Trainings advance InAWARE knowledge and skill in Indonesia

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), training sessions on the recently deployed InAWARE system were conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of the a three-year Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project.

From October 27-31, ten participants from Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, BNPB) attended a Train-the-Trainer (TtT) session followed by a user training session on InAWARE, which is a customized version of Pacific Disaster Center’s (PDC) DisasterAWARE platform. InAWARE is Indonesia’s multi-hazard monitoring and decision support system, hosted at the Jakarta Data Center, which has the ability to consolidate hazard information and alerts from various data providers, and facilitate information sharing within and between stakeholder agencies.

PDC Geospatial Information Analyst John Livengood and Hazard Mitigation Specialist Sharon Mielbrecht organized the training, which aimed to have participants reach a working mastery of all necessary software functions and achieve a working knowledge of how to incorporate InAWARE into operations. The first two days focused on comprehensive training on the content and functions of InAWARE, while the remaining two days of instruction emphasized building competent training skills.

TtT participants had numerous occasions to practice their newly acquired skills, including an opportunity to assist with the one-day InAWARE user training session on October 31. Thirteen people attended, including representatives from BNPB, Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG), Badan Informasi Geospasial (BIG), Public Works, Fire Management, World Food Programme, and Red Cross Indonesia.

For more information on InAWARE:
• Read about the InAWARE Technical Exchange Workshop,
• 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.