Indonesia Faculty Attend Hawaii Disaster Program

A dozen faculty members from universities in Indonesia are spending the summer at the University of Hawaii to learn about disaster risk management and how it can save lives in their country.

Under a pilot program, the 12 Indonesian university faculty members are participating in a graduate certificate program through the College of Social Sciences at the UH-Manoa campus. The college’s department of urban and regional planning received a $300,000 grant from the federal agency that administers aid and U.S. foreign development assistance.

In the last decade alone, Indonesia has been affected by more than 160 disasters, including more than 60 floods, more than 40 earthquakes, about a dozen volcanic events and several wildfires.

Karl Kim, who directs the university’s National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, says Hawaii faces similar hazards.