reconstruction. For further information see:
http://www.odihpn.org/ or contact: hpn@odi.
org.uk.
10. International Recovery Platform (IRP), hosted
by a secretariat in Kobe, Japan. It was
established following the World Conference
on Disaster Reduction at Kobe in 2005. It
has a very comprehensive website covering,
amongst others, recent recovery actions,
and many information resources, most of
which can be downloaded. The Resources
section provides additional details about
organisations, discussion forums, training and
meetings, case studies, tools and guidelines,
projects and news. The site is regularly
updated. For further information see: http://
www.recoveryplatform.org/ or contact: irp@
recoveryplatform.org.
11. Open Architecture Network. Architects,
designers and engineers are welcome to share
their ideas on the network, but the network is
not just for professionals. Community workers,
not-for-profit groups, volunteer organisations,
government agencies, technology partners,
healthcare workers, educators and others are
also invited to collaborate on projects and
share their expertise. For further information
see: http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/
12. PreventionWeb, hosted by the UNISDR,
Geneva, Switzerland. This source focuses on
disaster risk reduction and contains a range of
searchable electronic documents, multimedia,
maps and other resources. For further
information see: http://www.preventionweb.
net/english/ or contact: isdr@un.org.
13. ProAct Network helps vulnerable communities
improve their resilience to disasters, climate
change and humanitarian crises through
sustainable environmental management. Its
website contains information on environmental
management, both to reduce the occurrence
of disasters, and after disasters have
struck, as well as tools for environmental
assessments. For further information see:
http://www.proactnetwork.org/proactwebsite.
14. Reliefweb. This is a regularly updated news
and information service about disasters
and conflict. It contains comprehensive
details of statistics and the recent history of
disasters and emergencies of all countries,
information on appeals and funding, policy
and issue resources that link to more detailed
documents of many organisations, links to
communities of practice, details of training
opportunities, a directory of information
providers, and maps. Significantly there is
information about all events classified as
emergencies or disasters, not just the large-
scale ones that normally get most media
attention. For further information see: http://
www.reliefweb.int/
15. Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) is
a global network of slum dwellers; its main
focus is on urban upgrading, but it also takes
action when disasters affect urban low-income
communities, and one of the few sources on
urban reconstruction. For further information
see: http://www.sdinet.org
16. Shelter Centre, Geneva, Switzerland. This
is a specialist resource centre on shelter in
post-conflict and natural disaster situations.
The site provides news, a comprehensive
searchable online library on shelter and
disasters, and details of training events and
biannual shelter meetings. Library records
are shown as summaries, with a link for
downloading, and also direct users to other
related records on the site. For further
information see: http://www.sheltercentre.org/
or contact: info@sheltercentre.org.
B. Web-based resources: Regional
1. Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC)
is a leading regional non-profit organisation
based in Thailand, mandated to promote safer
communities and sustainable development
through disaster risk reduction. For further
information see: www.adpc.net
2. basin South Asia, hosted by Development
Alternatives, New Delhi, India. This is
a regional section of the basin network
mentioned previously. It contains more
recent information than the global basin site,
including resources on reconstruction, e.g. in
Gujarat. For further information see: http://
www.devalt.org/da/tsb/basin/basinsouthasia/
Information centres such as this one in Bangladesh can provide
access to web based resources to local residents and builders.
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