PDC Updates | April 28, 2009

A Pacific Disaster Center project launched in Jakarta in the week of April 13–17 is envisioned to help the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (a.k.a., the AHA Centre) identify gaps in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and to pave the road for enhancing capabilities for information sharing.

AHA Group
Project Initiation Workshop participants with the PDC Executive Director and Technical Team, and the head of the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Division, the Interim AHA Center Director and staff, senior representatives from the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Technical Subcommittee, and a senior researcher from the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC).

A Pacific Disaster Center team traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia to launch the project. The team included Executive Director Ray Shirkhodai, Technology Advisor Keone Kali and Enterprise Geospatial Program Applications Developer David Askov. The two days of initiation workshops, held at the headquarters of the ASEAN Secretariat, was chaired by the head of the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Division, Ms. Adelina Kamal, and was attended by the Interim AHA Center Director, Mr. Tabrani of Indonesia and his staff, as well as two senior representatives from each ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Technical Subcommittee member country—Cambodia, Philippines, and Singapore—as well as a senior researcher from Japan who represented the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC). The meetings were facilitated by the ASEAN-U.S. Technical Assistance and Training Facility (TATF).

The project, funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), aims to identify short and long-term gaps in ICT for predictable information-sharing needs of the AHA Centre, and to recommend a “roadmap” for overcoming the gaps. “As the main coordinating body for humanitarian assistance and disaster management issues among the ten member nations, AHA Centre’s information sharing capabilities play a critical role in the success of ASEAN disaster management missions,” said Shirkhodai. “We are very pleased with our long history of collaboration with ACDM, and hope to make significant contributions to the development of the information-sharing capabilities and capacities of the AHA Centre.”

Interviews
PDC Technology Advisor Keone Kali (striped shirt) and Enterprise Geospatial Program Applications Developer David Askov (far right) conducted interviews at the AHA Centre as part of the launch of the ICT gap analysis.

PDC has been collaborating with ACDM since 2004, and played a important role in the definition of the ASEAN Disaster Information Sharing and Communications Network (DISCNet) initiative. Collaborating with ASEC and the Technical Subcommittee, the team launched the Indian Ocean Earthquake Notification system immediately following the 2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami, and then initiated the ACDM Online website, conducted the only comprehensive Ten-Nation Disaster Management Organization ICT Gap Analysis in the region, and launched the Online Southeast Asian Disaster Inventory (OSADI). Continuing this collaboration, PDC intends to release a GIS-based platform for disaster risk analysis for ACDM in 2009.

The purpose of the recent initiation workshops was to communicate the scope of the project to the main stakeholders, gather their recommendations and inputs, and conduct an ICT survey at the Interim AHA Centre as a basis for the analysis. After the two-day comprehensive workshops, the PDC technical team visited the Interim AHA Centre facilities. After the team members were greeted by Mr. Tabrani and his staff, and had met with the operators, they interviewed technical staff, and conducted a comprehensive survey of the equipment supporting the interim center. The Interim AHA Centre shares facilities and infrastructure with Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNBP), Indonesia’s national disaster management organization.

On the last day of the visit, the PDC technical team shared preliminary observations with the ASEC, and met with managers and senior staff of the AHA Centre to outline the next milestones for the project. In the end, the trip was declared a resounding success by all participants, paving the way for a meaningful project to strengthen the AHA Centre’s information-sharing capacities.

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