Archive for year: 2022

The Climate Book

December 29, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

Greta Thunberg has created a brilliant new publication called ‘The Climate Book’ – see www.theclimatebook.org. This is a comprehensive document, covering over 400 pages. It is divided into five Parts, with a total of 100 short articles written by global experts in their various fields. Each Part has an introduction by Ms Thunberg.

Part 1: How Climate Works
Part 2: How Our Planet is Changing
Part 3: How It Affects Us
Part 4: What We’ve Done About It
Part 5: What We Must Do Now

The Climate Book is a wonderful resource for humanitarian/development practitioners, tertiary/secondary students, and others involved or interested in Climate Change.

The Climate/Warming Stripes included in both The Climate Book and this TorqAid post were developed by Professor Ed Hawkins and his team at the University of Reading, UK – see https://www.reading.ac.uk/planet/climate-resources/climate-stripes

The Climate Book is now a key resource used in Topic 05 (Climate Change) of our 2023 Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program – see www.torqaid.com/2023-pdrm-training

2023 TorqAid diagrams

December 28, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

All the key 2023 versions of TorqAid diagrams which help illustrate different components of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) situations are now up on the TorqAid website at www.torqaid.com/resources. These are:

The Disaster Risk Management Cycle (DRMC) – for both fast evolving hazards, and slower ones (such as drought)
The Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) diagram – again both both fast evolving hazards and slower ones
The Disaster Risk Management (DRMP) Planning diagram
A Landscape version of the Project Management Cycle (PMC)

All these diagrams are jpegs, and can be freely used for non-commercial purposes. Should they wish to be used for publication then permission will need to be sought from Chris Piper at pipercm@iprimus.com.au. These diagrams have been translated in the past into Indonesian, Burmese and French, and again permission from Chris will will needed if new language versions for 2023 are requested. Finally, the diagrams have the past also been ‘branded’ by clients in the Pacific and SE Asia, and again contact with Chris will be required to discuss such licensing arrangements.

Syria_timeline

December 6, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

Highlighted below is a customised Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) timeline, showing key events, and effects of these on the Syrian economy, from 2011 through to 2018.

DRM & Climate Change

November 16, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

Topic 10 of the TorqAid Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program focuses on Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change. The following components are included:

Re-visiting the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) diagram
Climate Change Explained
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Causes of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Emissions
Paris Agreement, COP 26 & COP 27
Effects of Climate Change
The move towards Net Zero CO₂

This topic includes references to material produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); the COP 26 & 27 conferences; UNFCC; Climate Action Tracker (CAT); UNEP; Climate Council of Australia; Alliance of World Scientists; and the BBC.

Follow the link below for a modified copy of this PDRM Topic 10

The 2023 PDRM program consists of 11 topics, and can be taught both as a workshop and online course. Follow the link below for this 2023 PDRM training program.

Australian bushfires & floods

October 17, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

This short blog focuses in on Australian bushfires and floods. It is updated in late 2022 when much of the east coast of Australia (as well as Tasmania), is being challenged by unrelenting La Nina influenced floods. Whilst the majority of examples relate to bushfires, the principles behind them apply equally to floods (as well as to other Australian hazards such as tropical cyclones and drought). This blog is written by Chris Piper, an Australian-based Global Humanitarian Practitioner (GHP) and Teacher/Trainer/Facilitator. With regards Australian bushfires and floods he has been involved in coordinating volunteer recovery responses to the 2009 Victorian bushfires and 2011 floods, as well as acting as Bushfire Recovery Adviser (BRA) to the Baptist Union of Victoria (BRA) following the 2020/2021 bushfires.

The Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Diagrammatic Framework is a very useful approach to better understanding disasters, particularly as they pass through their Normal/Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Emergency Response & Recovery Stages. See the enclosed article here.

The Australian 2019/2020 bushfire season was unprecedented in its intensity and geographical spread. Following the fires, Chris worked from March-May as BRA for the BUV, this involving him visiting and supporting affected communities in the east of Victoria. The following two links highlight some aspects of his visits to the field.

BUV Video on Corryong, 5-6^th March 2020

https://www.buv.com.au/news/corryong-and-surrounds-from-bushfires-to-covid-19

BUV Video on Gippsland, 11-12^th March 2020

https://www.buv.com.au/news/an-update-on-our-response-to-the-bushfires

In January 2020 Chris prepared an article on the bushfires for the March 2020 edition of the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria’s (GTAV) quarterly ‘Interaction’ magazine. This includes some suggested Classroom Activities for Secondary level students. This gives a good overview of the Emergency Response Stage of the bushfires; some comments on the recovery challenges throughout 2020, this complicated by COVID-19; and some thoughts on future Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiatives, these including some related to climate change.

