USK Hosted UN4DRR Technical Training

Universitas Syiah Kuala successfully hosted the international forum of University Network for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Indian Ocean Rim (UN4DRR) on 28 – 30 July 2022. The program was attended by researchers from 9 universities that are under the coordination program of  Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education (CBHE+), including Vrije Universiteit Brussel, from Belgium, Universitat Politecnica Valencia, from Spain, University of Nicosia, from Cyprus, Universitas of Zagreb, from Croatia, The Maldives National University, from the Maldives, University of Peradeniya, University of Colombo, both from Sri Lanka, IPB and Universitas Syiah Kuala, from Indonesia.

All delegations were welcomed warmly by the Rector of Universitas Syiah Kuala, Prof. Dr. Marwan, on the launching day of the program, 28 July 2022 at Universitas Syiah Kuala.

During the meeting, the rector mentioned his support for this forum. He expected the forum can facilitate and connect lecturers and researchers in remote sensing and all GIS member universities to work together in disaster risk reduction efforts. This program will be able to build capacity academically at the university and practice in the community.

“We expect to build a sustainable collaboration for long a long time to educate people about disaster mitigation”, said the rector.

Previously, Dr. Nizamuddin, as the coordinator of the UN4DRR program of Universitas Syiah Kuala, presented a brief report of the program that covered improving the GIS/RIS laboratory, curriculum modernization of the Graduate Program in Disaster Science, capacity building, and training on GIS and Remote Sensing for lectures and stakeholders.

Whereas, Prof. Jonathan Cheung-Wai Chan from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the lead partner of the project coordinator of UN4DRR informed the purpose of the visit and introduced all the members involved to the rector.

“I hope this forum can increase our capacity in the disaster area, so we can share each other information about it, especially on the technology usage to reduce the disaster risks,” he said.

He also added that he recognized the roles and the research qualities designed by the USK, so he hoped the UN4DRR forum can produce a significant contribution to disaster management development, especially to the Graduate Program of Disaster Science.

At the end of the session, the meeting was wrapped up with the group photo session and was continued by visitation to GIS Laboratory.

During the visit to the laboratory, Prof. Jonathan Cheung-Wai Chan inaugurated GIS and remote sensing laboratory with equipment and supported software provided by the UN4DRR program for the Graduate Program in Disaster Science.

The first session of the technical training was started with a brief report on the curriculum modernization progress of each participant. The session was led by Prof. Kyriakos from the University of Nicosia. He delivered a presentation on curriculum development and was followed by all IOR coordinators reporting the progress of curriculum and online course development.

The next session is related to curriculum modernization of the Graduate Program in Disaster Science, Universitas Syiah Kuala. Prof. Syamsidik presented a part of the course Disaster Risk Analysis and Assessment, one of the courses modernized by this program.

At the end of the first day, all participants had a Tsunami site visit in Banda Aceh City. The delegations visited the Banda Aceh Tsunami Museum, the Tsunami Mass Grave in Ulee Lheue, the Zero Point of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Ulee Lheue, the Tsunami Escape Building in Lambung village, and PLTD Apung in Punge Blang Cut village. In the evening, the delegations attended the Gala Dinner invited by the Mayor of Banda Aceh city.

The second day of the technical training was attended by stakeholders as well as all the delegations. The stakeholders were involved in a focus group discussion related to the role of the Graduate Program in Disaster Science, Universitas Syiah Kuala in disaster risk reduction efforts in Aceh.

Three presentations related to the modernized courses were presented by lecturers of the Graduate Program in Disaster Science during the focus group discussion. The first presentation related to the Disaster Communication course was delivered by Dr. Rina S. Oktari, the second topic was Remote Sensing and Spatial Planning of Sabang City presented by Dr. Nazli, while the third presentation on Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA) by Dr. Rusydi, and Ardiansyah ended the technical session.

A Roundtable with all participants and Management Meeting was conducted at the end of the formal programs. The meeting was attended by the UN4DRR delegations. Next technical training, spending and remaining budget and purchasing equipment, and the possibility of the extension of the project was all the issue that had been discussed. Round table and management meetings were also attended by Prof. Carlos using zoom online meetings.

At the end of the day, all participants had an opportunity to visit the Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC) of Universitas Syiah Kuala.

On the last day, the delegations visited Sabang city, Weh Island for a field visit and sightseeing regarding disaster issues that have been discussed during the technical training.