The primary topic of 2012 ITW is “Application of Information Technology on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Preparedness.” The program emphasizes on the development of gathering information throughout the nation, strengthening environment monitoring capability, and on developing analytical techniques for potential disaster, to integrate static and dynamic international/domestic data for constructing an information system that supports all levels of the authority and (NGOs) in the purpose of identification, analysis and decision‐making at different phases of disaster. Therefore, this workshop will provide a platform for participants to exchange and share the experiences as well as the technology on disaster preparedness, mitigation, and relief. The 2012 ITW includes planning, problem solving, and future work concerning information systems for disaster preparedness and relief. Integrated data required in the synergy include basic digital maps of topography, geology, hydrology, land use, population, transportation and pipelines as well as environmental monitoring data such as humidity, precipitation, river status and so on. For various purposes, the information systems can be designed to support decision making at central and local levels or as specific disaster warning systems for flooding, debris flow or highway damages for ministries and industries. Innovations such as GIS analysis systems and emergency intelligence from remote sensing are also introduced in this workshop. The proposed workshop stands the prospect of enhancing trainees’ capacity of identifying problems as well as solving problems via intensive discussion, experience sharing, and hands‐on exercises.