AVPN & Prudence Foundation Launch Competition to Foster Greater Disaster Awareness and Preparedness
Since 2005, more than 500,000 lives have been lost and 1.4 billion people affected by natural disasters, resulting in US$900 billion in economic losses.
Prudence Foundation, the community investment arm of Prudential in Asia, and AVPN, a Singapore-based funders’ network that is committed to building a high-impact social investment community across the Asia Pacific, today announced the launch of the Disaster Tech Innovation Programme.
The Asia Pacific is the region that is most prone to and affected by natural disasters worldwide – a person living in the Asia Pacific is five times more likely to get affected by natural disasters than an individual living outside the region. Since 2005, more than 500,000 lives have been lost and 1.4 billion people affected by natural disasters, resulting in US$900 billion in economic losses.
1) To help address this, the Disaster Tech Innovation Programme seeks to raise the awareness and profile of innovative and viable technology solutions which aim to protect and save lives before, during and after natural disasters, or “Disaster Tech”. It will be centred around a competition, both for-profit and non-profit social purpose organizations.
2) To crowdsource innovative Disaster Tech solutions that complement and enhance existing disaster risk reduction efforts in Asia Pacific and ultimately help reduce human and economic losses.
Participating organisations stand a chance to win grants from a total pool of US$150,000 to support the implementation and scaling up of their Disaster Tech solutions. In addition, finalists will be invited to showcase their solutions and seek further partnerships at the next annual AVPN Conference in June 2019, the largest gathering of social impact funders and resource providers in Asia.
Kevin Teo, Chief Operating Officer, AVPN, said that fostering partnerships and enabling cross-sector collaboration is the way forward in disaster preparedness and risk mitigation. AVPN is pleased to be able to bring together collaborators to support innovation solutions to limit the adverse impact of natural disasters, he said.
Donald Kanak, Chairman, Prudence Foundation, said that natural disasters are terrible incidents, but the company sees huge opportunities in harnessing technology to protect and save lives. They believe the Disaster Tech Innovation Programme will bring together innovators and like-minded funders and resource providers, to help make their communities safer, more secure and more resilient. This programme, like their initiatives SAFE STEPS and Safe Schools, supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goals 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 13 (Climate Action), he said.