that
crashes into Shikoku, destroying critical infrastructure and killing thousands of
people. Not only direct damage from the earthquake and tsunami, but supply
disruptions will also occur due to damage to accessibility.
Figure 2 : Hazard Maps,
Source : ( http://www.town.tosa.kochi.jp/publics/index/51/ )
OUTCOMES
In implementing the SDGs, the Japanese government is promoting initiatives
to create a sustainable world where no one is left behind. In December 2016,
Japan formulated the Guidelines for the Implementation of the SDGs with the

49
vision of a “Leading” country towards a future where environmental,
economic, and social improvements are achieved in an integrated,
sustainable, and formidable way while leaving no one behind ”. Goal 13 in SDGs
is to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. This goal
includes enhancing education, awareness-raising, and human and
institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact
reduction, and early warning. Scientists know earthquakes can be triggered
or retarded by changes in the amount of stress on the fault. The biggest
climatic variable that can change the load on the fault stress is surface water
in the form of rain and snow (Masih, 2018). To support goal 13, the Tosa
Municipality is taking disaster prevention measures by actively working on
seismic measures for homes as a priority issue in preparation for the Nankai
earthquake.
Figure 3 :Communication Questionnaire and Motivational Booklets
Source : Individualized Risk Communication for Soil Avalanche Hazard

50
In addition, in Tosa Town, evacuation sites have been socialized to residents to
reduce disaster victims. However, there was an idea that "I want to promote
the voluntary evacuation of the residents". Making communication
questionnaires, making hazard maps, making motivational booklets, and
distributed magnets have been carried out by the municipality too. Hazard
maps were produced by the Kochi Prefectural Office, and four types of easy-
to-understand sediment-related disaster risk area maps corresponding to
each residential area were also created. These efforts support and are in line
with the SDGs. Other disaster prevention tools are motivational booklets and
magnets. The motivational booklet is a booklet that conveys the danger of
sediment-related disasters in an easy-to-understand manner. The content was
narrowed down as much as possible so that anyone could understand it.
Photographs and graphs were used to show that sediment-related disasters
occur frequently in the Shikoku Mountains. The government emphasizes that
"evacuating to a safe place" is important to prevent human accidents. In
addition, one magnet is distributed to each household as an emergency card
for sediment-related disasters. In addition, in Tosa town, there is an installation
of evacuation guide lights in 14 evacuation centers in the city to illuminate the
surrounding area by generating electricity with solar and wind power. This
light does not only light up during a disaster but also during normal times.
LESSONS LEARNED
Living in an area prone to earthquakes can be terrible because there is always
a fear that a damaging earthquake might happen. Tosa town has experienced
natural hazards such as tsunami and earthquakes. To reduce the impacts and
support SDGs goals, this town creates seismic measures including mapping
hazards, communication questionnaires, and motivational booklets. The
hazards map in Tosa provides important information that is used to
implement mitigation measures against the devastating effects of an
earthquake or other disasters. These maps can also be applied by engineers to
design bridges and highway buildings, among other infrastructure projects in

51
areas with high levels of seismic activity. Other best practices of Tosa town are
creating communication questionnaires and motivational booklets. This
method is used by Tosa Town as the only effective way to prevent disasters or
reduce their impacts. In addition, it is important to educate the community to
respond to disasters. Vulnerable groups should be identified and thus special
training or education should be adopted for these people. Effective training
can prevent or reduce the effects of disasters. Trained people can better
protect themselves and others. Therefore, there must be integration between
the Tosa city government and its people so that the impact of the disaster can
be reduced.
CHALLENGES
Since we cannot predict how future megathrust events will reveal, assessing
tsunami or other hazards based on a broad set of possible earthquake rupture
scenarios is a viable strategy for better disaster resilience and preparedness.
Assessing disaster trough hazard maps can make community and Tosa town
became resilience. However, lack of hazard analysis in hazard maps can have
serious negative effects for the community and other parties. Without a
reliable hazard analysis, the Tosa town will not fulfil effective mitigation
measures against the consequences of a destructive disaster like a tsunami
and earthquake. If the analysis is not accurate, it can lead to loss of life and
injury to people. In addition, property damage and disruption to business
activities can cause financial losses, penalties, fines, lawsuits, and
environmental pollution. Therefore, it is very important that Tosa town, which
experiences earthquakes and tsunami disasters, carry out accurate seismic
hazard assessments and produce accurate hazard maps. Only when hazards
have been reliably assessed can risks be assessed as well and included in the
design of buildings and other infrastructure projects for the safety and security
of those who use them.

