ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS AND SPONSORS

IUBAT—International University of Business Agriculture and Technology has been initiated in 1989 as an international university with the objective of human resource development. IUBAT is a non‑profit independent institution for human resource development with commitment to quality and excellence. The South Asian Disaster Management Centre (SADMC) of IUBAT started in 1990 is geared towards strengthening disaster related activities in the country as well as in the region. IUBAT has carried out programs of training and development in disaster management, IT curriculum development, case development and executive development including an international workshop, training and program.

Current academic programs include Masters in Business Administration and Bachelors in business administration, computer science, engineering, agriculture, economics, hospitality and nursing.

IUBAT has been modeled as an international institution having linkages with 57 universities in Europe, North America, Australia and South and South East Asia.

IUBAT is oriented towards becoming a centre of excellence offering educational, training, and research programs for socio‑agro‑economic transformation of developing societies. IUBAT is also set to be a meeting place of scientists, management specialists, economists, literary and academic figures from all parts of the world.

Research programs have been initiated at national and international levels. Four research programs have been completed and one research program on Commodity Supply Chains under the umbrella of EU Asia Link program is under progress as joint activities with 3 universities in the Netherlands, Italy and India. A benchmark survey on Corporate Social Responsibility is being initiated in Bangladesh with Dutch support.

The SADMC of IUBAT is geared towards strengthening disaster management activities in the country and the region. The basic goal is to improve emergency management performance of private voluntary agencies, local and national governments and international organizations through comprehensive development programs in disaster management. The activity domain of the centre includes training courses, workshops and seminars as means of sharing knowledge and improving skills.

From 1991 to 2006, SADMC organized a total of twenty-two different type of programs, workshop and training of trainers in the field of Cyclone Mitigation and Disaster Management.

Management Course and Workshop on Cyclone: The first program under SADMC was Cyclone Management Course for the officers and volunteers of Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP), conducted in January 1991 and then the fourth program was a regional workshop on Cyclone Mitigation held at Institution of Engineers for 2 weeks and attended by delegates from 10 countries. This was conducted in collaboration with ADPC, AIT, and funded by Commission of the European Communities (CEC). 
 
Seminar and Workshop on Disaster Management: SADMC conducted first workshop on disaster management in July, 1991 for the executives of the World Vision of Bangladesh for 2 weeks on full time basis. Then consequently, third program was disaster management workshop for executives of government, NGO and international organizations, held at the Department of Meteorology Conference Room for 3 weeks in the afternoon. Thirty-eight executives attended this workshop. The fifth program was a Curriculum Development Seminar on Disaster Management, attended by an Australian visiting meteorology expert. The deliberations of the seminar were helpful in evolving an agreed curriculum for training of disaster managers. The sixth program was a disaster management workshop for 3 weeks conducted in the afternoon for the executives of the government, non‑government and international organizations, in February, 1992. The seventh program was a seminar on Disaster and Development held in October, 1992 in observance of International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) Day. This was offered by one of the SADMC alumni and attended by about 50 interested individuals. The eighth program was a disaster management workshop for 4 weeks conducted in the afternoon for mid-level executives in November -December, 1992. The ninth program was a two weeks long workshop on disaster management geared towards mid and field level managers. The tenth program was a two weeks long Training of Trainers in Disaster Management conducted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, London and Ministry of Finance, GOB. The program was inaugurated by Principal Resource Person from Australia and Chancellor of Indiana University, Gary Campus, USA. The twelfth program was a 3 week disaster management workshop conducted in the afternoon for the executives of government, non-government and international organizations conducted in November-December, 1993. The thirteenth program was a Training of Trainers on Disaster Management, November 19 to December 1, 1994 for 25 trainers under the sponsorship of the Commonwealth Secretariat and Economic Relations Division (ERD) of GOB. The fourteenth program was a workshop on Disaster Management November 19 to December 8, 1994, attended by 18 participants. The fifteenth program was a 3 week Disaster Management Workshop for the government, non-government & private participants from December 8, 1996 to January 1, 1997. This was attended by 13 participants. The sixteenth program was a 3 week long annual Disaster Management Workshop for participants from government and non-government agencies as well as universities conducted in December of 1998. The seventeenth program was an intensive Training of Trainers Course on Disaster Management (TOTDM) for Primary Training Institute (PTI) Instructors organized for Disaster Management Bureau (DMB), Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief in cooperation with Directorate of Primary Education, Ministry of Education with resource support of UNICEF, Dhaka. This program conducted on a full time basis from December 14-19, 1998 had 21 participants from the Khulna division.

