The 10th anniversary of a partnership between Australia and Indonesia that has strengthened the management of natural disasters in our northern neighbour has been celebrated by both Governments as well as universities and science agencies, including Geoscience Australia (GA).
In a statement, GA said that since 2008, the two countries had worked together to strengthen disaster management, develop policy informed by science and technology, and greatly improve decision making around disaster management in Indonesia.
“By helping people prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, more lives can be saved, impacts on the most vulnerable members of society reduced, and infrastructure protected,” GA said.
“Our partnership has strengthened the evidence base for disaster management.”
It said the mapping of more than 12.6 million buildings, and more than 400,000 kilometres of roads since 2008 was the key to understanding the impact of a hazard event.
“This data will inform disaster management during a response phase following a disaster or the planning phase to explore the impact of disasters,” the statement said.
“Data and tools developed during the partnership are now being used internationally by organisations such as United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Program.”
Chief of the Community Safety and Earth Monitoring Division at GA, Andy Barnicoat said Australia and Indonesia shared a major tectonic plate boundary and one of the longest maritime boundaries in the world.
“This event celebrates our shared commitment to working together to manage and respond to the challenges faced in our region,” Dr Barnicoat said.