52
CONCLUSION
Located in Shikoku, Tosa town has experienced natural disasters such as
tsunami and earthquakes. Furthermore, the Japanese Government is creating
a sustainable world where no one is left behind as well as implementing
Sustainable Development Goals. Related to reducing the impacts of a disaster
occurring in Tosa town, the local government has made preventive measures
such as hazards maps, motivational booklets, and distributed magnets. These
actions are in line with SGDs 13 which take urgent action to combat climate
change and its impacts. The hazards map in Tosa provides important
information that is used to implement mitigation measures against the
devastating effects of an earthquake or other disasters. However, lack of
hazard analysis in hazard maps can have serious negative effects for the
community and other parties such as increasing disaster victims and
damaged infrastructures. So, it is important to carry out accurate seismic
hazard assessments and produce accurate hazard maps to enhance town
resilience.
REFERENCES
A.Taniguchi, S.Fujii, Y.Yanagita, N.Osanai, S.Kojima, H.Ito, T.Shimizu「Individualized Risk
Communication for Soil Avalanche Hazard」p.1=p.4
Adven Masih 2018. An Enhanced Seismic Activity Observed Due To Climate Change:
Preliminary Results from Alaska. IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 167 012018.
Goda, K. et al. (2020) ‘Uncertainty quantification of tsunami inundation in Kuroshio, Kochi
Prefecture, Japan, using the Nankai--Tonankai megathrust rupture scenarios’,
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 20(11), pp. 3039–3056. doi: 10.5194/nhess-
20-3039-2020.
Tadanori Ishizuka, Yoichi Miki, Kazuaki Hiramoto.「The maintenance and improvement of
disaster prevention capabilities of mountainous areas based on the Community
Continuity Plan（CCP）－From the viewpoint of initial response in disaster situations
－」砂防学会誌，Vol.63,No.2,p.20－25 (2010)
Sasaki Toru, Araki Hitoshi, Kagohara Kyoko, Kumagai Mika, Tanaka Koichi, Nakamura
Tsutomu, Matuta Nobuhisa「南海トラフ地震を想定した救援物資輸送ルートの検討」E-
journal GEO Vol. 15(1) p.101-p.114 (2020)
豊成春子・田畑智博『環境未来都市」構想に関する取組の効果と課題に関する考察』環境科学会誌
33（6）：p.172‒p.183（2020 高知県土佐町公式ホームページ
http://www.town.tosa.kochi.jp/publics/index/51/ (Browsing date1.7.2021)

53
Case Study 08
Community Network Approach to
Risk and Disaster Preparedness
Awareness Amongst Foreign
Residents in Jose City, Japan
Bismark Adu-Gyamfi, Rajib Shaw
Graduate School of Media and governance,

54
INTRODUCTION
Joso city is located in the south-western enclave of Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan,
and has an estimated population of about 59,314 as of October 2020. It also
has a significant number of foreign nationals, especially Brazilians and
Filipinos. The city has a total land area of over 123 sqkm and is drained by the
Kinugawa and Okai Rivers. Joso city often experiences occasional inundations
but a major flood disaster occurred in 2015 where two people were killed, 40
people injured, and more than 5,000 houses completely destroyed. Due to the
plight of foreign nationals to cope in disaster events, a local Non-for-Profit
Organization (NPO), through its local networks have been enhancing risk and
disaster preparedness awareness amongst foreign residents in the city. These
include a neighbourhood short mail system called “Morihashi Mail”, support
system called “Peer Support Joso” and the “Kairanban” information delivery
system. The Morihashi mail is a system where through local association
meetings, appeal is made to residents to provide their contact numbers to the
secretariate of the local NPO so that, risk information received from the Joso
City office will be translated to other languages and sent via short message
service (SMS). The Peer Support Joso on the other hand is a system where
different nationals serve as voluntary contact points to receive information
and re-distribute to others. The Kairanban is a circulation board or memo that
contains information within the neighborhoods. A person delivers the board
to the next neighbor after reading the notice.
OUTCOMES
The approach to using the adopted information sharing system have become
useful during recent disasters in the city. The first benefit was felt during
Typhoon 19 that occur on October 2019 and again, the Kinugawa River
exceeded its banks, causing flooding. During this time, residents on the
Morihashi mail revived frequent updates of the situation in multiple languages
such as Portuguese, English Japanese and others. Figure one shows a sample
of the messages. This information was relevant to preventing casualties during

