Science and Technology for Disaster Management: Ten Years of Indonesia - Australia Collaboration

Indonesia is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world due to its hazard profile and high population exposure. Despite its risk profile, disaster management has not traditionally been informed by best available information. Since 2008, the Australian and Indonesian governments have partnered to increase the use of science and technology in Indonesia to support decision making in disaster management. Our partnership has concentrated on strengthening the evidence base for informed disaster management by improving: - hazard information for earthquake, tsunami, volcano and flood - spatial data for exposure (population, building, roads and infrastructure) - decision support tools such as InaSAFE that assist disaster managers to combine hazard and exposure data to inform disaster response and management. We have worked alongside technical and disaster management agencies, universities, non-government organisations and the private sector to develop Indonesian capacity to manage disasters and institutionalise best-practices. Partnerships have facilitated science-to-policy and science-to-programming outcomes in disaster management that help people prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. Ten years is a good time for a partnership to form, blossom and deliver effective and sustainable changes. The achievements over this time are too many to list in entirety. Science and Technology for Disaster Management merely scratches the surface to highlight the most significant achievements. There is a tendency in doing so to focus on achievements over the last three years. In most cases the achievements of this later period of the program have only been possible because they have built on and extended the achievements of the former seven years. Science and Technology for Disaster Management demonstrates how our collaboration has increased the use of science and technology in Indonesian disaster management by developing new knowledge and enhancing capacity, both within the scientists and within policy and decision makers. In doing so, tangible policies have been developed and implemented and practices have changed. The program has helped to strengthen relationships between agencies within Indonesia and also between Indonesia and Australia in the areas of disaster management and science more broadly. New relationships manifest as distinct government-to-government collaborations and strong peer-to-peer links.