Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL), with support from the American Association of Geographers (AAG), is organizing the first Secondary Cities (2C) in Action workshop to be held from November 13-15 (२०७३ कार्तिक २८-३० गते) in Pokhara at Temple Tree Resort and Spa. Secondary Cities Pokhara is one of the seven projects that is part of the Secondary Cities initiative facilitated by the U.S. State Department Humanitarian Information Unit (http://secondarycities.state.gov/). This event, in association with Red Cross Kaski, provides an introduction and insight into the work on disaster management and emergency preparedness, a work which has been carried out in the past eight months in Pokhara. We are pleased to announce that the workshop will be inaugurated by Chief Guest Hon. Rabindra Adhikari, Chair of the Development Committee of Legislature Parliament. Mr. Hari Prasad Mainali, Chief District Officer of Kaski will be our Special Guest.

The 2C Pokhara project is a partnership between KLL and AAG that aims to contribute to preparing Pokhara for possible future disasters and making the city more resilient. The workshop will address the importance of creating digital maps through the use of free and open-sourced mapping platforms such as OpenStreetMap and Mapillary, doing the groundwork to build a coalition of local partners who will work together in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and the central role of emerging technology in the creation and use of digital data.

Prof. Melinda Laituri (Principal Investigator of Secondary Cities project) from Colorado State University, USA, and Dr. Nama Budhathoki (Executive Director at KLL) will facilitate the workshop with support from several other colleagues from KLL. The 3-day workshop will have both local and international participants with about a dozen of them from various positions in the U.S. Government.