A dozen faculty members from Indonesian universities are at the University of Hawaii at Manoa this summer learning about disaster risk management and how to save lives in times of emergency.

Indonesia is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. In the past decade, it has undergone more than 160 disasters — including at least 60 floods 40 earthquakes, a dozen volcanic events and several wildfires, according to a press release.

The College of Social Sciences’ Department of Urban and Regional Planning  at UHM received a $327,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the federal agency that administers foreign aid. The funding is meant to help develop a cadre of academically trained personnel who can reduce disaster risk through a new graduate-level Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance program that’s being piloted this year.

The Indonesian faculty members are the first to participate in this new graduate certificate program. 

The aftermath of the devastating 2004 tsunami in Sumatra. (Photo courtesy of Australian Civil-Military Centre via Flickr.)

— Alia Wong