Education and Training Activities in Support to DPM Programme I. K. Al-Atwi Chief, Training Activities Division Education and Training Department-WMO DISASTER PREVENTION & MITIGATION COORDINATION MEETING OF WMO PROGRAMMES AND CONSTITUENT BODIES FIRST SESSION GENEVA, 4 – 6 DECEMBER 2006

ETR Activities in Support to DPM Programme a-Recent activities b-Current activities c-Future activities

Recent activities Tenth WMO Symposium on Education and Training (SYMET-X), held from 18 to 22 September 2006 in Nanjing, China The theme of the Symposium Meteorological and hydrological education and training for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Topic 1: Preparedness – Prevention and Early Warning: (15 Plenary sessions)  The “ climatology ” of climate change; statistics of extreme events  Use and interpretation of ensemble prediction systems  Infrastructures for early warnings (e.g. hurricane forecast, drought monitoring)  Cost, loss and risk -based decision-making using probabilistic forecasts; SYMET-X Main Topics

T opic 2: Mitigation – Emergency, Relief and Rehabilitation: (11 plenary sessions) Meteorological and hydrological products for emergency measures Use of satellite data and imagery to identify and monitor disasters Reduction of the impact of disaster occurrences Outreach activities in meteorology and hydrology

Topic 3: Interdisciplinary training (15 Plenary sessions) Meteorology for non-meteorologists Hydrology and flood forecasting for non-hydrologists Popular and school education in meteorology and hydrology Public awareness raising education for disaster risk reduction

SYMET-X Overview 140 Training Experts from 54 countries 41 Plenary presentations and 29 Poster presentations

Noted Facts; 1-Most natural disasters are meteorological or hydrological in origin and are increasing in intensity and frequency 2-NMHSs have key role in DPM 3-There is a gap in training and education relating to the disaster prevention and mitigation

Recommendations: 1. Encourage meteorological / hydrological educationand training for targeted user groups, including public, media, schools, emergency responders and others, through: a) Engaging other WMO and UN groups and making use of the potential of partnerships b) Sharing of existing resources including those relating to meteorology/hydrology and natural disasters;

2. Promote: a) The development of training on the use of ensemble forecasts for meteorologists and hydrologists, with special emphasis on the support for risk assessment by decision- makers; b) The use of probabilistic forecasts by agriculture groups, emergency managers, health authorities, aviation operators and regulators, and other economic sectors;

3. Further enhance the capacities of the WMO Regional Training Centres and training units of NMHSs through: a) Special training modules on disaster prevention and mitigation; b) The development of guidance for short courses on risk assessment of natural disasters c) Emphasis on training on the use of remote- sensed data d) Addressing the need for NMHSs to train in areas such as management and communication e) The use of computer-aided distance learning (CADL) for large and geographically dispersed groups including real-time weather discussion

Current activities a)Introduction of the DPM as a standing topic (One day training ) in ETR’s Regional Seminars for the Training of Trainers b)Developing a plan for the implementation of SYMEX-X recommendations c) Promotion of Distance Learning and improving communications with Technical and Scientific Departments, WMO-RTCs and others.

Future activities a)Endorsement of the Symposium Recommendations by the EC-Panel of Experts on Education and Training and the Executive Council during the forthcoming meetings b)Production of a new Supplement for WMO-No-258 on DPM c)Compile and Develop as needed, public education and outreachmaterials for Schools, Disaster Risk Managers, Authorities and also for Ministers.

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