BEIJING DECLARATION
On the aftermath of the Tsunami Disaster of December 26, 2004 that struck 14 countries in Asia, the Chinese Academy of Science has taken the initiative to convene a workshop on “Regional Academies Networking and Mechanism of Disaster Mitigation After the Tsunami.” This workshop was attended by the President of AASA (the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia), as well as by AASA’ s Treasurer and Secretary-General. It was attended by over 50 participants from 11 countries (Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Turkey, and included 23 presentations) on topics related to both Tsunami waves and earthquakes. The presentations dealt with both understanding of these two phenomena, and then monitoring, forecasting, and pre-warning against them.
The incentive to organize this workshop was the realization that many of the victims of the Tsunami could have been saved if warned in time. Moreover, the information on the incoming waves existed, but the means of its transmission to the areas affected were not in place. This is clearly a problem of coordination, regional and multinational. Academies of Sciences and Inter-Academy organizations such as IAP and AASA could perhaps be instrumental in providing such coordination and means for information transmission. Furthermore, Academies in each country could play a crucial role in filling the communication gap between scientists that are experts on these topics and the politicians and governmental bodies, which are in charge of attending to disasters mitigation.
The major proposals resulting from this workshop are therefore:
1. Within Asia: To strengthen the interactions among AASA members and to utilize the existing communication means for rapid transmission of urgent information from one Academy to others. This topic, to be led by the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, might be one of AASA’s projects on Risk Governance.
2. On the global scene: To strengthen the interactions with other Academies and academic organizations which have strong activity in this field, including the US National Academy of Sciences, the Australian Academy of Sciences and the Science Council of Japan, as well as Inter-Academy organizations, and particularly IAP. The President of AASA will undertake the responsibility to act upon this issue.
3. On the professional level: To form contacts with specialized facilities in various regions in the world, particularly those that exist in the Pacific Ocean, as well as with the newly established New Global Network for Tsunami Mitigation.
The message from this workshop, jointly by AASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a strong appeal to IAP to assist in acting upon the above proposals. Neither earthquakes nor Tsunami waves can be prevented from occurring. However, the above measures might reduce the death toll and suffering which they cause.
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