Development of University Strengthening Program for Enhanced Contribution in Disaster Risk Reduction in Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

The eastern region of Indonesia is prone to various natural hazards. Limited infrastructure and lack of human development, including tertiary education, in the region that is dominated by small and large islands, have contributed to its high disaster vulnerability. According to Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030, the universities play an important role in disaster risk reduction at the national, regional and local level, to support science-based policy and decision making process. A program for strengthening local universities is being developed by the national University Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (UF-DRR), targeting five provinces in the region and one in Central Java. An assessment was conducted to understand their DRR capacity, identify “local champions” and identify local needs for a strengthening program. The assessment result shows that basically there are already DRR roles and contribution of universities in the targeted areas, but mostly are limited to individual rather than institutional involvement. Based on the assessment result, a university strengthening program in DRR is developed for implementation in the region.