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<DIV><FONT size=4>Funding running out for Aceh tsunami research
centre</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=author>Clara Rondonuwu</DIV>
<DIV class=source>30 January 2013</DIV>
<DIV class=date><A
href="http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/tsunami/news/funding-running-out-for-aceh-tsunami-research-centre.html">http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/tsunami/news/funding-running-out-for-aceh-tsunami-research-centre.html</A></DIV>
<DIV class="article_content cf">
<P><SPAN>[JAKARTA] Research and preparedness activities at Aceh's </SPAN><A
href="http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/tsunami/">tsunami</A><SPAN>
research centre are in jeopardy as it fast runs out of cash following the
scheduled pull out of international donors.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>The Indonesian
government has not yet agreed to bridge the resulting </SPAN><A
href="http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/finance/"><SPAN>funding
gap</SPAN></A><SPAN> of US$400,000 a year to keep the centre running, leaving
its future up in the air and its 40 scientists unpaid for months, according to
the centre's director.</SPAN><BR><BR>Foreign donors invested heavily in tsunami
<A
href="http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/r-d/">research</A><SPAN>
following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed 60,000 people in Aceh
province alone — a fifth of the population.</SPAN><SPAN><BR></SPAN></P>
<P>The Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC) was built in 2008
as part of the US$655 million Multi Donor Fund (MDF) for Aceh pooled together by
15 donors including the European Union and World Bank.<SPAN><BR><BR>The centre's
mission is to carry out disaster research, support advocacy in policymaking and
speed up data collection to mitigate the impact of future
disasters.<BR><BR></SPAN><SPAN>Projects include helping local governments and
agencies to make preparedness plans. For example, one effort has led to a
detailed </SPAN><A
href="http://www.scidev.net/en/new-technologies/icts/">computer
simulation</A><SPAN> of tsunami evacuation for six high-risk populated areas in
Aceh and similar simulations for two cities in Java are on the way, Yudha
Nurdin, a researcher at the centre says.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>The donors
appointed the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia as trustee of the
MDF, when it ran dry in June 2012.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>Since then the TDMRC has
been operating on a budget of just US$20,000, most of which has been used to pay
utility bills, its director Muhammad Dirhamsyah tells
<EM>SciDev.Net</EM>.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>UNDP spokesperson Tomi Soetjipto says:
"The TDMRC has the potential to succeed," but declined to comment further on the
challenges facing the centre.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>In just four years, the centre
has produced a detailed map of </SPAN><A
href="http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/natural-disasters/">disaster</A><SPAN>
risk in Aceh; developed a series of computer simulations to monitor evacuation
effectiveness in the event of a tsunami; and trained 140 graduate students. It
also houses a tsunami evacuation shelter.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>The centre's plans
include building a web-based disaster risk management information system and
further awareness-raising campaigns for school students.<BR><BR></SPAN><SPAN>But
all these plans may have to be put on hold, Dirhamsyah
says.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>Despite sending several proposals for local and
foreign funding, the only commitment so far — of US$100,000 — has come from the
national government through the Ministry of National Development Planning to
fund the disaster information system. Bank Indonesia is considering covering
some of the costs of the awareness campaign for
students.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>Soetjipto points out that the government had years
to prepare for the eventual ending of donations.<BR><BR></SPAN><SPAN>"They
failed to prepare this centre to deal with transition, particularly how to
manage assets and budgets during that period," says Gegar Prasetya, tsunami
expert and UNDP consultant.</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>Gegar adds that the centre has
made a great deal of progress in terms of research, networking and training a
new generation of tsunami experts.<BR><BR></SPAN><SPAN>Indonesia needs at least
2,000 knowledgeable workers for its disaster management authorities, he says,
"and the centre is a strong scientific foundation to prepare the second
generation of young tsunami
scientists".</SPAN><EM><SPAN><BR><BR></SPAN></EM></P></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>