55
the typhoon and coordinating evacuations and management of temporary
shelters.
Figure 1: Sample of Morihashi Mail,
Source: nposcommoms, Joso-Ibaraki Prefecture
Furthermore, the systems have become useful in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the peer support systems, information on covid-19 is distributed via
these networks after the information have been transferred into many
languages. Example include a brochure by the NPO that outlines government
support for foreign residents who have lost their jobs, income and other
sources of income due to COVID-19 pandemic. Videos in multiple languages
are also produced and distributed to foreign residents on how to apply, fill and
distribute the government COVID-19 support application as shown in the
figure below. Unlike major municipalities in Japan, Joso City does not have
international associations and other multi-cultural agencies to specifically deal
with issues of foreign residents, therefore, community networks approach has
been useful to disaster risk awareness and preparation.

56
LESSONS LEARNED
Information on local risk and countermeasures are important to reducing
impacts of disasters especially in the case of foreign residents in Japan.
Previous studies on the plight of foreign residents in disaster situations in
Japan have alluded to the fact that there are enormous existence of risk and
disaster preparedness information but the limitation to this is that, these
information contains limited local setting context (Sakurai & Adu-Gyamfi,
2020), language proficiency challenges and communication disparities (Adu-
Gyamfi & Shaw, 2021), and often; geographical disparity in foreign resident
communities (Adu-Gyamfi & Shaw, 2021). These make it important to have a
system that is able to at least reduce these obstacles.
Therefore, the above approach as adopted by the NPO for the city first
of all gives information relevant to the people in the area. More often than not,
the ability to absorb, contain or prepare for a disaster depends on the
understanding of the existing risk, and it is more important when the
information needed is provided in the language which is understood. This
awareness makes one to comprehend the situation around and to be able
trust the approach as suggested or proposed by authorities in charge.
Figure 2: Screenshot of Video Explanations of Government COVID-19 Support,
Source : http://peer-joso.com/pg105.html

57
As shown in this case study, the information is shared amongst neighborhoods
and people with certain level of trust, so it makes it easy for information to be
applied into action. Coupled with the fact that the composition of the
population in known, information is always directed to the target population.
Thus, either to Japanese nationals, Portuguese community or Filipino
community.
CHALLENGES
Challenges associated with the systems can be looked from different
perspectives. First, the Morihasi mail system seems to be a very good idea to
distributes information to foreign residents in their most familiar language.
However, it requires obtaining personal contact numbers which others may
find uncomfortable, giving the fact that the system is operated by an NPO and
not the government of government agency. This has effects on recruiting
more members to the platform. Furthermore, the operation of the system has
so far been implanted on smaller scale especially within Morishita and
Hashimoto communities instead of the entire Joso city which is made up of
several communities. This is hindering the expansion of the system and also
denying other foreign residents the ability to access other translated risk
information. Logistic and human resource limitations can all be said to be the
reasons for the inability to expand the system to others areas.
Last but not least is the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Since gathering
in specific places has be restricted by the city’s authorities to prevent infection,
some meetings for Peer Support groups have been moved online. However,
this new shift is having impact on participations because many residents are
new to such online platforms. Therefore, it has been a challenge to first of all
recruit members, and also to maintain some of the members.

