LIRNEasia » last-mile warning systems

LIRNEasia holds final HazInfo Workshop in Jakarta

Udu-gama — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:18:25 +0000

Yesterday, 5 March 2008, LIRNEasia, with its Indonesian partner, the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP), held the final HazInfo workshop at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta, Indonesia. The “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop included several highlights such as a testimonial from an Aceh survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami; informative presentations from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), KOGAMI Padang, GTZ-GITEWS, Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics (BMG) and the University of Syiah Kuala, Aceh. The workshop encouraged animated discussion on the importance of community-based early warning systems, training, and the necessity for information to follow warning.

Jakarta Workshop Agenda

Jakarta HazInfo Workshop Report

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

Session I
From Emergency Response to Community Preparedness | Jan Sopaheluwakan
Methodology, Preparedness, Training and Community Organization: HazInfo Experience | Natasha Udu-gama

Session II
Tsunami Early Warning System: Lessons Learned from Padang City | Patra Rina Dewi
First Responder Action: Sri Lanka Experience | Nuwan Waidyanatha

Session III
Experience from Padang | Aim Zein
Transmission of Warning to Local Levels: Sri Lanka Experience | Nuwan Waidyanatha

Session IV
Determination of Hazard from the National Level: HazInfo Experience | Natasha Udu-gama
Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Center at Syah Kuala University | Muhammed Dirhamsiyah

Session V
Roles of Policymakers, Regulators, Private Sector & Civil Society | Rohan Samarajiva

HazInfo Dissemination Workshops wrap up in Jakarta

Udu-gama — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:23:18 +0000

On 5 March 2008, LIRNEasia in partnership with the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP) will hold the third and final “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop at the Hotel Borobodur in Jakarta, Indonesia. Rohan Samarajiva, Natasha Udu-gama and Nuwan Waidyanatha will participate and speak at the event alongside several Indonesian speakers from various governmental, community-based and international NGOs such as BAKORNAS PB, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), KOGAMI Padang and GTZ GITEWS. As in past HazInfo workshops in India and Bangladesh, the Indonesia workshop will not only discuss findings from the “Evaluating Last Mile Hazard Information” pilot project, but also exchange lessons learned from Indonesian counterparts.

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.

Thai tsunami buoy helps Sri Lanka at expense of Phuket

Rohan Samarajiva — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 03:30:03 +0000

Straight talk from the head of Thailand’s National Disaster Warning Center. This is even more reason for Sri Lanka to improve its national and last-mile warning systems.

Phuket Gazette – online English newspaper for Phuket, Thailand, with daily news, classified ads, yellow pages, business listings, upcoming events, event calendar, phuket events

Because of its location, the lone tsunami direct detection buoy deployed last month in the middle of the Indian Ocean would offer little advance warning to Phuket in the event of another tsunami generated off the Indonesian Coast, Dr Smith Dharmasaroja, head of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) in Nonthaburi, has told the Gazette.Dr Smith said that the location of the first buoy was chosen so that it would provide equal benefit to all Indian Ocean Rim countries, not just Thailand. “I made the suggestion that we put the first buoy there so that we wouldn’t appear selfish by putting our own data needs before that of other countries in the region,” he said.

However, Dr Smith said that the location of the first buoy, halfway between Thailand and Sri Lanka and about 1,000 kilometers from Phuket, would give little advance warning to Phuket in the event of another tsunami generated along the fault zone that runs along Indonesia’s west coast.

The buoy is located about the same distance to the west of the fault line as Phuket is to its east. As a result, by the time a west-moving wave were detected by the buoy, its east traveling counterpart would already be inundating Thailand’s Andaman Coast.