InAWARE system boosts disaster risk reduction in Indonesia

March 10, 2014

An advanced hazard early warning and monitoring system, named InAWARE, was recently deployed at Indonesia’s national disaster management agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, or BNPB). InAWARE is based on the Pacific Disaster Center’s (PDC) DisasterAWARE platform and will enhance BNPB’s disaster management capabilities by consolidating hazard information and alerts from various national and international sources, as well as facilitating information sharing within and between Indonesia’s national and provincial disaster management stakeholder agencies

The three-year project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). It supports the Government of Indonesia’s goals of reducing disaster risk and increasing disaster resilience, thereby safeguarding the lives and property of its people.

The installation of InAWARE took place in Jakarta in early January, and the first InAWARE user training session was conducted on January 29 and 30. The two-day course was designed to increase proficiency and build capacity for effective utilization of the application by national decision makers and disaster management practitioners, and to begin developing the knowledge and skills needed to incorporate the system into daily emergency operations in Indonesia.

PDC’s Sr. Geospatial Specialist John Livengood, Southeast Asia Program Advisor Victoria Leat, and Jakarta-based National Project Representative Whisnu Yonar, conducted the two-day training session. The training was received by two key operational units within BNPB: the Emergency Operations Center (PUSDALOPS) and the Center for Data, Information, and Public Relations (PUSDATINMAS). Development of a cadre of certified InAWARE trainers via “Train-the-Trainer” sessions—as well as training for provincial disaster mitigation agency (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah, or BPBD) officials in selected provinces—is planned during upcoming phases of the project.

 

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