From May 5 to May 8, a delegation from the Civil Protection Department (DPC) and the Italian Consortium for Research on Risk Reduction-CI3R traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia, to meet with AHA Centre, the intergovernmental organization for humanitarian assistance in disaster management founded by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The delegation included two representatives from the DPC (Daniela Di Bucci and Viola Vallini), the President of CI3R (Andrea Prota), and five representatives from four of the Competence Centers that are part of the Consortium (CIMA Nicola Rebora, CNR Massimiliano Moscatelli, EUCENTRE Fabio Germagnoli, ReLUIS Mauro Dolce, and Andrea Miano).
This mission is part of a collaboration funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and coordinated by the DPC which, with the support of the Italian Embassy to ASEAN, aims to provide capacity-building support in disaster risk management to ASEAN countries. To this end, detailed programs for five online training modules have been developed, which will be implemented by CI3R and made available to civil protection system operators in ASEAN Member States through AHA Centre’s e-learning platform. The agreed topics include floods and droughts, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and multi-risk scenarios. All Competence Centers that are part of CI3R contribute to this initiative (in addition to those already mentioned, the consortium includes ASI, INGV, ISPRA, OGS, University of Florence-CPC).
The recently concluded visit aimed to better understand how AHA Centre operates and its training needs concerning risks, in order to refine the content of the online modules. The visit was also an opportunity for a meeting with the Italian Ambassador to Indonesia, Roberto Colaminè, and his collaborators.
This initial meeting will be followed by a visit from AHA Centre to Italy, planned for June, which will include both institutional meetings and visits to several CI3R Competence Centers.
This experience serves as a positive example of the effectiveness of the National Civil Protection Service, where the DPC, in agreement with MAECI, promotes its scientific community, represented by CI3R, in supporting third countries for capacity-building actions in disaster risk management. Once again, having several Competence Centers coordinated within a single consortium, such as CI3R, under the coordination of the DPC, facilitates relations with other stakeholders and allows for a qualified and competent representation of the Italian System at these appointments.
