Disaster risk reduction and resilience building requires valid and systematic data of disaster effects and impact as it also requires awareness among policymakers of the various stages and aspects of disasters. A robust and factual disaster database is especially important in prioritizing interventions including allocating international, national and local budgets.

Information plays an important role in empowering different disaster managers involved at various levels of risk reduction. Each level of the disaster risk management system responsible in planning, preparedness, response, recovery and disaster evaluation needs appropriate data for planning, improving efficiency and coordination. Disaster databases are a primary tool for the analysis of disaster characteristics and trends at global, national and local scales, and they support disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

The Government of Lao PDR (GOL) established the Laos Disaster Information Management (LaoDi) system, which is based on the Desinventar system, that serves as a repository for disaster information at the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. LaoDi is envisaged to be where all of Lao PDR’s risk data can be located and updated in a centralized platform accessible to Government agencies and the public. It is also a conceptual and methodological tool for the generation of National Disaster Inventories of Disaster Damage and Losses in general effects of disasters in Lao PDR. The LaoDi captures disaggregated data about disasters and their impacts at national, local, village and sectoral levels which in turn facilitates assessment of impacts of disasters allowing government and other stakeholders to identify most disaster-prone areas for risk reduction interventions.

The LaoDi Platform began operations approximately 10 years ago which was initiated under the UNDP supported project ‘Integrated Disaster and Climate Risk Management Project in Lao PDR (2013 -16), to help the government keep track of disasters and their impacts on at-risk populations and vulnerable sectors. The LaoDi was further updated to include extensive data about impacts on the roads sector under an ADB supported regional project ‘Enhanced use of Disaster Risk Information in South East Asia’ (2015-17).

LaoDi however became inactive due to changes in portfolio of the Ministries in charge of Disaster Risk Management mandate, from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MoLSW). Due to changing mandates of Disaster Risk Management, the LaoDi has not been institutionalized effectively and the required capacities have not yet been developed in the government.

The UNDP Urban Risk Management and Resilience - Integrated Resilience Building for Lao PDR’s Sustainable Growth project supports the upgrading, updating, redeployment and institutionalization of LaoDi and in enhancing capacity at the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to collect, maintain, update and analyze disaster data to understand disaster risks and implement contextual risk management interventions.  Under the project, the existing LaoDi platform will be upgraded, updated, launched and institutionalized at NDMO under the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MoLSW).  Several workshops are planned under the project to support LaoDi redevelopment and deployment.

The LaoDi is conceptualized as a Platform that allows users to visualize and download data relating to hazards; social, ecological, physical and economic vulnerability and loss from natural and technological hazards. The users' experience will be enhanced through their ability to visualize and interact with hazard, vulnerability and risk data through a series of map layers that can be activated and deactivated based on scenarios or analysis that the user wants to perform. Each map layer will have supporting attribute data including links to detailed information on hazards, vulnerability and losses contained in tables, photographs and reports that provide added information for analyses for specific locations.

The purpose of the platform is to promote a culture of safety and risk reduction by providing access to knowledge and information on hazard, vulnerability, exposure and loss and making it available to be utilized to support improved decision-making in disaster risk reduction and resilience, development and land use planning, investments in social, economic and environmental sectors and risk transfer strategies. The platform will also support risk reduction of future losses.

LaoDi will assist facilitating a strategic risk reduction approach led by the GOL and incorporating broader national stakeholders – including the business community and civil society.

The model proposed for LaoDi will see several agencies who generate risk data being able to maintain autonomy over their data and will be given access to upload data directly to the platform without transferring the data to a third party. These agencies and access points are referred to as data sources.

LaoDi is likewise expected to provide Government and users information in order to report on its commitments and achievements to the 9^th NSEDP, the UN Sendai Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and other relevant frameworks and treaties as appropriate.

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Contact details to get in touch with UNDP or Project Team

Noel Puno, Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist, UNDP Lao PDR

Email: noel.puno@undp.org 

Aksonethip Somvorachit, Communications Analyst, UNDP Lao PDR

Email:  aksonethip.somvorachit@undp.org