The Ministry of Earth Sciences (Government of India), the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS), the Amrita School for Sustainable Development, the Center for Wireless Networks & Applications, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s UNESCO Chairs, and Esri India are jointly hosting an international symposium to critically reflect on the imprints of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, its impact on global society, and advances in science and technology to build sustainable and resilient communities.
The symposium seeks to unveil challenges faced and lessons learnt from this unprecedented natural hazard and analyze the current preparedness in community resilience, governance, and technological solutions to mitigate any future impacts of Tsunamis.
Organized By: Ministry of Earth Sciences (Government of India), ESSO-INCOIS, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and Esri India | Date: December 26, 2020 | Time: 3 p.m. - 10 p.m. IST (starts at 1:30 a.m. PST/10:30 a.m. CET/9:30 a.m. GMT)
Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh
Dean, International Programs
Director & Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications,
UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development & Innovation
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Dr. Bhavani Rao R.
Director, AMMACHI Labs,
Chairperson, Department of Social Work, Amritapuri
UNESCO Chair in Women Empowerment & Gender Equality
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Mr. Agendra Kumar
President,
Esri India
On December 26th, 2004, several coastal areas along the Indian Ocean were affected by 30-meter-high Tsunami waves from a 9.1-9.3 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. More than 200,000 people were killed and nearly 2 million people were displaced across 14 countries in this disaster. Fifteen years after this devastating event, how far have we advanced in early warning, mitigation and adaptation to Tsunamis? Through the medium of this symposium, we will provide a platform to policymakers, NGOs, technological innovators, and scientists to share their knowledge and answer questions that will help develop resilient communities across the world.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (Government of India), the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS), Esri India, and Amrita’s prestigious UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development, UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, School of Sustainable Development, and the Center for Wireless Networks & Applications are jointly hosting an international symposium to critically reflect on the imprints of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, its subsequent impact on our society, and advances in science and technology that have helped to build sustainable and resilient communities.
SYMPOSIUM OBJECTIVES
The symposium seeks to provide a platform to integrate the last 15 years of research in science and technology to improve the rehabilitation and resilience of coastal communities, and revive scientific social responsibility to reduce the risk and vulnerability factors. We seek to achieve this by:
Dr. Venkat Rangan
Vice Chancellor
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Prof. N. Vinod Chandra Menon
Founder Member,
National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA), Government of India
Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan,
Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India;
Chairman, ESSO-INCOIS; and Chairman, Earth Commission
a) Humanitarian Responses: Case Studies
The December 2004 Tsunami triggered an enormous humanitarian response that was unprecedented. The vastness of the affected geographical areas, population, and the number of countries affected made it a global phenomenon. Disaster response strategies and techniques adopted by NGOs and government agencies need to be comprehended and translated in a scientific way that will help prepare for the future.
b) Lessons Learnt
The disaster left many imprints and taught several lessons in disaster management, social and economic planning, and policy development. It is imperative for the global community to become aware of these lessons as an aftermath of the Tsunami.
Theme 1 Foci:
a) Response, Governance, & Community Resilience
South Asian coasts were greatly affected by the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami with varying degrees of disaster impact. Lives and properties were lost, different levels of socio-economic impacts were experienced and moreover, a new feeling of vulnerability developed within the coastal communities. To deal with these impacts and to build resilience, an integrated framework that includes the policies for preparedness, recovery, adaptation, mitigation and education is needed.
b) Technological Innovations: Monitoring, Detection and Early Warning Systems
Advanced monitoring of Tsunami events using IoT systems, remote sensing, and GIS are important in developing an early warning system. With the advent of AI and Geoinformatics, especially modeling with machine learning, deep neural networks and numerical coupled models have highly improved our early warning systems. It is important to understand how these technologies help to improve resilience across global coastal communities.
Theme 2 Foci:
Registration for the event is closed!