58
CONCLUSION
A city with a significant foreign resident and a lack on international
associations, local network connection is been exploited to enhance risk
awareness and disaster preparedness amongst foreigners. This provides local
content information required for specify countermeasures and are highly
trusted because members are within neighbourhoods and understand the
environment around them. Despite its challenges, it has been useful to
information dissemination in critical situation such as Typhoon 19 and the
current COVID-19 pandemic. The approach to using these systems offer
practical solutions to meeting the needs of foreign residents in disaster risk
awareness and preparedness. It further provides solution that fill some gaps
initially publicised by some authors.It will be important that, further studies be
conducted to find solutions to the challenges while upgrading the system to
encompasses other areas of the city.
REFERENCES
Sakurai M, Adu-Gyamfi B. Disaster-resilient communication ecosystem in an inclusive
society - A case of foreigners in Japan. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct. 2020
Dec;51:101804. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101804. Epub 2020 Aug 15. PMID: 32834978;
PMCID: PMC7428713.
Adu-Gyamfi B, Shaw R. Characterizing Risk Communication and Awareness for Sustainable
Society: The Case of Foreign Residents in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area of
Japan. Sustainability. 2021; 13(11):5786. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115786
Adu-Gyamfi B, Shaw R. Utilizing Population Distribution Patterns for Disaster Vulnerability
Assessment: Case of Foreign Residents in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area of Japan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 12;18(8):4061. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084061.
PMID: 33921470; PMCID: PMC8068788.

59
Case Study 09
Big Data Approach to Disaster Risk
and Preparedness for Flood Control in
Guizhou Province, China
Jiang Yongxi, Ariyaningsih Ariyaningsih,
Rajib Shaw

60
INTRODUCTION
Guizhou is a mountainous province in southwest China and has an estimated
population of about 38,562,148 as of 2020. This province has a total land area
of over 176000²km s, located on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, and
mountains and hills take up over 97% area of its land. The major rivers flowing
through the province are the Wujiang River, the Chishuihe River, the Qingshui
River, the Nanpan River, and the Beipan River. These rivers have the common
characteristics of being wide and open upstream but narrow downstream
with rapid flows of water, shoals, and falls. The complex topography of
Guizhou forms a large number of small watersheds. Once there is a strong
rainfall, mountain torrents are likely to be formed in just a few minutes.
Figure 1: Location of the Guizhou Province,
Source: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/849/htm
From June 17 to 28, 2020, a total of 1570 times heavy rains have happened,
580,500 people in 58 counties (cities, districts) in the province suffered from
flooding to varying degrees, and 82,500 people were temporarily sheltered

61
and relocated in an emergency, which caused direct economic loss 1.733
billion yuan (about 26.8 million dollars) (Guizhou Government 2019). To
decrease the threat of flood disaster in this area, a big data and cloud
computing company “East Century”, has developed a flood forecasting
warning system “East Auspicious Clouds” to tackle mounting flood hazards.
The East Auspicious Cloud Warning System first aggregates
meteorological and geographic information, as well as data on water bodies
and rainfall, from different government departments and research
institutions. It carried out the next two hours of accurate flood forecasting and
72-hour trend flood forecasting for small mountain flood basins and reservoirs
across the country, provide early warning services for small mountain flood
basins, and provide early warning and flood control dispatch services for
reservoirs in advance (Liangliang 2018).
OUTCOMES
The approach to collect and analyse both real-time and historical data for
acute flood forecasting has become useful during recent disasters in the city.
The first benefit was felt in 2015, the flood warning system was used to protect
the Dayudang Reservoir in Xingren County, Guizhou Province from floods.
During the construction period of the Dayudang Reservoir, at 2:30 in the
morning, the early warning system indicated that a major flood might occur
in the reservoir (Figure 2). At 3:30 am, the monitoring system showed that the
flood was very close so that the government immediately transfer the
residents before 4:30 am. When the flood roared, the entire construction site
was vast, but due to the accurate and timely forecast, there were no casualties
or major property losses (Zhilu 2017).
Increasingly, the novel warning system achieves a high precision rate to
forecast flood disasters. Through this novel warning system, mountain floods
in small watersheds can be warned before disasters occur. On July 4, 2018, The
East Auspicious Cloud successfully predicted the next 24 hours (2018-07-04
14:00 ~ 2018-07-05 14:00) Renhuai, Daozhen, Zhengan, Xishui, and other areas

