Letter from National Disaster Coordinator Lamin Saidy

Lamin Saidy
To: (HME Summit Manila 2014) summit@hazmapping.org
Cc: saferecover@msn.com



Dear All,

I first of all wish you Happy New Year 2014.

My name is Lamin Saidy. I worked for the National Disaster Management of The Gambia as a Regional Disaster Coordinator responsible of coordinating all matters of disaster and climate related hazards.

I have read about Disaster and Hazards Mapping Summit 2014 to be held in Manila-Phillipines in 2014.

As a disaster manager from a developing country that is also prone to disaster and other related hazards, I hereby write to kindly forward my interest in the summit for consideration. I was in Phillipines, Indonesia and Banglasdesh on  Study tour in 2013 and this has greatly help my country to learn best practices in these countries for incorporation into our country level programmes.

In light of the above, I wish to count on your usual support and consideration to my request so as to enable me to attend this important summit.

Lamin Saidy

National Disaster Management Agency
Regional Disaster Coordinator
Lower River Region

Reply from USA

Dear Hazmapping

I may be interested in participating. Please keep me on your mailing list.

Sincerely

Emile A . Okal
Dept. of Geological Sciences
1850 Campus Drive
Northwestern University
Evanston IL 60208-2150
USA
December 9, 2013

Dear Sir / Madame,

Greetings!

This is to formally invite your attention to  our determination to hold the international conference on geohazard mapping and relevant environment issues. Our group decided to launch a campaign in 2009 for sustainable crisis hazards mapping and relevant environmental concerns after returning from Mindanao, Philippines following the end of the effort in ending the highly expensive hotel billeting by Juma’a Abu Sayyap of selected staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from Switzerland (Andreas Notter), Italy (Eugenio Vagni) and Philippines (Mary Jane Lacaba).

The purpose of the conference is to provide a fora within Southeast Asia for developed and developing countries, for consolidating databases, integrating and perfecting geohazard mapping and tagging - coordinates and all correlational information for disaster hot spot / safe spot zones, among others. When we began this effort, we noticed that mostly poor developing countries only, responded to our invitation. Understandably, nearly all or most of them required us to sponsor their travel and accommodations.

Our basic belief is in putting into action the requisites precluding the taking of measures to prevent and mitigate both the risks of loss of lives and property and actual casualties during a disaster. Furthermore, to allow disasters to ravage our communities without prior mitigation measures becomes an extremely tedious issue due to the fact that certain quarters in the public sector are remiss in delivering aid to victims of calamities [e.g. recent super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) here in the Philippines where it took more than one week for the government to respond].

Many of us agree to the principle shared by many of you that mitigation requires less expense and effort -

“than remediation or reconstruction actions. When mitigation and prevention are economically not feasible or when it is cheaper just to accept certain disasters (particularly those due to the most extreme events), the issue becomes an ethical one, where the decision is of how much we want to spend to avoid loss of lives.”

For this reason, we most sincerely invite your good self to participate as centers for leadership and influence, moderators or active participant-delegates in our planned conference.

We welcome your invitation to your colleagues and we hope that your respective organizations and state agencies can lend support for our undertaking in the Philippines. We fervently anticipate your most favorable reply soon.

Thank you so very much, with much privilege and honor we remain,

Faithfully yours,

Organizing Committee

Geo Hazards and Environment Summit 2014 Manila

Website:   http://summit.hazmapping.org

Email:       summit@hazmapping.org

                 hazmappingsummit@gmail.com

New Letter to the UN

Open Letter to the United Nations


December 1, 2013

HIS EXCELLENCY
BAN KI MOON
Secretary General
The United Nations
UN Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
USA


Dearest Secretary General Ban:


Our warmest greetings!

Since our initial advocacy in 2009 following Ketsana, a large number of catastrophes have already occurred around the world. In most of these disasters, a large number of people say nothing could have been done. No one can predict calamity. The most recent is tropical cyclone Haiyan aka Yolanda of which no less than five thousand could have survived, had our original intention to hold a conference on mapping and building a decently sized GIS on topics related to disasters and for better forecasting.

Out of this advocacy we determined to hold a hazards mapping and environment summit in April 2010 and held back the plan due to unforeseen causes.

We have decided to discard our plan to have our original sponsors support the event and to depend upon Philippine leaders for supporting the event to its completion. In light of the holding of the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan in March 2015, we propose to hold the hazards mapping conference in Manila from 8:00 AM December 4, 2014 up to 3: PM December 12, 2014 to be culminated with a benefit event at the end of the conference. We envision that the hazards mapping will enhance the 2015 World Conference.

May we respectfully invite the United Nations to be our primary and principal partner for this private-led event. We hope for your soonest assent and affirmation of positive determination.

Thank you very much.

Faithfully yours,

HMES

Letter to UN Secretary General

October 31, 2009

HIS EXCELLENCY
BAN KI-MOON
Secretary General
United Nations


Dear Mr. Secretary General:

Greetings!

Every 5th of June since 1972 is commemorated by the United Nations as the World Environment Day.

In 2010-2011, scientists report that there will be a solar maximum that has not occurred since fifty years ago as reported in this article from Science@NASA:

a (solar) storm is coming--the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958. Read more about it here

This and other factors will result in major disasters during the period in question. Our group of professionals advocating environment protection and disaster damage diminution respectfully request the United Nations to support our effort to organize a Geo Hazard Mapping and Environment Summit in 2010 and we are determined that this gathering be convened in Manila, Philippines.

