A main challenge in any meaningful risk reduction activity is how to engage stakeholders and encourage all to remain active and institutionally share relevant information.
To enhance Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) practices and as part of its planned deployment of customized multi-hazard monitoring systems, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) works constantly with key national data providers to integrate available data and fill in data gaps.
Recently, PDC held and facilitated Technical Exchange Workshops (TEW) in Indonesia and Vietnam for supporting national disaster management agencies. During each TEW, agencies were able to discuss and learn how their information services are best integrated into early warning and decision support systems.
PDC has deployed web-based early warning decision support systems, InAWARE and VinAWARE, in both countries. Both systems are based on PDC’s DisasterAWARE platform, which simplifies information sharing within and between national and provincial disaster management stakeholders, and provides a mechanism for regional information exchange.
During each Workshop, a summary of the nation’s customized DisasterAWARE system was briefed, along with an introduction to dynamic data that will be included in the system. The events also served as unique opportunities for data providers to explain their own data and discuss the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format. CAP is an international alerting standard that has been adopted by many government and commercial alerting services and is a preferred method for integrating dynamic hazard data into the DisasterAWARE platform.
Head of the Data Division of the BNPB (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, Indonesia’s national disaster management agency) Center of Data, Information and Public Relations Dr. Agus Wibowo commented on the event, stating, “This engagement was a valuable opportunity for our data providers to witness the utility of their information being integrated into InAWARE, and encourages the incorporation of additional data into the system in the future.”
The TEW for VinAWARE took place August 4-5 in Hanoi, Vietnam. PDC’s Geospatial Information Specialist John Livengood and Geospatial Information Services Advisor David Askov worked with 25 people representing data providers for the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Disaster Management Centre (DMC). Participants included representatives from the DMC; Department of Dyke Management, Flood & Storm Control (DDMFSC); Institute for Hydropower and Renewable Energy (IHR); Institute of Geophysics, Remote Sensing & GIS Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE); Vietnam Academy for Water Resources (VAWR); Water Resources University; and Geoviet Consulting.
August 8-9, Livengood and Askov held the InAWARE TEW in Jakarta. The two-day Workshop was attended by 15 participants, representing BNPB; Badan Informasi Geospasial (BIG, the national coordinating agency for surveys and mapping); Badan Meterologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG, the national meteorological and geophysical office); Public Works; the Ministry of Forestry; the Ministry of Social Affairs; Nusantara Secom InfoTech (NSI); the World Food Programme (WFP); Mercy Corps; and the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction (AIFDR).
Learn more information on InAWARE:
• Find out about the recent InAWARE CONOPS engagement,
• Read about the installation and deployment of InAWARE,
• See how InAWARE was highlighted during a UN-SPIDER meeting,
• Read about the InAWARE kickoff workshop in Jakarta, and
• Look over information about the Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Learn more about VinAWARE:
• Read about the first VinAWARE training sessions,
• Information from the FEW2 stakeholder meeting,
• The launch of the USAID-supported FEW2 Project,
• Special training in the use of PDC’s DisasterAWARE,
• News of PDC commitment to DM in Vietnam,
• A description of the first use of the VinAWARE,
• The first Flood Early Warning Project launched in 2009, and
• To see what Dr. Phuc and the DMC are doing, go to www.dmc.gov.vn
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