62
in Guizhou may have small floods, and some may have moderate floods
(Figure 3). With the immediate report and transfer, it ensures the safety of life
and property of people in mountainous areas. In 2019, a sudden heavy rain hit
Liangzhai, Sandu Autonomous County, Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou
Province. There was no hydrological data in those areas. However, the flood
control and drought relief monitoring and early warning system had already
given the early warning-real-time display of rainfall reached 90 mm,
reminded the local area that there will be the biggest flood in 23 years (Wang
Xiaoyu 2021).
Figure 2: Sample of The East Auspicious Cloud System Forecast the Flood
Map
Source: The East Cloud Company
Website. http://www.dfsjsoft.com/east_cloud.aspx

63
Figure 3: Sample of The East Auspicious Cloud System Forecast the Flood
Degree in 24 hours
Source: The East Cloud Company,
Website http://www.dfsjsoft.com/east_cloud.aspx
LESSONS LEARNED
Accurate forecasting and prompt warning are important to reducing the
threat of flood disaster in the case of Guiyang Province, China. The fast the
flood was indicated, the less human and economic loss will cause. In the past,
the traditional flood disaster forecasting is through setting up rainfall
monitoring stations in various reservoirs and hydropower stations in the
jurisdiction and then making analyses and forecasting based on the data fed
back by the rainfall stations. After collecting data, normal speed for alert takes
one hour to 90 minutes, and for most advanced global competitors are about
30 minutes (Tang Zheng 2019).
However, the East Auspicious Cloud Warning System can calculate
and forecast the amount of rainfall when raindrops start to form from water
vapor in the air while the traditional system measures the amount of water
Small Floods

64
on the ground. Early preparedness is estimated to reduce economic losses
by up to 90 percent. In addition, it can issue the warnings for small and
medium-sized bodies of water about one to four hours in advance and
renews its alerts every 15 minutes which is much less than the conventional
system. As shown in this case study, this novel warning system harnesses a
range of information to track risk factors and send alerts rapidly and cost-
effectively.
CHALLENGES
Challenges associated with the systems can be looked at from different
perspectives. First, the warning system seems to be a very good idea to
control floods by using big data toward the local area. However, it requires
flood-prevention workers and authorities to learn and adopt a different
system that overturns the conventional method and uses novel technologies
such as big data and cloud computing , which may take a long time to train
and become master. Some often threatened by flood but poor areas might
not have enough talents and money to install and utilize this system.
Furthermore, this system is helpful, but so far it only acts as an additional
source of information for decision-making because predicting natural
disasters is extremely complicated. Before taking adequate actions, the local
government still has to consider specific circumstances and gather insights
from various parties.
CONCLUSION
As climate change increases the threat of flood, making the prevention and
control of flood becomes a worldwide problem. How to improve the accuracy
of flood forecast even in small watersheds and how to shorten the interval
between flood warnings and transfer actions become more and more
important. In the era of big data, the traditional flood warning model began
to be replaced by new technologies and new solutions. The East Auspicious

65
Cloud warning system combines meteorological, water conservancy, cloud
computing, and other professional technical data to successfully tackle this
issue. Despite its challenges, it has been useful to flood forecasting and
warning, successfully increases the flood warning rate from 80% to over 85%
(Wang Xiaoyu 2021) . So far, the approach has been applied from Guizhou
province to other parts of China such as Guangdong Province and Guangxi
Province. What’s more, in the future, it can be expanded to multiple industries
to provide services for agriculture, land, and insurance to meet the needs in
disaster risk warning and preparedness. It will be important that further
technology innovations and studies will be conducted to find solutions to the
challenges while upgrading the system to imply to other areas of the country.
REFERENCES
Guizhou Provincial Emergency Management Government. 2019. Recently Heavy Rainfall
Has Caused 16 Counties (Cities, Districts) in the Province to Suffer from Floods to
Varying Degrees.
http://yjgl.guizhou.gov.cn/xwdt/yjyw/201911/t20191126_17230826.html.
Liangliang, Luo. 2018. “Big Data Serves the People’s Livelihood.” Contemporary Pioneer
Network. http://www.ddcpc.cn/news/201804/t20180407_92435.shtml.
Tang Zheng, Fang Chayun. 2019. “Looking at the Development of Big Data Integration in
Guizhou.” China Big Data Industrial Observation.
http://www.cbdio.com/BigData/2019-04/20/content_6086088.htm.
Wang Xiaoyu, Yang Jun. 2021. “East Century Uses Big Data for Flood Control.”
Chinadaily.Com.Cn.
https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202102/02/WS6018b4dca31024ad0baa6aa5.html
Zhilu, Xiao. 2017. “Eastern Cloud: Flood Forecasting and Dispatching.” Modern Pioneer
Network. http://www.ddcpc.cn/2017/jr_0519/101697.html.

