Ten Turkish local government officials comprised of civil engineers and urban planners participated in this course and attended a series of lectures on Japan disaster management system (central/local
governments), seismic design and reinforcement, urban planning after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, town development by NGOs, efforts to raise awareness of residents, the development of disaster-resistant lifelines, and Town Watching activities. What surprised them most during the course of their studies of urban planning in Japan were the lack of parks and the narrowness of roads as compared to Turkey. One trainee mentioned that urban planning is very different in Japan than in Turkey. Since Turkey has approximately double the land area and half the population of Japan, the Turkish trainees saw Japan's crowded residential areas and narrow roads as a particularly risky hazard.

On the other hand, one of the trainees was impressed to learn about the community meetings that are held when town redevelopment or land readjustment projects are being undertaken, as these meetings not only help to improve the residents' understanding of those plans, but also help to raise awareness of the importance of disaster risk reduction.

On the last day of the course, the trainees presented action plans that highlighted the need to raise the disaster awareness of residents, coordinate the activities of relevant organizations, integrate disaster risk reduction into urban planning efforts, and seismically reinforce shelters and install necessary equipment. Each trainee will be expected to implement these action plans in their own municipalities upon returning home.

The ADRC wishes to extend its sincere appreciation to all of those who contributed to the success of this training course.

Announcements

ADRC Website Relaunched. We are pleased to announce the relaunch of the new and improved ADRC
website on 1 April 2008. Our previous site had served as an important tool for disseminating disaster risk reduction information to users, especially our member countries, since the ADRC's inception in 1998.
However, since such massive quantities of valuable information on disaster risk reduction had been accumulated in the website's database over the course of the past decade, some users had been
having difficulties finding the information they needed. The new site offers improved accessibility and ease of use, as can be seen from the new home page. We hope that the new website will facilitate the
sharing of information, expertise, and experience among member countries and others interested in disaster risk reduction.
http://www.adrc.or.jp/