Discussion on the enhancement of Typhoon Committee activities for UN EW4All initiative

The ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee is an intergovernmental regional organization dealing with typhoon(tropical cyclones)related disasters.Millions of people around the Asia-Pacific region remain exposed to a higher frequency and intensity of natural hazards.For more developed countries,tropical cyclone related impacts cause major social and economic disruptions through loss of lives and property.With recognizing the importance of aligning its efforts with UN Early Warnings for All(EW4All)initiative which aims to strengthen early warning systems globally,Typhoon Committee resolved to initiate the monitoring of ongoing or past efforts by TC Members in contributing to the four key pillars of the EW4all initiative aiming to(1)evaluate the Committee's contributions to EW4All;and(2)identify the opportunities for enhancing performance through Member Reports and the WGs’AOP specification.TC had its 18th IWS/4th TRCG forum with a theme of“Early Warnings for All Through Enhancement of Typhoon Standard Operating Procedures(SOP)”and“Towards a Typhoon Resilient Society”;TC Secretary(TCS)initiated a reviewing and monitoring on the ongoing or previous efforts of TC Members,through analyzing the AOPs’implementation of TC WGs,in contributing to the pillars of the EW4All initiative with the objective of enabling an evaluation of the Committee's contributions to EW4All and identify opportunities for further enhancing its performance.This paper intends to discuss the directions on how to further enhance TC activities aligning with and contribution to EW4All in future.

Review of the development of hydrological data quality control in Typhoon Committee Members

Nowadays,with the continual development of the science and technology applied in data observation,monitoring and collection,human has more and more means and channels to obtain various data,consequently,the amount of collected and stored data is also getting bigger and bigger.In recent years,hydro-meteorological data have multiplied in some Typhoon Committee(TC)Members.Data-based advanced technology ap-plications in TC,such as application of Artificial Intelligent(AI)and impact-based typhoon disaster forecasting and early warning,has emerged one after another.A consistent and integrated data quality management system is crucial for ensuring accurate hydrological and meteorological analysis and prediction.Considering the importance and urgent necessary,TC working group on hydrology(WGH)conducted a cooperation project on data quality management in the past years with the major objective of improving the capacity of TC Members on integrated data quality control and processing.Despite the significant improvements,the uncertainties and difficulties in processing the full-elements of hydro-meteorological data still persist in hydro-meteorological data.To tackle these challenges and further enhance the data quality management system,the integration of AI technology shows great promise.By examining the data quality management system at World Meteorological Organization(WMO)as a starting point,this paper explored how related organizations in China,Japan,Malaysia,Philippines and Republic of Korea,manage the quality of hydro-meteorological data;reviewed the current status of hydro-meteorological data quality control in TC Members,and discussed the potential areas to be enhanced in future.

Review of big-data and AI application in typhoon-related disaster risk early warning in Typhoon Committee region

ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee Members are directly or indirectly affected by typhoons every year.Members have accumulated rich experiences dealing with typhoons'negative impact and developed the technologies and measures on typhoon-related disaster risk forecasting and early warning in various ways to reduce the damage caused by typhoon.However,it is still facing many difficulties and challenges to accurately forecast the occurrence of typhoons and warning the potential impacts in an early stage due to the continuously changing weather conditions.With the development of information technology(IT)and computing science,and increasing accumulated hydro-meteorological data in recent decades,scientists,researchers and operationers keep trying to improve forecasting models based on the application of big data and artificial intelligent(AI)technology to promote the capacity of typhoon-related disaster risk forecasting and early warning.This paper reviewed the current status of application of big data and AI technology in the aspect of typhoon-related disaster risk forecasting and early warning,and discussed the challenges and limitations that must be addressed to effectively harness the power of big data and AI technology application in typhoon-related disaster risk reduction in the future.

THE CHRONICLE OF EVENTS OF THE ESCAP/WMO TYPHOON COMMITTEE FROM 1968 TO 2017

Years Significant EventsTC Chair/Vice Chair1968UN ESCAP at its 24th Session at Canberra in April 1968,WMO Executive Committee at its 20th Session in 1968 endorsed the establishment of the Typhoon Committee in accordance with the Statute.The Typhoon Committee was organized by the Governments of China;Hong Kong,China;Japan;Republic of Korea;Laos;the Philippines and Thailand as 7 founder Members,with ESCAP and WMO as ex-officio Members.Vice-Adm Sanit Vesa Rajananda,Thailand/Dr.Roman L.Kintanar Philippines.

