Resilience and the Palu Tsunami

Figure 1. Courtesy of Liputan 6

The recent devastating disasters that befell our home soil, specifically Palu and Donggala, have affected countless lives and continue to inflict unimaginable trauma and grief.  As a global think tank that operates, among others, in the field of disaster management, we strive to amass and update ourselves with as much knowledge of occurring disasters as we can, knowledge that could provide understanding and awareness to people who are directly affected and authorities that are assigned the task of relief and rehabilitation.

Thanks to our network of contacts and partners, along with our use of social media, our attempts in knowledge dissemination have gained a wider audience through interviews conducted with various respected international media publications. Our experts were interviewed by journalists and columnists from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/03/the-guardian-view-on-the-indonesian-tsunami-preparing-for-the-worstThe Guardian,https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/01/indonesia-still-lacks-adequate-tsunami-warning-system/ The Telegraph,and The https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-the-tsunami-in-indonesia-struck-without-warning/amp?__twitter_impression=true New Yorker, inquiring about efforts from governmental and non-governmental authorities in disaster response and mitigation of the Palu earthquake and tsunami. Dr. Saut Sagala and Dr. Gavin Sullivan, our senior research fellows, feature prominently in the discussion of the ongoing disaster management efforts.

Ultimately, our objective remains to spread knowledge and awareness. While being a part of news articles and opinions have given us substantial exposure, they merely represent a platform through which we wish to promote the role of scientific publications and papers in providing comprehensive knowledge regarding disaster management. As such, RDI will dedicate a page on our website specifically for knowledge management of the Palu tsunami and earthquake, similar to what we have done for Lombok. It is hoped that our findings could bring light to how various public sectors are affected, the immediate needs of those who are currently displaced, how to mitigate and reduce the impact of disaster in the future, and what we need to be aware of in an emergency response setting.