SATREPS workshop @ YTU (23-11-2015)

Hey, its me Seemanta (サム). I'm writing again after a long gap of almost 3 months.

The day started with breakfast at hotel restaurant at 8:00 am.
It was the most important day for us (of the entire trip/visit) this time, as we had a workhop titled "Water-related disaster management in the Bago River Basin". We left for YTU at 8:30.
The workshop started at 9:45 am with the opening remarks by Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki.

Opening remarks by Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki

There were eight 15 mins presentations. The first presenter was Dr. Aung Than Oo, from Irrigation Dept (ID). He talked about the flood hazard of the Bago city. The second presenter was our very own Dr. Ralph who accessed the future climate change over the Bago basin. The next two presentations were by Miss Shelly (Ph.D. Candidate, YTU) and Dr. Shimozono (UTokyo). Miss Shelly talked about her work on flood inundation mapping in the Bago basin. Dr. Shimozono explained the tidal influences on floods in Bago basin.

Dr. Aung Than Oo giving presentation

Dr. Ralph talking about future climate change over Bago river basin

We had a tea-break at around 11:00 am.

We took this oppurtunity to take a group picture!

The break was followed by the presentation by Mr. U Aung Myo Khaing from Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems (DWIR). He talked about the activities of DWIR in the Bago river. Next, I gave a presentation about by my research on integrated hydrological modelling in the upper Bago basin. After that Mr. Ochii from Japan Water Agency (JMA) talked about the integrated operation of dams for flood control in Japan.
The last presentation was by Dr. Komori from Tohoku University. He shared his expereiences from another SATREPS project in Thailand (IMPAC-T) for which he was the coordinator.

Dr. Komori from Tohoku University

Following the presentations, we had a joint discussion on "how to implement SATREPS R&D in Bago River basin".
The main discussion points were on the equipment installation, more investigation of water flow, and improvement of current model used.  For the equipment installation issues, discussion on the support from irrigation department were facilitated. Factors to consider such as energy source, mobile signal, and access to potential observation site were reiterated. Also, negotiation on the cited potential sites for AWS and telemetry installation were discussed.

Group discussion between the Myanmar and Japan sides

Guest comments were provided by U Tint Zaw, Deputy Director General, ID and Prof. Koike Toshio, Department of Civil Engineering, UTokyo and Director, ICHARM (International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management). They shared their vast experiences and expertises on river improvement & watershed management, dam operation and sedimentation control.

The workshop concluded by the closing remarks from Dr. Win Win Zin, YTU.

A small token of appreciation from YTU side to Prof. Koike

A total of 54 participants attended this workshop which includes  9 participants from Japan, 34 from YTU and 11 Myanmar Project Stakeholders (ID, DWIR, YTU, DMH, and others).

Complete program of the workshop

Following the workshop Prof. Koike gave a lecture to the YTU students. The title of the lecture was “SATREPS Seminar: Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Climate Change(CC)”. He talked about the water cycle, climate change, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development goals, and resilience.

Prof. Koike giving lecture to YTU students

For dinner we went to the famous "Golden Duck" restaurant. The food was great, as usual.

Perfect way to end a successful workshop!

We had a very fruitful discussion and positive feedback from Myanmar side. Everyone seemed to be satisfied by the current progress of the project (it being only in its first year). We believe this workshop was a success!

Thats all for now. See you next time!
ご自愛なさって、おやすみなさいませ。
またお目にかかれますのを楽しみに致しております。