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To inaugurate the national launch of PetaBencana.id, over 3,376 residents across Indonesia participated in the first country-wide disaster preparedness event of its kind, the #112Challenge.

To inaugurate the national launch of the PetaBencana.id disaster management platform, Yayasan Peta Bencana and BNPB, supported by PLN and Bank BRI, hosted the first country-wide disaster preparedness event of its kind—the #112Challenge. Over 125 organizations and 3,376 residents across 17 provinces in Indonesia participated in the nation-wide competition, where residents simulated real-time flood reporting and information sharing through PetaBencana.id. 

PetaBencana.id is a free and open source platform that provides real-time disaster information and transparent communication between residents and government agencies, in order to reduce risk and increase emergency response times. The online platform harnesses the use of social media to crowdsource disaster information from residents on-the-ground, who often have the most up-to-date information, and displays this information on a live web-based map. 

During the opening remarks of the official launch, Doni Monardo, Head of BNPB, said: “PetaBencana.id will become a primary channel of interactive crisis communication between the government and residents. By enabling all residents across Indonesia to submit real-time disaster reports through social media, the platform will support faster response and reduce disaster risk”.

In this unprecedented community-led disaster preparedness event, over 125 schools, BPBDs, NGOs, and businesses across Indonesia simultaneously set up disaster-themed murals in their neighborhoods as part of the #112Challenge. They invited their friends, neighbors, and nearby communities to take photos with the mural, post #banjir on social media, and submit test reports to PetaBencana.id. Throughout the course of the day, the platform received more than 3,376 reports as organizations competed to train millions of community members about real-time disaster information sharing. 

Now, any resident in Indonesia can submit a disaster report anonymously by tweeting @petabencana, sending a Facebook message to @petabencana, or sending a telegram message to @bencanabot. Government emergency management agencies also monitor the map to assess the disaster situation and respond to resident needs as part of a two-way communication system; they can also update the map to alert residents about the severity of a disaster. 

In response to the platform’s national launch, Agus Wibowo, Head of the Center for Data, Information, and Public Relations at the National Disaster Management Agency, said, “The transparency of the platform provides all residents, community organizations, humanitarian agencies, and government agencies, free access to time-critical information needed to make informed decisions, thereby fostering collaborative resilience and coordinated response to disaster events across the country”.

Since its debut in 2013 (as PetaJakarta.org), the PetaBencana.id platform has been used by millions of resident users to make time-critical decisions about safety and navigation during emergency flood events in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya. The platform has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the prestigious 2019 United Nations Public Service Award. In the 2015 World Disaster Report of the International Federation of the Red Cross, the project was recommended as a model for community engagement in relation to disaster response. 

Having proven beyond any doubt that community-led data collection, sharing, and visualization reduces disaster risk and assists in relief efforts, in 2020 the platform expanded to support all of Indonesia. Later in the year, PetaBencana.id will also expand its reporting mechanism to include reports for all other hazards, including volcanoes, earthquakes, extreme wind, and forest fires and haze.

PetaBencana.id is a part of the USAID BNPB InAWARE: Disaster Management Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project in Indonesia. PetaBencana.id is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The project is made possible through collaboration with project partners including the Pacific Disaster Center at the University of Hawaii and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team; our implementing partners at the National Emergency Management Agency; our data partners including Mapbox, Twitter, Qlue, and PasangMata; and financial sponsors for the #112Challenge, PT. PLN and Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

In preparation for the nation-wide launch of PetaBencana.id, @america hosted an interactive session on February 5th: “Banjir, Bots, and Gotong Royong: Strengthening Civic Participation for Climate Adaptation in Indonesia”. 

Opened by Jason Seuc, Deputy Director of the Environment Office of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the session focused on the significance of community-led information sharing during disaster events. 

Harlan Hale, Regional Advisor for the US Agency of International Development Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID OFDA), shared the importance of resident reporting in supporting response efforts by humanitarian and government agencies. Residents on-the-ground often have the most up-to-date information – the knowledge of local communities and the dense network of mobile sensors connected via social media, provides a data source of unprecedented resolution for mitigating urban risk. 

In order to transform the “noise” of social media into actionable information, Nashin Mahtani, director of Yayasan Peta Bencana, shared how the PetaBencana.id platform employs chatbots to engage in AI assisted conversations with residents to confirm flooding. 

