LIRNEasia » Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

Dhaka HazInfo Dissemination Workshop | October 25, 2007 at BUET

Udu-gama — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:48:58 +0000

On October 25, 2007, LIRNEasia’s Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha and Natasha Udu-gama traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to present findings from the “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) pilot project in the first international dissemination workshop for HazInfo entitled “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems” at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) through its Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS) directed by Dr. Mehedi Ahmed Ansary. The report summarizes the workshop and its sessions. Overall, the workshop was a success in familiarizing the Bangladeshi audience with the HazInfo pilot project and meeting the objectives.

Dhaka HazInfo Dissemination Workshop Report

Presentations:
Inauguration:
Elements of a Community-Based Warning System | Rohan Samarajiva

Session I: Determination of Hazard at National Level
Determination of Hazard at the National Level: Sri Lanka Experience | Natasha Udu-gama
Determination of Hazard from National Level | Aftab Alam Khan
Simulation of Tsunami inundation by ComMIT Model | Sujit Kumar Debsarma
3D-Perspective Visualization of Storm Surge | Sujit Kumar Debsarma

Session II: Transmission of Warning to Local Levels
Transmission of Warning to Local Level: Bangladesh Experience | Md. Nasir Ullah
Transmission of Warning to Local Level | Nuwan Waidyanatha

Session III: First Responder Action
First Responder Action | Nuwan Waidyanatha
First Responder Action (Bangladesh Experience) | Ashutosh Sutra Dhar

Session IV: Methodology, Preparedness, Training and Community Organization
Early Warning Challenges: Options & Solutions | S. Rangarajan
Methodology, Preparedness, Training & Community Organization | Natasha Udu-gama

Session V: Next Steps
Roles of policymakers, regulators, private sector and civil society | Rohan Samarajiva

HazInfo Dissemination Workshop in Bangladesh on October 25th

Udu-gama — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:02:22 +0000

On October 25, 2007, LIRNEasia will hold its first regional dissemination workshop for the “Evaluating Last Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) pilot project at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) through its Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The purpose of the workshop is to gather experts, practitioners and community organizations to discuss the findings of the HazInfo project and determine ways in which the project may be developed to suit community-based hazard information dissemination regionally. The “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop in Dhaka will feature five presenters from government, academia and NGOs. Dr. A.M.M. Safiullah, Vice-Chancellor of BUET, will be Chief Guest during the workshop inauguration. Presenters from LIRNEasia include Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, Mr. Nuwan Waidyanatha and Ms. Natasha Udu-gama. Each will present different aspects of the HazInfo results. For more information on this workshop, the following documents are now available:

Dhaka HazInfo Workshop Agenda
Dhaka HazInfo Workshop Brochure
Dhaka HazInfo Workshop News Release

The Dhaka HazInfo workshop is the first in a series of HazInfo dissemination events in the region. The next workshop will be held in partnership with the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India on November 19, 2007. The third, and final, regional workshop is proposed to be held in Indonesia in January. More details on these upcoming workshops will be available in the months ahead.

Advance publicity for HazInfo dissemination meeting, Dhaka, 25 October 2007

Rohan Samarajiva — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:54:10 +0000

:The Daily Star: Internet Edition

Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka’s largest community-based organisation, and LIRNEasia, a regional ICT policy think-tank, collaborated on a 32-village pilot project that sought to identify the best technologies for reaching villages; to identify the significance of organisational strength and training for risk reduction; and to assess the participation of women in these activities.The community-based approach implemented in the project is different from a public-warning approach, but has lessons for government communications with first responders and for community organisation and training as well.

For example, the project field tested addressable and remotely activated satellite radios that have coverage over the entire Bay of Bengal region. Other equipment deployed included Java and Symbion enabled mobile handsets capable of generating loud alarms and multi-language alert messages.

The Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS) of the Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is co-organising a workshop with LIRNEasia entitled “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last Mile Warning Systems” to discuss the findings of the Last Mile Hazard Warning System (Hazinfo) Pilot Project as well as share the lessons of community-based last mile warning systems in Bangladesh.

The workshop is part of a series of dissemination workshops that aims to gather experts, community volunteers and community organisations involved in early warning activities from the South Asian Region.

This workshop will be held at ITN Centre, Buet on October 25.