66
Case Study 10
Prevention and Control of
Desertification with Comprehensive
Measures in Yulin City, China
He Zuquan, Ariyaningsih Ariyaningsih,
Rajib Shaw

67
INTRODUCTION
Yulin is in Shaanxi, China. The development of this ancient city is in line with
the development of the Mu Us desert in the north. The development of
desertification in this area has not only effect on Yulin city, but also has been
considered as one of the causes of the sediment in Yellow River and the
sandstorm in Beijing and Tianjin area. The desertification area in 1950s was
around 12900 km2
, however due to the increasement of population in this
area, the desertification area increased to 41110 km2
(Wu Wei, 2001). Therefore,
the efforts to control the desertification at provincial level began from 1959
with the establishment of the science lab in Yulin to find efficient measures
to prevent the expansion of the Mu Us desert.
Figure 1: Location of the Mu Us desert and Yulin city,
Source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134771
To support the prevention and control of desertification of Mu Us desert a
city-state-province-level joint system was established. The head of this joint
system is the State Forestry and Grassland Administration in China as the
supervisor of the policy and coordinator between the government and the
academy of science. The government of Shaanxi province is responsible the

68
policy/plan making, and the local city government /private
corporations/contractors are the implementer r of the prevention plan.
Since 1980s, the principal of the approach remained as combination
planting protection with local environment. Based on the analysis of data
such as the underground water, sand, temperature, rainfall, and other
elements from local ecosystem which provided by the science lab, the
execution team will plant different kinds of trees, shrubs and grasses which
suitable for the local ecosystem according to the advice of specialist. The
approach of plantation was a combination of air seeding for areas away from
city, artificial cultivation in areas near the city, and the closing hillside to
facilitate the afforestation. The aim of this plantation approach is to stabilize
the sand in early phase, then accelerate the formation of the oasis by
increasing the water circulation. Finally, the sand will transform to soil.
Besides, the local government and scientists have been looking for a
sustainable way to achieve the desertification control such as creating
economic value during the afforestation by planting economic trees (apricot
tree, apple tree, etc.) in improved areas to attract more private capital to
invest in these areas. Meanwhile, the local lab has been working with the
execution team on the improvement of plantation technology to cut the
water consumption.
OUTCOMES
The measure based on this principal approach have been shown as successful
control of desertification program in Yulin area. According to the remote
sensing data, the desertification area in Mu Us desert in 2000 was decreased
from in 1980 (Fang Shibo et al. 2009). Based on the data, it is confirmed that
the desertification in Mu Us desert decreased by 9460km2
from 1970s to 1993
(Wu Wei, 2001). Based on the survey in 2020, the forest coverage of Mu Us
desert was 33% (the data in 1999 was 0.9%). The local government has
confirmed the accomplishment of 4 windbreaks (length in total 1500 km) in
the north of Yulin city and 93.24% of the desertification land got controlled

69
(Shaanxi provincial government, 2020). As an indirect effect, the frequency of
sandstorms in Yulin city has significantly decreased (from 30 times/year to
less than 1 time/year), the floating sand/dust weather has decreased by 90%.
In addition, as one of the origins of the sedimentation in the Yellow River, the
stabilization of the sand and soil in Yulin is considered to influence reducing
sediment in the Yellow River (see Figure 2). The economic development of
desertification areas is also considered successful. In 2020, the economic
forest area has reached around 3000 km2
(red date, apricot, apple, Amygdalus
pedunculata, walnut, etc.) More and more economic trees are testing in the
science lab in Yulin city.
Figure 2: Comparison of the estuary of the Yellow River (left 1989/right 2018)
Source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-
change/YellowRiver/show-all http://andrewjmoodie.com/research/
LESSONS LEARNED
The adaptation of the plantation according to local ecosystem is particularly
important. In the early phase, the execution team in Yulin just planted poplar
in different area and the underground water could not support the poplars
growth in desert area, the survival rate was quite low. Therewith, the
execution team tried to choose different trees, then turned to local shrubs

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