Based on his BRA work, Chris prepared an article in mid 2020 on training for bushfire-related field staff and volunteers, these people involved in recovery work within a COVID-19 context.

Following the earlier 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Chris coordinated some church-based community recovery work on a number of weekends during 2009-2011. Follow the link below for a copy of bushfire-related Project Design Document (PDD) relating to this.

Following this 2009-2011 work, Chris prepared a short article on the management of volunteers in such situations.

Aspects of bushfires is covered in Topics 1 & 4 of the Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) training program, which can be delivered in either workshop or online format. See the link to the 2023 PDRM program.

Chris Piper Resume

October 17, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

Enclosed is a resume for Chris Piper in his role as Global Humanitarian Practitioner (GHP) and Teacher/Trainer/Facilitator.

2023-pdrm-assessment

October 16, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

The link below includes details of the 2023 assignment questions for both the PDRM workshop and the PDRM online course. The assessment details also include (at the bottom of the first page) the contact details at Murdoch University regarding Advanced Standing issues. The PDRM covers ten topics, and the student/participant seeking Advanced Standing has to succesfully complete three assignment questions from a choice of seven. For the online program this consists of a Research Project (worth 50 marks), and two assignment questions, each worth 25 marks.

The link to the 2023 TorqAid PDRM training program, which includes both workshops and online training, is given below:

The link to the TorqAid online accredited PDRM program running from mthe 24th July to the end of November 2023 is given below:

2023-pdrm-training

October 5, 2022/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

Details of the 2023 Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program are now available from here. This is offered in two formats, namely a contracted 3-5 day workshop, as well as an online training option. The PDRM consists of ten topics, which, when succesfully complemented by three assignment questions, is given Advanced Standing towards a number of Master level Development Studies programs offered by Murdoch University. Details of the 2023 PDRM training brochure can be found here:

The details of the 2023 online PDRM program, this running from the 24 July through to the end of November, can also be found here.

Details of the 2023 assessment (for either workshops or online training) relating to the Advance Standing option offered by Murdoch can be found here.

Separate to the complete program (ten topics and optional assignment questions), individual topics can be contracted by interested participants, agencies/companies and tertiary/secondary institutions.

Risk Management

September 1, 2022/0 Comments/in Humanitarian Issues /by Chris Piper

Over the two week period 5-16^th September 2022 we will be covering Topics 5 & 6 of the online, accredited, Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program as follows:

Topic 5: Risk Management
Topic 6: Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) initiatives

A video for these two topics can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/720114987. The material covered includes:

Topic 5:

Three key diagrams – the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) diagram; the Disaster Risk Management Cycle (DRMC); the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Planning diagram
What is risk and resilience ?
Overview of the ISO 31000 risk management process as used in emergency management in Australia, New Zealand and multiple other countries
The link between the DRR diagram and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR)
Example of risk management from the Covid-19 pandemic

Topic 6:

A fabulous participatory tool with which to work with communities to help identify hazards – namely the Ten Seed Technique (TST)
TST field examples from West Bengal, India, and the Northern Territory (NT), Australia
Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRM) initiatives from Laos, Vanuatu and Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Feel free to check out the PDRM at the link below. Interested people can enrol for Topics 5 and/or 6 on the Registration Page.

Cheers.

Chris

PS – The link to this Risk Management post is www.torqaid.com/risk-management

Understanding Ukraine

March 9, 2022/0 Comments/in Complex Emergencies, Uncategorized /by Chris Piper

TorqAid updates its Summary Sheet on ‘Understanding Ukraine’ on a regular basis. This gives an overview of the humanitarian situation both within Ukraine itself, and in surrounding countries. It includes links to material produced by the BBC, Humanitarian Response, ReliefWeb, OCHA and ACAPS websites; a number of key maps; a brief overview of the background context and current humanitarian situation; and relevant material produced by the above named agencies, as well as the International Crisis Group, The World Bank, and Groupe URD. See the link below for this Summary Sheet updated to early October 2022.

Ukraine, together with Afghanistan, and the Rohingya in Bangladesh are taught as complex emergency/crisis case studies (Topics 07 & 08) in the ongoing online, accredited Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program – see link below for this.