Initial Meeting with GAD Bago District and Village Visit at Thanatpin – 8 July 2016

Dr. Win Win Zin coordinated the meeting for the district level GAD headed by Director U Soe Naing. The meeting was attended by UTokyo-YTU team and GAD personnel. The UTokyo-YTU team was composed of Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki, Dr. Win Win Zin, Mr.Hiroyuki Okazaki (JICA coordinator), Dr. Ralph Allen Acierto, Ms. Shelly Zin(YTU PhD student), Ms. Suwai Thin (YTU MS Student), and Mr. Chit Bo Bo Win (YTU MS Student). The GAD personnel were U Nay Min Thu Aung (Deputy Director - Bago District), U Tin Tun Zaw (Bago Township), and U Than Naing (Deputy Director – Thanatpin Township). GAD Director U Soe Naing briefly attended the meeting due top previous appointment. Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki introduced the project details to the GAD personnel through a presentation. The meeting was to create an initial understanding between the parties and potential support of GAD in the activities related to the project. The GAD office was receptive of the project activities and further coordination with the UTokyo-YTU was well received.

Initial Meeting between UTokyo-YTU team and GAD Bago District Office    

In addition, U Tin Tun Zaw (Deputy Director of Bago Township) joined the UTokyo-YTU team in going to a small village in Thanatpin Township. The group visited the village to ask the potential of doing a 2-3 days immersion visit by UTokyo undergraduate students headed by Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki and several YTU students. The aim of the immersion visit was to further understand the daily lifestyle of the local villagers. This understanding aids in developing the local community level disaster management system that the UTokyo-YTU collaboration is currently developing. This understanding strengthens the potential effectiveness of the disaster management system in the local community level implementation. Figure below shows the picture of the meeting of the group with the local villagers.

UTokyo-YTU Meeting with Village Residents at Thanatpin Township