In this connection, may we respectfully request the following:

1. United Nations and its concerned departments participate in the Summit and help in organizing said event

2. The Year 2010 be declared as the International Geo Hazard Mapping Year

3. The month of April 2010 be declared as the International Geo Hazard Mapping Month; and finally,

4. The date of April 17, 2010 be declared as the first World Hazards Information Dissemination Day.

That these declarations be formally announced in Manila prior to the Summit.

Thank you ever so much! Mabuhay!!!

Respectfully yours,




Organizers HMES 2010

Letter from Nepal

2010 Hazard mapping and environmental summit (HMES), Eco Summit 2010 to be held in the Philippines (Manila) (8-15 April 2010)‏

From:	Dr. Meen Poudyal Chhetri
Sent:	Wednesday, October 21, 2009 7:16:00 AM
To:	saferecover@msn.com; onefestival@live.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am from Nepal. This is regarding my great interest to participate in the 2010 Hazard mapping and environmental summit (HMES), Eco Summit 2010 to be held in the Philippines (Manila) (8-15 April 2010).

As defined by the World Bank, I am from a very low income and least developed country - Nepal, neither me nor my organization have resources to attend the conference. I would, therefore, like to request you to kindly let me know, if there is any possibility of funding from your organization for my participation. If I will be given a chance to attend the conference that will be an asset and excellent opportunity for me and my organization. I can contribute by presenting a paper in the conference.

I look forward to hear from you soon in positive vein.

With very kind regards,

Sincerely yours,




Meen B. Poudyal Chhetri, PhD
General Secretary
Nepal Center for Disaster Management (NCDM)
Lalitpur, Nepal

Letter from West Africa

Letter of Participation‏

From:	lamin saidy
Sent:	Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:18:39 PM
To:	saferecover@msn.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write with great appreciation and happiness to kindly apply for your forhtcoming noble 2010 Hazard mapping and environmental summit (HMES), Eco Summit 2010 to be held in Philippines (Manila) from on the 8-15 April,2009.

My name is Mr. Lamin Saidy from The Gambia, West Africa.I am a Regional Disaster Coordinator of National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and lead focal person for the Agency Assessment Data Collection.I am an experienced personnel in field of Disaster risk Reduction Advocacy and also a lead Community DRR trainer.

With regards to these facts, i wish kindly participate in this important forum of your towards serving Human kind.I promise if considered to participate to this event i will immensely contribute towards the success of the Summits.And it as well help me in my career as an Officer to implement new ideas that i learn from the Summit for the benefit of my Country.

Whiles looking forward to hear from you, i wish you all the best in your efforts and wish you a successful Summit 2010.

Yours Faithfully,



Lamin Saidy

Letter from United Nations

Fw: fyi: 2010 Hazard mapping and environmental summit‏

From:
Sent:	Friday, October 16, 2009 9:49:51 AM
To:	saferecover@msn.com;onefestival@live.com

Dear colleagues,

We at the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environnment Unit have become aware of the Hazard mapping and environmental summit you are organizing in April 2010. As part of efforts to improve the international response to environmental emergencies we have developed a tool to identify secondary environmental risks that industrial facilities and large infrastructure may pose when affected by a natural disaster: the Hazard Identification Tool (please see the attachment for further information). In addition to using this tool in response to emergencies, i.e. to identify environmental hazards after a disaster has struck, we have been exploring different ways to use the tool to identify and map hazards before the on-set of natural disasters, thereby contributing to preparedness efforts.

It is before this background that we would like to inquire whether any contribution from our side could be of value to the Eco Summit and/or whether there might be other possibilities for collaboration. I would be happy to provide you with more details on our work in regards to environmental hazard identification.

Best regards,
…..

Joint UNEP-OCHA Environmental Emergencies Unit (joint UNEP/OCHA)
Emergency Preparedness Section, Emergency Services Branch
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Palais des Nations - bureau D-117
CH 1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

Conserve the environment! Please do not print this email unless absolutely necessary.


2010 Hazard mapping and environmental summit (HMES), Eco Summit 2010
Type: Meeting or Conference
Date: 08-15 Apr 2010
Location: Philippines (Manila)
Main organizer Resource Recovery Movement (RRM)

Description
The Resource Recovery Movement will hold the first 2010 Hazards Mapping and Environment Summit (Eco 2010 Summit) in Manila, Philippines. This is ultimately borne about by the tremendous

changing of the Philippine landscape and those of other countries in the Pacific Rim in the last few decades. All efforts towards risk mapping in relation to calamities and disasters in the past should now take into consideration the great shifts and transformations in land mass, the enormous amount of rainfall brought about by climate change and many new factors that were heretofore not factored into national and sub-national planning by governments as well as even by business establishments and non-government organizations.

The 2010 Hazard Mapping and Environmental Summit (HMES) is intended to develop better approaches to mapping risks and dangers to communities in the Philippines and other countries with tropical climates. It takes a cue from the recent experience in China, Indonesia and the Philippines, notwithstanding the previous experiences in Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan where scores of people died due to unforeseen occurrences during the incidence of a natural disaster: earthquake, typhoon, tsunami and other calamities.

The databasing, mapping and full coordination of efforts towards use and sharing of a full function GIS on hazards, volcanoes, water, flood, forests in the Philippines and Asia, vulnerability areas, liquefaction potential, crisis and hot spots is long due because of the long-running phenomenon of climate change in the planet. This is also significant in that the Philippines, among other countries, lies in the Pacific Rim of Fire where a large number of earthquake faults lie.

The most important value of the conference is to determine the plan and the cost of implementing such a plan to make the Philippines and other participating nations safer from increasingly hazardous calamities.
Additional information:
http://ecologyguardian.wordpress.com/

How to register

Please contact Sol: +632 7102609 +639212384228
email: saferecover@msn.com
onefestival@live.com