REVIEW OF ESCAP/WMO TYPHOON COMMITTEE DEVELOPMENT IN PAST 50 YEARS

The ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee(TC) is an intergovernmental regional organization, established by Governments of ESCAP Member Countries(or Member Territory) under the joint auspices of ESCAP and WMO in 1968 to minimize the typhoon-related disaster risk reduction and damage mitigation in the region and to facilities closer regional and international cooperation. As of 2017, there are 14 Members. The Typhoon Committee has been repeatedly recognized as an outstanding regional body who has integrated the actions and plans of the meteorological, hydrological, and disaster risk reduction(DRR) components to produce meaningful results. Its work is primarily centered on reduction the damage caused by typhoons and floods, and focus on the following: 1) review the progress made in the various fields of typhoon damage prevention; 2) recommend the participating governments on plans and measures the improvement of community preparedness and disaster prevention; 3) promote the interested Governments and other interested organization for the coordination of research on typhoons; and 4) provide financial and technical support for plans and programs upon request. The paper reviewed the development of the Committee in the past 50 years in the aspects of establishment; membership, secretariat and programme components; strategic plan; and cooperative mechanism. The paper also states the areas of technical activities to be enhanced in the region and the proposals to enhance the Typhoon Committee's regional and international collaboration mechanism on typhoon-related disaster risk reduction and damage mitigation.

Impact-based forecasting for improving the capacity of typhoon-related disaster risk reduction in typhoon committee region

The two most common types of disasters caused by natural hazards in the Asia-Pacific region are floods and storms,many of them associated with typhoon(tropical cyclone)related impacts.To improve the capacity of typhoon-related disaster risk reduction so as to maximum reduce the losses of people’s life and properties,the decision makers and the public are imminently demanding the information of the targeted impact caused by typhoon.As the front line in hydro-meteorological disaster prevention and mitigation against the typhoon-related disasters,National Meteorological and Hydrological Services(NMHSs)in TC Members have recognized that forecasting impact became more important than forecasting pure causing-disaster elements.Impact-based forecasting signals an evolution from“what the weather will be”to“what the weather will do”.Many things change as impact based forecasts evolve from previous weather forecasts.To enhance impact-based typhoon forecasting,the Typhoon Committee added it into the new updated Strategic Plan 2022–2026.This paper briefed generally the concept of impact based forecasting,introduced the implementation and progresses on typhoon impact based forecasting in TC Members in recent years,and initially discussed the measures and direction for enhancement of impact-based typhoon forecasting and early warning services in future.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SYNERGIZED STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR COASTAL MULTI-HAZARDS EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

The most countries surrounding the Indian Ocean as well as Southeast Asian countries do not have operational experience in handling a combination of tsunami and other coastal hazard early warning systems.The challenge faced by warning providers,media,disaster managers,and coastal communities is in understanding the similarities and differences among different coastal hazards and the characteristics of the early warnings that are issued.There is a strong need to create synergies among different types of coastal hazard early warnings by reviewing the relevant existing standard operating procedures.These synergies can be achieved through identifying specific gaps and needs for making the existing early warning systems fully operational for the use in multi-hazards context.The project of Synergized Standard Operating Procedures for Coastal Multi-Hazards Early Warning System(SSOP) was proposed by Typhoon Committee Secretariat with the objectives of developing the SSOP Manual/Handbook and establishing the cooperation mechanism on coastal multi-hazard early warning among the target countries.The project will mainly focus on the meteorological and hydrological services for affected areas which become more vulnerable to natural disasters after tsunami and other costal disasters.The synergized standard operating procedure should be easier understandable and interpretable for decision makers,forecasters and dwellers.

ASSESSMENT ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION OF TROPICAL STORM WA SHI

In December,2011,the world’s second most deadly disaster of the year,Tropical Storm Washi(known as Sendong in the Philippines)landed along the east coast of Mindanao,Philippines,causing 1,292 deaths,1,049 missing,2,002 injured,and total 695,195 people(110,806 families)affected.This paper introduced briefly the hydro-meteorological characteristics of Washi,and assessed its devastating impacts on society and economy,and the response and recovery taken by the Philippines government during the whole period of Washi.Based on the assessment of impact of disaster,the paper indicated the gaps and needs on aspects of DRR actions and identified the future challenges on typhoon related disaster preparedness and reduction in the Philippines.Finally,the report provided the recommendations within the framework of the activities of Typhoon Committee to improve and enhance the capacity building on typhoon related disaster reduction in the Philippines.