Inaugural Ceremony | |
03:00 pm - 03:03 pm | Introduction |
03:03 pm - 03:05 pm | Prayer |
03:10 pm - 03:05 pm | Welcome Note Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh, Director & Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications; UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development & Innovation |
03:10 pm - 03:15 pm | Video Message Tsunami Awareness Day Ms. Mami Mizutori, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) |
03:15 pm - 03:25 pm | Inaugural Address Dr. M. Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India |
03:25 pm - 03:35 pm | Amrita Tsunami Response and Relief - Video film |
03:35 pm - 03:50 pm | Presidential Address Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004: Mata Amritandamayi Math’s Response Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri, President, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham |
03:50 pm - 04:00 pm | Address by Esri India Mr. Agendra Kumar, President, ESRI India |
04:00 pm - 04:03 pm | Vote of Thanks Dr. Sudhesh K. Wadhawan, Advisor and Adjunct Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham; Director General [Retired], Geological Survey of India |
THEME 1: Tsunami - Responses & Lessons Learnt | |
04:05 pm - 04:15 pm | Keynote 1 - Short and long term disaster responses for coastal communities across Asia Dr. Patrick Kilby, Senior Lecturer, Australian National University |
04:15 pm - 04:35 pm | Keynote 2 - MAM’s humanitarian operations in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: Implications for theory and practice Dr. Bhavani Rao R., Director, AMMACHI Labs; UNESCO Chair in Women Empowerment & Gender Equality |
04:35 pm - 04:45 pm | Keynote 3 - Tsunami response and lessons learnt from Sri Lanka Ms. Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu, Director, Duryog Nivaran - South Asia Network for Disaster Mitigation, Sri Lanka |
04:45 pm - 04:55 pm | Keynote 4 - Environmental Implications of Disaster Management: Lessons Learnt from the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Dr. Hari Srinivas, Professor of Environmental Policy, Graduate School of Policy Studies, Gakuin University, Japan |
04:55 pm - 05:55 pm | Panel Discussion - Reflections on Case studies & Lessons Learnt Moderator: Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh Rapporteur: Dr. Joost Monks, University of Geneva, Switzerland |
05:55 pm - 06:05 pm | BREAK |
THEME 2: Tsunami - Are we ready for the Future? | |
06:05 pm - 06:15 pm | Keynote 1 - Are We Ready to Face Another Tsunami? Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) |
06:15 pm - 06:30 pm | Keynote 2 - Early Warning System: INCOIS Tsunami Warning System Dr. T. Srinivasa Kumar, Director, INCOIS |
06:30 pm - 06:40 pm | Keynote 3 - Making Indian Ocean Coastal Community Tsunami Ready Mr. Ardito M. Kodijat, Head of the IOT Information Centre, UNESCO Office, Jakarta |
06:40 pm - 06:45 pm | Keynote 4 - Pacific Disaster Center: Tsunami Early Warning Video Dr. Chris Chiesa, Deputy Executive Director, Pacific Disaster Center |
06:45 pm - 06:55 pm | Keynote 5 - Development of Indian Tsunami Buoy System Sagar Bhoomi - A Tsunami propagation detection and reporting system in the Ocean Dr. R. Venkatesan, Scientist-G and Programme Director, Ocean Observation Systems, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) |
06:55 pm - 07:05 pm | Keynote 6 - OceanNet: Mobile Offshore Communication Network for Real Time Dissemination of Imminent Disaster Warning Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh, Director & Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications; UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development & Innovation |
07:05 pm - 07:15 pm | Keynote 7 - Amrita-Kripa: Technology assisted Targeted Timely Disaster Relief Prof. Sethuraman Rao, Associate Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham |
07:15 pm - 07:45 pm | Technical Session - Geospatial Technology Applications for Disaster Risk Reduction Ms. Seema Joshi, General Manager - Strategic Solutions & Technology, ESRI India |
07:45 pm - 08:05 pm | BREAK |
08:05 pm - 08:55 pm | Closing Panel Discussion - Tsunami: Are We Ready for the Future? Have we sufficiently addressed gaps from the past and learnt from its lessons? Moderator: Prof. N. Vinod Chandra Menon, Founder Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) |
Valedictory Session | |
08:55 pm - 09:05 pm | Welcome - Dr. Bhavani Rao R., Director, AMMACHI Labs; UNESCO Chair in Women Empowerment & Gender Equality, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham |
09:05 pm - 09:10 pm | Institutional MoU Signing - Amrita & ESRI |
09:10 pm - 09:15 pm | Recommendations - Prof. N. Vinod Chandra Menon, Founder Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) |
09:15 pm - 09:30 pm | Invited Special Addrtess by the Guest of Honour Prof. Ian Davis, Visiting Professor, Kyoto, Lund, Oxford Brookes Universities and Honorary Visiting Professor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) |
09:30 pm - 09:45 pm | Valedictory Address by the Chief Guest Shri. Kamal Kishore, Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) |
09:45 pm - 09:50 pm | Vote of Thanks Mr. Vishal Sharma, ESRI |
Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan
Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES),
Government of India; Chairman, ESSO-INCOIS; and Chairman, Earth Commission
Dr. M. Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, is well known for his research work in Tropical Meteorology including monsoon variability, seasonal monsoon forecasts, climate change, cloud-radiation interaction and prediction of convective weather systems. He has more than 38 years of experience, both as an operational weather forecaster and also as an active researcher in weather and climate sciences. He contributed significantly for developing many application tools and prediction models for societal applications like long-range monsoon prediction models, gridded climate data sets and many other climate application products for regional climate services. His research contributions include analysis of climate variability and climate change using observed data, understanding cloud-radiation interaction, Earth’s radiative balance, three-dimensional structure of tropical clouds and variability and prediction of mesoscale weather systems. He is a Fellow of all three science academies of India, the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI); member of the International Academy of Astronautics, Paris; and an Expert Member of the recently constituted Research Board of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). He has more than 140 research publications in peer-reviewed journals with a h-index of 48 and total citations > 8500.