Workshop on Water Resources Development: The eleventh program was a seminar on Water Resources Development in Bangladesh held in June, 1993. This was offered by a Visitor to IUBAT from International Movement to Save Bangladesh, Toronto, Canada.

Program on TOTDM: The eighteenth program was the TOTDM for PTI Instructors of Rajshahi and Barisal Divisions. The program had 15 instructors and conducted between December 20 and 24, 1998. The certificate for this program was ceremonially distributed by the Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education of GOB.The nineteenth program was the TOTDM for PTI Instructors of Chittagong division. The program had 22 participants and conducted between December 26 and 30, 1998. The twentieth program was the TOTDM for PTI Superintendents of Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal Divisions. With 17 participants, the program was conducted between December 31, 1998 and January 4, 1999.

Two short courses on Sustainability was organized in April, 2002 with Visiting Resource Person from Institute of Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University, Australia with 52 participants.

Program of ARPTD: The Asia Regional Program of Training on Disaster Management held in June 23 to July 5, 2007 at IUBAT new campus. This programme was the 23rd program organized by SADMC at national and regional level, to enhance capacity in policy formulation and implementation in different types of disasters affecting the region. This programme was organized in the backdrop of successful organization of earlier disaster management programs by IUBAT-SADMC at national and regional levels. The programme was attended by 14 participants, 4 from Sri Lanka, 2 from Malaysia, 1 from Pakistan and 7 from Bangladesh. The resource persons of the programme were drawn from Bangladesh, USA, UK and Canada belonging to government institutions/agencies/departments, development organizations, academic institutions, NGO's, visiting faculty & resource persons of IUBAT.

Program of TOTDM:

SADMC provided support to disaster related training activities of other organizations in the country. The centre is also giving attention to research activities and a doctoral level research on disaster management in Bangladesh has been sponsored at ADPC, AIT. SADMC activities have drawn attention of local and international organizations. 

SADMC has also provided consultation to various organizations in disaster management training, planning and research activities. Some of these organizations are HEED-Bangladesh, CONCERN, Disaster Coordination Management Unit (DCMU), Ministry of Relief, Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP), Bangladesh Department of Meteorology, Gono Shaystha Kendra, United Nations World Food Program, Institution of Engineers-Bangladesh and Bangladesh Air Force. As of year 2000, SADMC made professional contribution to the comprehensive Disaster Management Programme Formulation Mission of UNDP and GOB.

SADMC also maintains institutional linkage with other centres on disaster management. Besides the local dignitaries and experts, SADMC received visitors and experts from various countries of South Asia as well as from USA, Canada, England and Australia. Department of Economic and Social Development of the United Nations, New York has recognized SADMC as an important centre to be invited to participate in Interregional Seminar on Disaster Management.

SADMC also provided support and participated in disaster management related activities at regional, international and global levels. Contributions were made in North East India Consultation on Disaster Mitigation and Management, International Conference on Local Authorities Confronting Disaster and Emergencies, the Netherlands, WMO-ESCAP Seminar on Meteorological and Hydrological Risks, India, UN Inter-Regional Seminar on Disaster Management, Indonesia, WMO Regional Technical Conference on Tropical Cyclones and Storm Surges, Thailand, WMO Second Regional Conference, Brisbane, Australia, International Conference on Storms, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, Australia, World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Kobe, Japan in 2005 and FAO Regional Technical Workshop “Coastal Protection in the Aftermath of Indian Ocean Tsunami: What role for forests and trees?”, Thailand, 2006.