Review of the achievement of ssop and its inspiration for future regional cooperation

Countries in Asia and the Pacific are more prone to natural disasters than those in other parts of the world.Because of this,there is an urgent need to continue developing effective,end-to-end early warning systems that lead to an effective response by emergency managers and people at risk.ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee(TC),in cooperation with WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones(PTC),conducted a regional cooperation project on Synergized Standard Operating Procedures for Coastal Multi-Hazards Early Warning System(SSOP)with fund support from ESCAP Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Tsunami,Disaster and Climate Preparedness in Indian Ocean and South East Asia.SSOP project was conducted successfully and achieved its proposed goals.Its results and achievements greatly benefit the Members not only in the region but also in all other regions of WMO.The paper reviewed its implementation process,strategy and activities;briefed its main achievements including SSOP Manual,capacity building and cooperation mechanism between TC and PTC;summarized the experiences and lessons from project implementation;and highlighted its sustainability.The paper also suggested the approaches to enhance the sustainability of SSOP results and the cooperation between two regional bodies TC and PTC.

PROGRESSES AND CHALLENGES ON QPE/QPF UTILIZATION IN HYDROLOGY

With the development of space technology, the accuracy of weather forecasts has steadily improved over the years. Accordingly the QPE/QPF products have been improving so that it is possible to be gradually applied for hydrological purposes. However, it has been challenging to integrate QPE/QPF into real-time operational flood forecasting and disaster monitoring and warning because of the crucial gaps on temporal-spatial resolution, systematic uncertainty and methodology of application. Aiming to the challenges, meteorologists and hydrologists have made great efforts jointly and achieved evident progresses on improving QPE/QPF products to get closer to the hydrological requirements. This paper presents an overview of hydrological prospective on QPE/QPF products, challenges and gaps in QPE/QPF application in real-time operation, and some of the recent studies on improving QPE/QPF products for hydrological purposes.

FOREWORD

To promote and coordinate the planning and implementation of measures required for minimizing the loss of life and material damage caused by typhoons in the Asia and pacific Region,the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee(TC)was established in 1968 under the auspices of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(ESCAP)and the World Meteorological Organization(WMO).

FOREWORD

As the most devastating storm on the planet,tropical cyclones have long been receiving tremendous attention from various circles of the society,including researchers,weather forecasters,government officials,entrepreneurs and the public.Significant improvements have been made in its scientific understanding,forecasting techniques,warning and disaster risk reduction system in the past decades,owing to the advancement of remote sensing.

Review of the status of urban flood monitoring and forecasting in TC region

With the impacts of rapid urbanization and climate change,the urban flood has increasingly become a major hazard risk faced by human being in recent decades.The catastrophic urban flood events appear every year in the world,especially in Asia and Pacific region due to its geographical composition,density population and un-even economic and social development.To reduce the urban flood risk and enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities,especially coastal communities,the Members of ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee(TC)have made their great efforts including engineering and non-engineering measures based on their different national conditions.As a key part of non-engineering measures,it is recognized that improving urban flood monitoring and forecasting is a measure with high benefit related to cost on urban flood risk reduction.In recent years,TC Members enhanced their capacity building on urban flood monitoring,forecasting and simulation,inundation mapping,etc.In order to enhance the technical cooperation and exchange on this aspect,Typhoon Committee Working Group on Hydrology(WGH)conducted two projects on“Urban Flood Risk Management in Typhoon Committee Area(UFRM)”and“Operation System for Urban Flood Forecasting and Inundation Mapping(OSUFFIM)”in the past years.This paper generally reviewed the situation and causes of urban flood in TC region;briefly summarized the progresses and shortages on urban flood monitoring and forecasting in TC Members;and initially discussed the areas to be enhanced in future for improvement of urban flood monitoring,forecasting and simulation,and inundation mapping with up-to-date development of weather radar and satellite monitoring,image-based monitoring,information technology(IT),Internet of Things(IoT),big data and artificial intelligence(AI).