Swami
Amritaswarupananda Puri,
President,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Swamiji Amritaswarupananda Puri is the Vice-Chairman of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math and President of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University). He is the head disciple of renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma). He has been living in Amritapuri Ashram since its inception in the late 1970s. He holds a Master's in Philosophy and is a renowned author and translator, has written: "The Irresistible Attraction of Divinity" (2019) and "The Colour of the Rainbow:" Compassionate Leadership" (2014), as well as Amma's Biography. He has also translated into English more than 10 volumes of conversations between Amma and devotees, for which he also served as a compiler. He is a magnificent singer and composer of bhajans and has traveled around the world more than 30 times with Amma in her service.
Ms. Mami Mizutori
UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR),
Geneva, Switzerland
Ms. Mami Mizutori is a Japanese Diplomat who took over as the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) and Head of the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) after the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction at Sendai, Japan which formulated the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 - 2030. Ms. Mami is leading the multi country Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) whose Secretariat is hosted by India.
She is unable to attend because of her pressing commitments, but UNDRR has shared the video prepared for the World Tsunami Awareness Day observed on 5th November every year since 2005.
Mr. Agendra Kumar
President,
Esri India
Agendra Kumar joined Esri India in 2013. Under his leadership, the company has partnered with many government and private organizations to execute numerous transformative projects using Esri’s GIS software. As an ndustry leader, Esri India plays a key role in defining the adoption of latest GIS technologies in the country. Agendra is also the President of the Association of Geospatial Industries. Agendra started his career in the Indian IT sector in 1984 and later served as the country head for Silicon Graphics and Veritas Software. He was also the Director of Global Accounts for Symantec’s Asia Pacific and Japan business, and was based in Singapore. Agendra received his M.SC. (Hons.) in Mathematics and Master of Management Studies (MMS) degrees from BITS, Pilani.
Prof. Ian Davis
Visiting Professor at Kyoto, Lund, and Oxford Brookes Universities,
Honorary Visiting Professor at RMIT,
Recipient of the UN Sasakawa Award
Special Address: Safe Recovery After Disasters - Four Essentials
Shri Kamal Kishore
Member,
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),
Government of India
Dr. Shailesh Nayak
Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru,
Distinguished Scientist of Ministry of Earth Sciences, India
Title: Are We Prepared to Face Another Tsunami?
Tsunamis have been a major natural hazard and we were caught unaware during 2004. A state-of-the-art tsunami warning system was set up in October 2007 at the Earth System Science Organization – Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS) to respond to a tsunami. The question is whether we are sufficiently equipped to face another tsunami? There are three main aspects to respond and manage hazard like tsunamis. The first one is the quality of our knowledge about the genesis of tsunamis, understanding of processes controlling or influencing it, and providing an accurate and reliable forecast of travel time and run up height at various locations of the coast.
The tsunami warning system has demonstrated that it is capable of providing the first advisory within 10 minutes at 1800 coastal forecast points all along the Indian ocean. The entire system has been fully automated and there is no human intervention till the first advisory is generated. It has been also recognized as the Regional Tsunami Warning System for the Indian Ocean by IOC/UNESCO. The system has provided very useful advisories during the last thirteen years to all countries in the Indian Ocean Region without any false warning. However, there are limitations as well. Very large magnitude earthquakes (>8.5 magnitudes), are generally underestimated and as a result, the first advisory may not actually provide the true estimate of the run-up height and likely damage they can cause. The current research includes assessing the rupture size through Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and the link to the magnitude of mega earthquakes. The present system will have to be upgraded through an improved understanding of the earthquake and tsunami generation processes.
Second is the organization that responds to such a hazard, essentially administration and governance system at the national, state, district, and local levels. The response depends on the preparedness of the such organization in terms of communication to the public and carrying out the evacuation, providing shelter, food and water before the event, and rescue and relief after the event. Various mock drills have been conducted during this decade. The general observation is that the states on the east coast respond much faster than on the west coast. The deployment of NDRF within tens of minutes to likely affected areas should be considered. Various communications drills conducted routinely and are quite robust. A special communication infrastructure has been created for The A & N Islands.
The third is the consciousness of human beings towards a particular hazard, in this case, a tsunami. This depends on providing effective education to coastal communities about tsunami and bringing awareness about the possible risks involved. This aspect needs strengthening up.
The tsunami warning system is quite robust, however, there are still challenges and limitations.
Dr. T. Srinivasa Kumar
Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),
Ministry of Earth Sciences, India
Title: Early Warning System for Tsunamis – Current Status and Future Perspectives
Dr. Srinivasa Kumar Tummala holds a Ph.D. in Marine Science and made impactful contributions to the field of operational oceanography and coastal multi-hazard early warning systems. Working at the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) since 2004, he was responsible for implementing several important projects including the Potential Fishing Zone Advisories, Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Mapping, Coral Reef Bleaching Alert System, Satellite Coastal and Oceanographic Research, etc. Post the 2004 tsunami, he coordinated the successful establishment of the Indian Tsunami Early Warning System, as a multi-institutional project. The tsunami early warning centre, based at INCOIS is identified as one of the Tsunami Service Providers under the UNESCO-IOC Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) framework. Between October 2016 to August 2020, he worked with the UNESCO-IOC as Head of the IOTWMS Secretariat in Perth, Australia. During this time, he was instrumental in strengthening the regional tsunami early warning system in active collaboration with 28 Member States, global harmonization of tsunami watch operations and implementation of the Tsunami Ready community recognition programme. Having started his scientific career a with a brief stint at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr. Srinivasa Kumar recently took charge as the Director of INCOIS.
Until December 2004, not many people in India were aware of the tsunami and its devastating capacity to washout coastal areas. The great Sumatra earthquake (Mw 9.3) of 26th December 2004 generated a tsunami that exposed the vulnerability of the Indian coastline and caused unprecedented loss of life and damage to property in the Indian Ocean rim countries. In response to this, the Government of India established the Indian Tsunami Early Warning System (ITEWS), with the warning center operating from the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, India. The Warning Centre is capable of issuing Tsunami bulletins in less than 10 minutes after any major earthquake in the Indian Ocean thus providing a response/lead time of about 10 – 20 minutes for near-source regions and a few hours in the case of far source regions. The bulletins are generated by analyzing pre-run model scenarios and issued only to those coastal locations that are at risk. Based on the estimated water levels and travel times, the coastal areas are categorized into either being under Warning (Major Tsunami), Alert (Medium Tsunami), Watch (Minor Tsunami), or No Threat. Bulletins are disseminated to the vulnerable community based on one of its kind Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) through multiple dissemination modes simultaneously (Fax, Phone, Emails, GTS, Web and SMS etc.). The ITEWC serves not only as a national tsunami warning center for India, but also as a Tsunami Advisory Service Provider (TSP) for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS), which is responsible for providing Tsunami advisories to all Indian Ocean rim countries.
Tsunami early warning is a race against time and current capabilities need to be constantly upgraded to meet the newer challenges posed by tsunamis. Tsunamis, in particular, Mentawai, Indonesia (2010) Tohoku, Japan (2011), Sumatra (2012), Palu and Sunda strait tsunamis, Indonesia (2018) are great examples of such challenges, including dissemination of tsunami advisories at least possible time, underestimation of initial magnitude for large earthquakes, overestimation of wave heights and most importantly, detection of tsunamis triggered by a submarine landslide, volcanic eruptions, coastal subsidence etc. In order to address these challenges, Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre has focussed its research and development activities towards advanced procedures such as water level inversion, real-time inundation modeling, use of near-field GNSS measurements for real-time rupture characterization and 3D mapping of vulnerable coastal areas. However, special focus is needed for the near-field tsunamis which can reach the coast just minutes after the triggering event, leaving little time for official warnings even with advanced technologies. In such regions, to ensure people are aware of tsunami risk to their community, tsunami preparedness and awareness activities have to be conducted regularly. As tsunamis are less frequent, compared with other natural hazards such as floods and cyclones we need to ensure that they are addressed through a multi-hazard approach as part of policies.
Dr. Chris Chiesa
Deputy Executive Director,
Pacific Disaster Center, Hawaii
Ms. Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu
Recipient of the Mary Fran Myers Award,
Senior Expert in Disaster and Climate Risk Management, Sri Lanka
Title: Tsunami Response and Lessons Learnt from Sri Lanka
Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu is a development professional with over 25 years of experience, with a special interest on the political economy of development, disaster and climate risk and resilience. She holds an MSc. in Agriculture Economics from the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, UK, and an M Sc. in Agronomy from the Peoples Friendship University, Moscow, USSR. She has authored publications on varying aspects of disasters and sustainable development; Livelihood Centred Approach to Disaster Management, Gender and social inclusion, Disaster Communication. The publication ‘Gender Dimensions in Disaster Management; a Guide for South Asia’ has been translated into four South Asian languages; Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Sinhala, from the original English edition. Madhavi is the recipient of the Mary Fran Myers Award, presented for ‘advancing women’s careers in emergency management and the academy and for promoting gendered disaster research’, awarded by the Gender and Disaster Network (GDN) and the Natural Hazards Center, at the University of Colorado, USA. Madhavi worked with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Sri Lanka on Socio - economic Research & Training. She led the Disaster Risk Management Programme at Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), South Asia, for over 5 years; was the coordinator of the South Asia network for Disaster Mitigation ‘Duryog Nivaran’. She also served as the National Gender Advisor & Project Leader -Micro Enterprise Recovery in the Tsunami Recovery Programme of the United Nations Development Programme Sri Lanka. She served at the UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for over ten years in senior management positions in the Regional Offices for the Asia Pacific and Central Asia and South Caucasus. She was also the UNDRR Focal Point for Gender and Social Inclusion for the Asia Pacific. Madhavi is currently based in Sri Lanka, engaged as a Senior Expert in disaster and climate risk management, gender equity, sustainable development and resilience issues.
The tsunami waves that struck nearly 2/3 of the coastal belt of Sri Lanka caught the country unaware. There were no early tsunami detection and warning systems in place, the awareness of the population on tsunami hazard was close to zero. It has been estimated that over 40,000 people perished, half a million were displaced, and more than 100,000 houses were destroyed. Fishing fleets, agricultural land, and businesses were destroyed, resulting in significant economic and social disorder. Rapid response, early recovery, and re-construction programmes were implemented to take care of the disaster emergency, to address the damages and losses. A new legislation, the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act, and a set of institutional mechanisms were established in 2005, for instituting a disaster risk management system in the country. The tsunami early warning system established with the Department of Meteorology and the Disaster Management Centre in the lead has shown noteworthy progress, from information analysis to issuing timely warning to coastal communities and evacuations to safety. It must be emphasized that effectiveness and efficiency of the tsunami preparedness planning lies on several factors; detection and warning; responding to the warning; community preparedness and confidence; coordination and management of the process being key. There are several critical gaps and areas for further improvement such as enhancing the awareness system with clear instructions, reliable sources of warning, community engagement, governance mechanisms, and law enforcement, in order to strengthen community resilience to tsunamis.
Dr. R. Venkatesan
Scientist G & Program Director, Ocean Observation Systems, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences India,
Chair of GOOS Regional Alliances Council of UNESCO IOC Paris
International Tsunameter Partnership of WMO & UNESCO
Title: Development of Indian Tsunami Buoy System Sagar Bhoomi - A Tsunami Propagation Detection & Reporting System in the Ocean,
A reliable tsunami early warning system is essential for India, due to the ever-present tsunami threat posed by the Andaman-Sumatra and the Makran subduction zones to 40% of the national population that resides along the 7600km long coastline. In response to the 2014 tsunami disaster, the Government of India- Ministry of Earth Sciences established the Indian Tsunami Early Warning System (ITEWS) with Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning Center (ITEWC) which is UNESCO IOC approved regional Centre at INCOIS, Hyderabad, The National Institute of Ocean Technology is entrusted with the task of technological development and to disseminate the real-time sea-level data to the ITEWC. The ITEWS comprises of a seismic monitoring system for enabling auto-location of the tsunamigenic earthquakes, a pre-run scenario database for the calculation and assessment of the tsunami travel times and run-up wave heights, a precision deep ocean level monitoring system consisting of an Indian tsunami buoy system (ITBS) network, coastal tide gauge networks, a tsunami warning dissemination system, and a standard operating mechanism for the timely generation and dissemination of the tsunami advisories.
The concept of the Indian Tsunami Buoy system “Sagar Bhoomi" which is involved in the tsunami propagation detection and reporting system is based on the robust and proven NOAA’s Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART). A tsunami buoy system comprises a seabed-based, acoustically retrievable bottom pressure recorder (BPR) unit, with pressure measurement, processing, energy storage, and acoustic communications with the moored surface buoy (MSB), which in turn communicates with the 24×7 manned shore centers at ITEWC and the Mission Control Center (MCC) at NIOT through INMARSAT satellite telemetry. The ITBS is continuously upgraded to keep in pace with the technological advancements in electronics, telecommunication, mooring, energy storage, and computational infrastructure. The reliability of the moorings was increased by improving its structural integrity, hardware standardization, quality assurance, and improved installation methodologies. India has joined with the USA to design and develop and install Tsunami Buoy system working at 4500mmetre water depths among the 12 countries having the buoy system procured from the USA. This paper describes the technological advancement in developing this unique product in India and making it functional at sea.
Dr. Patrick Kilby
Senior Lecturer and Convener of the Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development Program, Australian National University
Title: Short and Long -Term Disaster Responses for Coastal Communities Across Asia
Dr. Patrick Kilby is a Senior Lecturer and convener of the Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development Program and the ANU and Adjunct Associate Professor at HADRI (Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative) at Western Sydney University. His research interests are: NGOs and NGO accountability; gender and development; managing international development programs; and most recently the story of foreign aid. He has published two sole-authored books on NGOs one dealing with women’s empowerment and Indian NGOs (2011), and in 2015 a history of the Australian Council for International Development. He has written on the NGO response to the India Ocean Tsunami Kilby, Patrick. "The strength of networks: the local NGO response to the tsunami in India." Disasters 32, no. 1 (2008): 120-130. His current work is on the history of foreign aid, and in 2018 he took up the Fulbright Senior Scholars Fellowship at Kansas State University looking at the history of the Green Revolution, and also to advise K-State on how to improve women’s engagement in their agriculture research in developing countries. He has a book in press “Philanthropic Foundations in International Development: Rockefeller, Ford and Gates” (Routledge Explorations in Development Studies)
This presentation will focus on the lessons learnt from the Indian Ocean Tsunami particularly as it affected coastal communities in Southern India. The tsunami was severe across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and inundated 2000km of coastline for up to two kilometers, and left a trail of destruction with over 12,000 killed and 600,000 made homeless. I want to focus on three issues, first the immediate response and the role of the local community, and how they interacted with official agencies. Here I will argue the local communities tend to be ignored by officialdom in the critical first few weeks. Second, it is the gender aspects and that the most affected, the women, tend to be treated as victims rather than agents. Third, longer-term rehabilitation tends to focus on the technical (build back better) rather than build on community and natural processes such a mangrove plantation and similar local and effective responses. While tsunamis are extremely rare, cyclones are in fact are increasing in severity and impact, due in part to global warming and also coastal development. I will conclude with the warning that the lessons from the tsunami are more applicable across the region for policymakers.
Dr. Joost Mönks
Lecturer, University of Geneva,
Switzerland
Dr. Joost Mönks is an international expert in education and vocational training policies and serves as lecturer on regional philanthropy at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Building on his work started as executive director of an education policy think tank at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, he focuses on cross-cutting insights around the future of education and human-centered applications of digital technology for education and vocational training. He teaches and conducts research at the university on the various forms, cultures, and motives of regional and emerging philanthropy in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and the use of AI for social good.
Prof. Hari Srinivas
Professor of Global Environmental Policy,
Gakuin University, Japan
Prof. Hari Srinivas is currently a Professor of Global Environmental Policy at Kwansei Gakuin University in Hyogo, Japan. Before taking up his current post, he worked in the UN System for 18 years as Programme Officer at the United Environment Programme in Osaka; Programme Associate at the United Nations University in Tokyo, and other UN assignments. He has a Master's degree in Urban Development and Management (1991) from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok Thailand, and a Ph.D. (1996) from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. He is a visiting professor at six universities in Japan and overseas, and also coordinates the Global Development Research Center (GDRC).
Dr. Antony Gnanamuthu
Operations Manager,
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Dr. Sekhar L. Kuriakose
Member Secretary (Ex-Officio),
Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), India
Mr. N. Paul Divakar
Chairperson,
Asia Dalit Rights Forum and Convenor
Global Forum on Discrimination on Work and Descent
N. Paul Divakar is an advocate for Dalit rights, Economic Rights Expert, and Human rights, defender. He is one of the founding members of the National Campaign on Dalit Rights and is currently the General Secretary, of Global Advocacy & Networks of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR). He also serves as the Chairperson of the Asia Dalit Rights Forum which works in the South Asia region to ensure inclusion and to address issues of untouchability and caste-based discrimination. He has been one of the key actors in popularizing the sustainable development goals and to bring in the aspect of inclusion in the discourse in the new development paradigm. From 2013-17 he served as a member of the Executive Board of Amnesty International. He has been recently voted by Outlook magazine as one of the 50 most influential Dalit Leaders in the country.
He has led a team of 158 Academics, Dalit leaders, people’s representatives and professionals, and those in solidarity at the world conference against racism and was one of the 3 people who addressed the heads of nations. He has engaged with several UN agencies and supported the office of the High Commission in the development of tools to address caste-based discrimination.
He has been actively engaging with the communities in strengthening access to justice, gender concerns especially on the intersectionality of Gender and Caste, financial accountability, transparency, and participation. He has also engaged with the state on issues of targeted Budgeting and governance, accountability. His deep interest in the economic empowerment of Dalits has been the reason behind initiating a campaign on ensuring equitable access to government budgets and has been instrumental in advocating for equity budgeting from the lens of the marginalized.
Mr. Ardito M. Kodijat
ITST-Palu Indonesian Coordination and Liaison,
IOTIC-BMKG Programme Office,
UNESCO Office Jakarta, Indonesia
Title: Making Indian Ocean Coastal Communities Tsunami Ready
Ardito M. Kodijat joined UNESCO Office Jakarta in 2006. He is currently posted as the professional officer for Disaster Risk Reduction and Tsunami Information unit (DRRTIU) of UNESCO Jakarta Office. Under the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC), he is coordinating the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC) working closely with the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS). In cooperation with the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) he implemented the IOTIC-BMKG program on building tsunami preparedness as part of the early earning chain in the Indian Ocean countries working in building capacity of local government, Media, and the communities. He has been actively involved in programs and activities on Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response SOP; Tsunami Risk Reduction Policy; Tsunami Exercises; UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready; and Tsunami Evacuation Maps, Plans, and Procedures.
He is also coordinating the disaster risk reduction program in UNESCO office Jakarta focusing on advocating the Youth and Young Professionals in Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation for Disaster Risk Reduction, CBDRM, DRR Education focusing on School-Based Disaster Preparedness, adaptation of VISUS (Visual Inspection for defining Safety Upgrading Strategies) methodology; and International Disaster Resilience Architecture his current focus activity are Disaster Risk Informed Policy on Building and Engineering Regulations and Codes post Disaster Event and Assessment on Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience in UNESCO Sites in Asia-Pacific.
UNESCO-IOC has been promoting the Tsunami Ready recognition program as an international performance-based community recognition pilot consisting of key actions that help to reduce tsunami-related risks to individuals and communities. Through the Tsunami Ready recognition program, communities become aware of the risks they face from tsunamis and take steps to address them. The Tsunami Ready program seeks to build resilient communities through awareness and preparedness strategies that will protect life, livelihoods and property from tsunamis in different regions. The main goal of the program is to improve coastal community preparedness for tsunamis and to minimize the loss of life, livelihoods and property. This is achieved through a collaborative effort to meet a standard level of tsunami preparedness through the fulfillment of a set of established indicators. The Tsunami Ready program is implemented as a voluntary, performance-based community that promotes an understanding of the concept of readiness as an active collaboration among national and local warning and emergency management agencies and government authorities, scientists, community leaders, and the public. The implementation of this performance-based Tsunami Ready could lead to international recognition as UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready community.
Mr. Luis Aguilar
Tsunami Programme Specialist,
UNESCO, Paris, France
Luis Aguilar was a recent Intern at UNESCO in the tsunami department head office in Paris, France. As a programme assistant, he focused on the overall development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and administration of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. He has aspirations to do research and to further his career in Latin America.
Ms. Sri Hartini Rachmad
Researcher, BPS Statistics Indonesia (NSO),
Lecturer at Statistics Institute, Jakarta
Sri Hartini RACHMAD is a researcher on Social-Economic Demography and Applied Statistics at BPS Statistics Indonesia. She is also a lecturer and research student adviser at STIS Polytechnic Institute of Statistics, Jakarta; and columnist at financial and entrepreneurship national magazines. She graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Statistics, Jakarta and completed a postgraduate degree from the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Her primary research interests range from climate change and vulnerability, disaster and water management, data assurance & quality, MDGs-SDGs, poverty and employment, education, gender and health. Sri Hartini is a prolific researcher with numerous publications in academic journals and in association with organizations such as Oxfam International, UNDP, WHO, UNICEF and others.
Mr. Vijay Kumar
Senior Vice President and CTO,
Esri India
Mr. Vijay Kuamr is the Senior Vice President and CTO at ESRI India. With more than 30 years of association with Industry and Academia, Vijay has contributed towards evolving innovative solutions for key business problems and society at a large. He is passionate in helping organizations solving business and social challenges using technologies including mapping, remote sensing, spatial 2D and 3D analytics, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data and real time analytics. Vijay has been instrumental in conceptualizing, designing and implementing enterprise location platform across various industry sectors globally. He has helped large organizations in creating their organizational road map and location strategy. Vijay is also passionate about business transformation by redefining and executing the long term vision to transform the business outcomes. Vijay continues to maintain strong links with the world of academia. He is a corporate member of the Institution of Engineers (India), Life Member of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Vijay has been contributing to the advisory activity for various institutes including IITs, NITs, IIRS and active member at OGC India Forum. He has also chaired panel discussions and presented many technology papers in several international conferences as keynote speaker.
Ms. Seema Joshi
General Manager, Strategic Solutions &Technology
Esri India
Technical Session in 'Spatial Technology Applications for Disaster Risk Reduction' by Esri India
Ms. Seema Joshi is General Manager - Strategic Solutions & Technology at Esri India. She has nearly 25 years of experience in Geospatial Technologies, enterprise GIS Solutions, Handling Strategic Initiatives, Capacity Building and Quality Management. She has worked extensively in GIS technology applications areas across industries such as eGovernance, Disasters Management & Emergency Response, Urban Development & Smart cities, Hydrology, Transportation, Health, Forestry and Natural Resources.
Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh
Director & Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications,
UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development & Innovation,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India
Title: OceanNet: Mobile Offshore Communication Network for Real Time Dissemination of Imminent Disaster Warning
Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh holds the UNESCO Chair in Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development & InnovationAmrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. She also serves as the Director & Professor at Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications (AWNA) and Dean of International Programs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Dr. Ramesh pursued her Ph. D. in Computer Science from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and authored a research thesis titled Wireless Sensor Network to Detect Rainfall Induced Landslides. Her research work was instrumental in deploying the first-ever Wireless Sensor Network system capable of issuing landslide warning. She has received U.S. Patent US 13/168,3572014. for this work, "Network based system for predicting landslides and providing early warnings". She has an M. B. A. in Systems Management and Financial Management from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. She completed her B. Tech. in Production Engineering from Kerala University.
Dr. Maneesha is the Dean of International Programs and heads all the activities of Amrita Center for International Programs (ACIP). The Center has been in charge of developing collaborative initiatives between Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and other International Universities. The main work includes developing MoU with international universities for faculty and student exchange programs, dual degree programs, research collaborations etc. As of now Amrita has signed 153 MoU's since 2005.
Dr. Maneesha has given distinguished lectures at different reputed universities during visits at International Universities. Since 2007 she had published more than 94 publications, including three best paper awards. Dr. Maneesha was awarded the prestigious Young Faculty Research Fellowship under Visvesvaraya Ph.D. Scheme for Electronics and IT for the year 2015-16 from The Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India. She has received a national award - the NABARD award for her work on landslide monitoring and early warning system. She is the Editor of Ad Hoc Networks Journal published by Elsevier.
Climate change and its impact is ever increasing, leading to increased frequency of several types of disasters. The fisherman community is one of the majorly affected communities, which are severely impacted due to emergencies they face while they are fishing. One of the major reasons is the lack of a reliable communication network beyond 15 km from the shore, while the fishermen go more than 100 km for fishing. This acts as a major challenge to disseminate emergency warnings, disaster-related communication etc., to fishermen at sea. To alleviate this challenge, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has designed, developed, and piloted a solution, OceanNet. This is a mobile offshore communication network for providing real-time communication and dissemination of emergency messages. This solution integrates the capability of IoT systems, heterogeneous communication, and machine learning etc., to provide seamless communication for fishing vessels. More than seven sea trials have been performed and tested connectivity up to 70km, with the possibility to extend the connectivity beyond 100km. This is one of the futuristic solutions that could be used for disseminating Tsunami warnings and other state variations along with information regarding fishing zone identification, border crossing alert, ship to boat collision alerts etc. This solution is developed with the intention to provide disaster resilience for the fishing community. This talk will detail the capabilities of the solution, and showcase its capability and scalability to provide disaster resilience for the fishing community.
Dr. Bhavani Rao R.
Director, AMMACHI Labs,
UNESCO Chair in Women Empowerment & Gender Equality,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India
Dr. Bhavani Rao R. serves as the UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham) and is the Director of AMMACHI Labs, Amrita Multi Modal Applications Using Computer & Human Interaction Labs, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Under the UNESCO Chair, Bhavani Rao heads an academic center dedicated to participatory action research, education, and implementation that focuses on the mapping of vulnerabilities of women in underserved communities. As the Director of AMMACHI Labs, Bhavani Rao heads the R&D that focuses on Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Robotics and Automation technologies for education, skill development, disaster response, medical assistance and rehabilitation. Bhavani Rao is the Principal Investigator for several projects at Amrita, funded by organizations such as the United Nations Democracy Fund, the Ministry of Skill Development And Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Government of India. A central focus on her work has been the use of skill-development as the baseline strategy, and women's empowerment as the underlying vision.
Dr. Sophia Von Lieres
Professor,
Department of Social Works,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India
Dr. J. Sophie von Lieres had received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Leipzig, Germany, in 2011. Her Ph.D. research was on the psychological effects of the 2004 Asian tsunami and coping strategies of the tsunami survivors in rural Kerala, India. She has been a resident of the headquarters of the NGO “Mata Amritanandamayi Math” in Kerala since 2006 and has done research for one of the NGO’s projects, Amrita Self-Reliant Village (SeRVe). Her research focuses on the quality of life and protective factors of village people throughout India. Moreover, since 2018, Dr. J. Sophie von Lieres has been working as a faculty member of the Master of Social Work academic program of the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, which hosts a UNESCO chair for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Apart from teaching courses on research methodology and scientific thinking, she has been guiding students’ research projects aimed at improving living conditions in rural India. Her other research areas are spreading health awareness, quality of life, and coping among India’s rural population.
Prof. Sethuraman Rao
Associate Professor,
Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Application, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India
Matching the available resources with the victims’ relief needs is a critical challenge in the post-disaster scenario. Over or under-provisioning is a common problem. This requires gathering information, on both supply and demand, with spatial and temporal accuracy, and updating it in real-time. Ad hoc tools used in the past have been sub-optimal. Amrita-Kripa is a mobile and web app developed specifically for this purpose that bridges the victims and volunteers directly. It also estimates the flood levels by crowds-sourcing images of flooded areas and applying Computer Vision. This talk will provide an overview of Amrita-Kripa.
|