International Symposium on Tsunami Risk Reduction & Community Resilience

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.

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 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 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 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).

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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 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. 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. 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.

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.