As new tools, applications, and software are adopted by governments and NGOs for the identification and management of urban risk, Maryanto, S. Kom, Head of data management and information systems at BNPB, iterated the significance of data sharing and integration of various data.

The event was live streamed at several American Chapters including ITB, UMY, and UIN. Participants engaged in a lively discussion, raising questions about the verification of crowd-sourced reporting, privacy and ethics of information gathering, and the potential latency of online platforms during high periods of surging activity. 

Following a live-demo led by Hotniida AMW Sinambela, Research Operations Coordinator of Yayasan Peta Bencana, participants simulated real-time flood reporting and information sharing through PetaBencana.id.  

In preparation for the national-launch of PetaBencana.id, to be held on February 11th, @america set up an exclusive preview of their participation in the #112Challenge. The #112Challenge is the first country-wide disaster preparedness event of its kind, where over 125 organizations in Indonesia will participate in a nation-wide competition to increase disaster awareness. On the 11th of February, 3D flood murals will be set up in over 125 locations across Indonesia. Organizations will encourage their communities to use their mural selfies to practice submitting flood reports via Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram. @america is one of the participating locations, and the event on February 5th enabled participants to engage in an exclusive preview of the #112Challenge! Make sure you visit the venue on February 11th to support your city in winning! To find locations near you check the map at: info.petabencana.id/112challenge.

PetaBencana.id is a platform run by Yayasan Peta Bencana as a free, transparent platform for emergency response and disaster management in megacities in South and Southeast Asia. PetaBencana.id is a part of the USAID BNPB InAWARE: Disaster Management Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project in Indonesia.

Residents and government agencies share real-time flood information on PetaBencana.id during the January 2020 flood in Jakarta. Crowd-sourced reports through the platform have supported efforts for response, planning, and analysis.

In January 2020, record-breaking rainfall inundated Jakarta with more water than its infrastructures were able to cope with. Severe flooding affected large parts of the city, resulting in dozens of casualties and thousands of displaced residents. 

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) attributed the unusually intense rainfall to a convergence of wind patterns, and warned of more frequently occurring extreme weather events as a result of climate change. The agency recorded 377 mm of rain, the highest daily volume Jakarta has experienced since records began in 1866. 

As rising waters blocked roads, shut down one of the city’s airports, and cut off electricity, millions of residents continued to search for and share up-to-date information through various social media channels. Thousands of residents submitted flood reports to PetaBencana.id, informing each other about the severity of the flood, infrastructure failures, and response efforts. PetaBencana.id experienced a 24,000% increase in activity as residents actively checked the web map to understand the flooding situation, avoid flooded areas, and make decisions about safety and response. The Jakarta Emergency Management Agency (BPBD DKI Jakarta) monitored the map to respond to resident needs, coordinate response, and also updated the real-time map with information about flood affected neighborhoods. 

Agus Wibowo, Head of the Center for Data, Information and Public Relations at the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), urged residents to share flood reports through PetaBencana.id, iterating the significance of information sharing and community-based disaster response.

Head of BNPB Pusdalops, Bambang Surya Putra, said that PetaBencana.id was very useful in enabling his team to monitor disaster events and in providing a greater understanding of events to all residents.

Jakarta residents also acknowledged the increase in response times due to two-way information sharing through the platform. Chaidir A. Adlan, Jakarta resident, said “PetaBencana.id is providing actionable insight for BPBD and rescue teams. It’s the best available approach to date.”

Flood data from PetaBencana.id was also used by NASA to calibrate satellite flood maps with crowd-sourced ground observations, in order to support flood analysis and planning efforts. In an article published by NASA, Dr. Sang-Ho Yun, lead of disaster response for NASA’s Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains the significance of corroborating satellite overviews with on-the-ground crowdsourced reporting in order to map flood extents.

“This is the first time that we were able to rapidly generate a flood proxy map from so many satellite scenes and calibrate it with ground observations,” said Yun. “This is really important for mapping flood extent in urban areas.”

The spirit of gotong-royong displayed through these difficult times is a testament to the strength of community-led information sharing, supporting response and planning efforts at multiple scales. Yayasan Peta Bencana thanks all residents of Indonesia for continuing to share critical information, and applauds the indispensable role of all residents in helping neighbors, government agencies, responders, and researchers develop strategies for climate adaptation. 

Heavy rains are expected to continue throughout the monsoon season. Residents of Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, and Bandung can submit real-time flood reports by tweeting #banjir @petabencana, sending a Facebook message to @petabencana.id, or send a Telegram message to @bencanabot. We remind everyone to check https://petabencana.id for up-to-date information and to stay safe!

Agus Wibowo of the National Emergency Management Agency (BNBP) (left), Ayu Kartika Dewi of the Presidential Staff Office (middle), and PERMIAS Indonesian Students Association (right) recommend residents to share flood information through PetaBencana.id during the January 2020 floods in Jakarta

Jakarta Smart City uses data from PetaBencana.id to update the Pantau Banjir application, using the PetaBencana.id map as a base map to add shelter locations.

PetaBencana.id is a platform run by Yayasan Peta Bencana as a free, transparent platform for emergency response and disaster management in megacities in South and Southeast Asia. PetaBencana.id is a part of the USAID BNPB InAWARE: Disaster Management Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project in Indonesia.

On December 14th, 2019, actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, known for his role in Game of Throne, presented PetaBencana.id at the Royal Albert Hall in London, at an event hosted by John Legend. The event was in recognition of the Global Citizen Prize, a ceremony that honors the individuals who have made strides to end extreme poverty. The Cisco Youth Leadership Award was established in 2018 as an annual award to recognize and lift up a young person positively impacting the world, as a way to demonstrate the impact that young people are having on achieving our common goals.  Nashin Mahtani, director of Yayasan Peta Bencana, was selected as one of the five finalists of the prestigious Global Citizen Cisco Youth Leadership Award.

Hosted by World Culture Open, the 2019 Better Together Challenge invited thinkers, activists, changemakers, scientists, and creatives from around the world to share diverse projects addressing some of today’s most pressing social issues. Held on the grounds of the historic 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the 3-day gathering was attended by over 300 people. The Challenge provided an open stage where 30 finalists, selected from over 1200 projects and 122 countries, were invited to share their stories in a unique contest format. Based on public voting from hundreds of audience voters and a special jury panel, 6 projects were awarded the final 2019 Better Together Challenge award. We are excited to share that PetaBencana.id was among the final winners, awarded with the 2nd place prize! 

The 1st place prize was awarded to Korean finalist Sangho Yi, founder of Mand.ro, for using 3D printing technologies to develop affordable electronic prosthetics for amputees. Other award winners included Eseyam Nyador, founder of Miss Taxi, a female-driven taxi service in Ghana; Momal Mushtaq, founder of The Freedom Traveller; Jiyeoung Lee, conserving and spreading awareness about the forests in Gotjawal; Camilo Herrera founder of Litro de Luz, developing infrastructures for communities in conflict zones to mitigate electric exclusion; and Abdul Wahab and Haejin Kim from Help Syria, an organization helping Syrian refugees. 

Finalists shared diverse experiences and projects including upskilling programs in conflict-affected communities, empowering residents with land and property rights information to reduce land conflicts in Uganda, sustainable methods of honey production to empower rural communities in Zambia, developing accessible technologies to support agriculture and food security in East Africa, among many others. 

The 3-day event included workshops and talks by Dave Hakkens (named as one of MIT Technology Review’s Innovators under 35 Europe 2017), Raed Alsaleh (Head of The White Helmets organization providing humanitarian support in Syria, and named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2017), Pyeongchang Mayor Han Wang-Gi, President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, among many others. 

We are grateful to have had the opportunity to share our story and learn from so many inspiring projects around the world! We are honored by the recognition and grateful to be able to share this award with all project partners including USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB), the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), as well as with all residents of Indonesia and contributors to the PetaBencana.id platform for reducing risk together!

PetaBencana.id is a platform run by Yayasan Peta Bencana as a free, transparent platform for emergency response and disaster management in megacities in South and Southeast Asia. PetaBencana.id is a part of the USAID BNPB InAWARE: Disaster Management Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project in Indonesia.

As part of the “ASEAN Regional Disaster Management Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project”, we spent the week in Manila with our partners USAID, the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) to kickstart the development of a crowd sourced disaster mapping platform for the Philippines. The initiative was officially launched on July 23, 2019, at an initial kick-off event attended by over 30 agencies including government organizations, NGOs, and private sector agencies.

Since its implementation in 2013 (formerly known as PetaJakarta.org), PetaBencana.id has proven that community-led data collection, sharing, and visualization reduces hazard risk and assists in relief efforts. The Philippines shares many of the key characteristics that have made PetaBencana.id a successful crowd-sourced hazard mapping platform in Indonesia. Geographically, it is also located in the ring of fire, and like many ASEAN countries, it has been affected by weather events which are becoming increasingly extreme and unpredictable due to climate change. Typhoons, floods, and landslides have been particularly destructive, and the Philippines is among the countries that have withstood the greatest socioeconomic hits in their wake.

Perhaps the most striking similarity that we have noticed however, is the spirit of mutual aid during disasters – more commonly known as gotong royong in Indonesia and bayanihan in the Philippines. The active spirit of coming together during disaster events, coupled with the fact that the country has the highest rates of social media usage in the world, sets up an ideal environment for developing a real-time information sharing platform to enhance capacities for civic-co management, increase coordination between residents and government agencies, and quicken response times during disasters.

We were thrilled to see the excitement of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), among other government agencies and NGOs, at the launch of this initiative. We look forward to working with all our partners and the residents of the Philippines to reduce risk together in the ASEAN region!

On May 21, 2019 PetaBencana.id was awarded the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) for the category “Ensuring integrated approaches in public sector institutions”. The initiative has been recognized alongside its institutional partner, Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana.

The UNPSA  is internationally recognized as the most prestigious award for work in public service. In the words of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “it rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide”. The competition is run annually with the aim of promoting outstanding organizations as examples of public service’s critical role  in communities around the globe.

“As weather patterns intensify and become increasingly unpredictable, cities in Indonesia are regularly faced with the challenges of extreme weather events. A lack of access to verified, real-time data compromises the ability to make informed decisions for planning and response, resulting in ineffective resource management and conflict. By providing free real-time disaster information, and making it possible to safely and easily share it, PetaBencana.id leverages capacities for all residents to equally participate in decision-making.“

In light of this achievement, Yayasan Peta Bencana will be participating in the United Nations Public Service Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan next month. The three day event includes a series of workshops, plenary sessions, and an awards ceremony surrounding this year’s theme of “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through effective Delivery of Services, Innovative Transformation and Accountable Institutions”.

We are honored by the recognition and grateful to be able to share this award with all project partners including USAID OFDA, BNPB, PDC, HOT, as well as with all residents of Indonesia and contributors to the platform for reducing risk together!

PetaBencana.id is a part of the USAID BNPB InAWARE: Disaster Management Early Warning and Decision Support Capacity Enhancement Project in Indonesia.

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Lombok in July and a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Sulawesi in September, left significant destruction, damage, and loss.

Over the last few months, Yayasan Peta Bencana has been speaking with disaster managers, emergency response teams, community volunteer groups, and student volunteers who experienced the events or were directly involved in their aftermath, in order to learn about the biggest challenges faced.

Difficulties in delivering aid and difficulties for evacuation, largely arose due to a lack of access to timely information. A lack of real-time situational updates about access conditions amplified confusion and risk on the islands;  response teams were unable to reach shelters and victims due to unexpected disruptions to access. Residents trying to evacuate faced similar challenges.

The real-time flood map, PetaBencana.id, has proven that crowdsourced information sharing reduces disaster risk and assists in relief efforts. Recognizing the value of community-led data collection, sharing, and visualization, Yayasan Peta Bencana is now working on expanding the map to support other disaster events, including earthquakes.

As part of our efforts to develop a disaster mapping platform for earthquakes, Yayasan Peta Bencana has been engaging in processes of co-design and co-research with a wide variety of stakeholders. In November 2018, we held a research/design workshop in collaboration with Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS). The workshop – which brought together government emergency disaster managers, journalists, students, academics, volunteer groups, community leaders, and climate agencies – provided a multi-perspective insight into strategies for earthquake response and disaster preparedness as participants shared their unique concerns, experiences, and knowledges.

In order to stimulate discussion, the workshop was structured as a game based on real scenarios experienced during the recent earthquakes. The game was successful in encouraging participants to become quickly involved in evaluating informational flows, identifying key gaps, and discussing opportunities to support response using crowdsourced information.

We were very excited to see that at the end of the workshop, very different stakeholder groups (who shared that they otherwise would not have the opportunity to speak together) were exchanging contacts; participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to learn from diverse groups, and were eager to build capacities to work more closely together in preparedness for future events.

On August 12th, 2018, the Peta Bencana Foundation transformed a portion of a heavily traversed road in Semarang with an anamorphic street art installation, exclusively designed towards building resilience for the forthcoming monsoon season! Every Sunday morning in Semarang, main roads in the center of the city are closed off to vehicles for the weekly Car Free Day event, making way for thousands of walkers, joggers, bikers, and skaters. Peta Bencana took this opportunity to launch a preparedness event for the 2018/2019 monsoon season; as passers-by stopped to take selfies with the street art installation, they were reminded to continue to share their selfies with PetaBencana.id during the monsoon season, and contribute to real-time community flood-mapping. PetaBencana.id gathers confirmed crowd-sourced reports about flooding from various social media channels and visualizes these on a free web-based map, so that everyone has the information they need to stay safe and avoid danger during flood events. This information is shared with emergency management agencies, who are also able to update the map with time-critical flood-related information, creating a transparent two-way communication channel for everyone in the city. The Jakarta Emergency Management Agency (BPBD DKI Jakarta) also took this opportunity to spread awareness about their disaster management programs to the Car Free Day visitors.  BPBD Kota Semarang members also explained their role in response efforts during flooding and the value that the crowd-sourced reports coming into PetaBencana.id would have for disaster managers in supporting evidence-based response.

Several residents expressed the importance of understanding the role of BPBD Kota Semarang during flood events. BPBD Kota Semarang members expressed the value of having the opportunity to not only inform the public about their initiatives, but also the significance of being able to engage in deeper conversations with university students, even inviting the students to visit their Data and Command Center. The feedback demonstrated that the event was successful in supporting the strengthening  of community networks, and building collective understandings of community based efforts for flood resilience.

Several car free day visitors expressed their enthusiasm for the event, explaining that it was uncommon and very welcome to have a free public event, that engaged various communities, NGOs, and disaster management agencies. Visitors were eager to learn about the launch of the platform in Semarang, commenting that with the increasing frequency of flood events in Semarang, the platform would serve as a useful tool to share flood information and support them in navigating the city safely. 

…PetaBencana.id is a useful tool to build resilience at a community level as it provides a way to easily share time critical information of flood affected areas with various communities and neighborhoods. The ability to share flood information without having to download a new application or register a username is a unique and highly effective way to crowd-source disaster information and build a network of active resident reporters… 

On August 11th, 2018 Yayasan conducted a workshop for PMI Korps Suka Rela (Red Cross Indonesia Volunteer Corps). 51 participants attended the workshop, representing over 13 different universities from Semarang. The workshop was opened by Mr Bambang Kristiyono, as a representative of the Semarang PMI office. Mr Kristiyono shared the enthusiasm of PMI in hosting the workshop, as they were excited to have a platform through which their network could easily share flood information in real-time. He mentioned that this would not only support their own response efforts, but also provide a way to easily share time critical information of flood affected areas with various communities and neighborhoods, thereby helping to build resilience at a community level as well.

During a hands on training session, participants were eager to test various methods of reporting flood information to the platform, as they were active on many social media channels already integrated into PetaBencana.id.

Participants commented specifically on the ease of reporting through PetaBencana.id, mentioning that the ability to share flood information without having to download a new application or register a username, was unique, highly effective and would enable the platform to enroll a wide network of resident reporters who would be encouraged to share flood information in an uncumbersome way.

During the session, participants were also eager to learn about the mechanisms of verifying crowd-sourced reports, raising questions about how the platform ensures the validity of data. Intrigued by the verification methods employed by PetaBencana.id, participants requested the integration of additional social media channels and requested for the platform to expand to other hazards.

Participants were eager to spread the use of the platform with their own networks, expressing the value of sharing the use of crowd-sourced data for building community resilience.