Regional IFRM project provides virtual capacity building sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the regional Integrated Flood Risk Management (IFRM) project, funded by the Asian Development Bank and managed by Landell Mills, has run virtual capacity building sessions to provide training on IFRM solutions.

The technical assistance project aims to strengthen the design and implementation of IFRM solutions, by enhancing knowledge and application of IFRM strategies in eight Asian countries. Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the project has been able to provide targeted technical support for program and project preparation, and promote holistic IFRM solutions through virtual capacity building sessions.

One training session on Extreme Sea Level Estimation was provided by Flood Hydraulic Modelling Expert, Fay Luxford from project partner JBA Consulting, to 18 members of staff from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the session was delivered remotely over six sessions through August 2020.

Through a combination of interactive exercises, sample data and detailed workbooks, participants learned about: the data sources and processing required to derive the astronomical tide and mean sea level distributions; the methodology and processing used to produce the storm surge distribution; and the statistical method and codes used to calculate extreme sea levels from these marginal distributions. Subsequent support for participants was provided through question and answer sessions.

Following the training sessions, 100% of participants surveyed said their agency or institution would be willing to adopt IFRM measures. One participant said: "With the very detailed documentation you have provided to us, we can hopefully redo this analysis elsewhere in the future."

The project funding comes from The Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund, which is supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and the governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom.