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CASITA-II Integrating Disaster
Mitigation Tools into Higher Education
The second phase of the Capacity Building in Asia Using Information
Technology Applications (CASITA-II) project started with a kick-off workshop
at ITC, The Netherlands on February 14-15, 2005. The workshop was well
attended by representatives of the three project partners, ADPC, ITC and
Bonn University from Germany, and the course coordinators of the four
participating universities, along with experts on tsunami modeling and
landslide hazard assessment from the Norwegian Geo-technical Institute and
the International Centre for Geohazards, both from Norway.
Subsequently, a Workshop on Tsunami Wave Modeling & Multi-temporal Satellite
Image Processing and Analysis of the Impact of the December 26th Event was
held from March 28 to April 1 in Bangkok, Thailand. The objective of the
workshop was to provide the participants with an opportunity to acquire
skills in earth observation and flood zoning of the tsunami damaged shore
zones of the Indian Ocean. During the workshop there was a demonstration on
how to process and interpret some of the available high- and
medium-resolution satellite images of the pre- and post tsunami landscape.
The aim is to make a tsunami flood zone map for strategic shore zone
management for reconstruction.
Building on the experiences of the first phase and the needs expressed by
the universities, the second phase aims at developing postgraduate level
courses on disaster management with emphasis on research capacity. It is
expected that collaboration between European institutions and Asian
universities will help enhance research skills and the formulation of joint
research programs. In this phase, the project also aims to develop and
implement a distance education course which meets the needs of professionals
and practitioners who want to learn more about natural hazard and risk
assessment in Asia.
The four universities participating in CASITA II are:
• The Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, India
• Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• Chiang Mai University, Thailand
• University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Starting with a network of 14 universities in Asia, CASITA has been
successful in integrating modern disaster mitigation tools into higher
education curricula as a means of helping reduce disaster vulnerability of
human settlements. Implemented in partnership with the International
Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) from
Enschede, The Netherlands and the Ecole National de Sciences G?ographiques (ENSG),
in Paris, France, the first phase activities included training for
university staff on the use of Remote Sensing and GIS tools for hazard and
risk assessment, course modules on several disaster related topics, and
assistance to each university in developing RS/GIS based case studies for
different hazards in their respective countries.
The CASITA-II project will run for 2 years.
For more information, please contact Mr. Rajesh Sharma
rajesh@adpc.net and Prof. Cees
van Westen westen@itc.nl or
visit the project website at:
http://www.adpc.net/casita
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