News

Yayasan Peta Bencana, supported by USAID BHA and endorsed by Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), officially launched a regional disaster risk reduction youth program for Indonesia and the Philippines. As more frequently occurring extreme weather events continue to strike both countries, young leaders expressed their solidarity and commitment to reducing risk with the hashtags #Youth4GotongRoyong and #Youth4Bayanihan. The launch was opened by Dr. Raditya Jati, Deputy of Systems and Strategy of BNPB, Usec Ricardo B. Jalad, Executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and administrator of the OCD, and Mr. Harlan Hale, Regional Advisor of USAID BHA, who welcomed hundreds of youth and over 60 community organizations attending the online opening. 

Led by the conviction that mitigating disaster risk must involve all residents, the youth ambassador program commits to amplifying the agency of young people all across the region so that they can equally participate in disaster recovery efforts and make informed and safe decisions for themselves and their communities during emergencies. Half of the world’s population are youth under the age of 30, and they are often the first and most affected when weather related disasters strike. According to the 2020 World Disasters Report, Indonesia and the Philippines are among the most vulnerable to weather related disasters and it is inevitable that the countries will continue to experience an increase in extreme weather. To cope with the increasing frequency and severity of weather-related events, experts emphasize the necessity to focus efforts on adaptation; minimizing exposure and vulnerability by increasing capacities forresidents to respond to shocks, which must necessarily include the most vulnerable groups. 
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Tropical Cyclone Seroja has triggered flooding, landslides, and extreme winds in East Nusa Tenggara, causing severe damage across the region since April 4th, 2021. 

According to first-hand reports submitted to PetaBencana.id, the extreme weather has collapsed bridges, washed away homes, and caused power outages. Residents have been sharing real-time updates through the PetaBencana.id platform to help keep each other informed, and support response efforts.

According to Raditya Jati, Head of Data, Information and Communications at the National Emergency Management Agency of Indonesia (BNPB), “Extreme weather due to tropical cyclone Seroja still has the potential to occur in the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) region in the next few days.” 

We remind residents to check https://petabencana.id for up-to-date information. Residents in East Nusa Tenggara can also submit real-time flood reports by tweeting #banjir @petabencana, sending a Facebook message to @petabencana.id, or sending a Telegram message to @bencanabot. When we share what we see, everyone can stay informed, avoid danger, and reduce risk together! Read More

On February 20th, #banjir and #JakartaBanjir were the highest trending topics on Twitter Indonesia, as the capital city was inundated for the third major time this year, following particularly heavy rainfall from Friday night (19/2/2021) to Saturday morning (20/02/2021). As Jakarta residents turned to social media to share updates about the flood, they were greeted by “Disaster Bot” – a novel AI-assisted chatbot that monitors social media for posts about disasters and automatically invites users to submit more detailed disaster reports. These crowd-sourced reports are used to map disasters in real-time, on a free and open source website, PetaBencana.id.

As flooding blocked major thoroughfares and toll roads, disrupted commuter lines, and cut off electricity to over 60,000 homes, residents continued to share updates about the flood situation in order to stay alert and make timely decisions about safety and response. Hundreds of residents submitted flood reports to PetaBencana.id, alerting each other about water levels, broken infrastructures and road accessibility. The Jakarta Emergency Management Agency also updated the map with official information about flood affected  areas, and monitored the map to respond to resident needs. PetaBencana.id experienced a 2000% in activity in under 12 hours as residents actively checked the map to understand the flooding situation, avoid flooded areas, and make decisions about safety and response.  Read More

Five consecutive typhoons struck the Philippines in late October and early November. Still recovering from damages brought about by Typhoon Molave (Quinta), Typhoon Goni (Rolly), Typhoon Atsani (Siony), and Typhoon Etau (Tonyo), the rain-drenched eastern and northern portions of the country endured excarbarated impacts from Typhoon Vamco (Ulysses), the fifth major storm to hit the region in just two weeks. 

These typhoons left major roads impassable due to flooding and affected electrical and communication powers. Major dams in the country have reportedly worsened the flooding situations in the downstream areas of Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Metro Manila. 

In the midst of the massive flooding situation, which paralyzed major thoroughfares and stranded thousands of Filipino commuters, hashtags #FloodPH and #RescuePH trended on social media, with people calling for help and posting information about the flood situation in their area. MapaKalamidad.ph, a recently launched disaster information sharing platform in the Philippines, is harnessing the active use of social media to support community-led risk reduction. Using AI-assisted chatbots to monitor and respond to social media posts, the platform gathers confirmed crowd-sourced reports from residents to map flooding in real-time. The platform experienced a significant increase in activity during Typhoon Ulysses as residents actively shared real-time situational updates about the flood. The free web-based map was used to support residents and disaster management units identify the areas that needed immediate response and rescue efforts. MapaKalamidad.ph was launched last September 2020 as part of the PhilAWARE Program with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs (USAID BHA) in partnership with the Philippine Office of the Civil Defense (OCD), Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). Read More

“[PetaBencana.id] is a paradigmatic example of using the Internet to connect groups of people so they can share knowledge. [PetaBencana.id] confirms what we have long understood: expertise rooted in local knowledge and lived experience is widely distributed across society. Social platforms allow us to combine and scale this intelligence to aggregate knowledge, share work and increasingly, to solve problems collaboratively.”

A recent report published by The GovLab (an action research center based at New York University) and UK-based Nesta Foundation, features PetaBencana.id as one of 30 exemplary case studies demonstrating the commendable use of collective intelligence to address public challenges. As part of a larger undertaking of research on collective intelligence, the report argues that collective intelligence can support better and more inclusive public services. The research highlights case studies from around the world using technology to harness ideas and skills from the public, and presents this collaborative methodology as a critical component of addressing our most pressing challenges today. The full research documentation can be accessed at: https://www.thegovlab.org/collective-intelligence.html Read More

MapaKalamidad.ph, a free and open source platform for emergency response and disaster management in the Philippines, was officially launched on September 10th, 2020 during a virtual webinar titled “Digital Bayanihan! Social Media for Humanitarian Response”. The platform uses both, crowd-sourced reporting and government agency validations, to map flood events in real-time.

During the opening remarks, Joseph Curry from the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, said, “While we depend on the government to be the authoritative source on damages and needs, we also recognize that those affected have the most up to date information and have an essential role to play. MapaKalamidad.ph adds a new dimension to data and information collection by empowering citizens to directly report hazards, critical lifelines and damages in their neighbourhoods via social media apps and mobile apps. In the true spirit of bayanihan, MapaKlamidad.ph gives us a tool that everyone can use together in disaster response, potentially connecting every barangay right to the top.” Read More

Two tropical cyclones triggered torrential rainfall across Java, inundating the capital city of Jakarta and its surrounding areas for the fourth major time this year.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the series of floods that have inundated the capital region over the past two months are a result of climate change-driven global warming. Average temperatures in Indonesia peaked in 2019, with Jakarta experiencing an annual temperature rise 1.4 times higher than global trends. The agency recorded 278 millimeters of rainfall in 24 hours, categorizing the weather as ‘extreme rain’ with the city receiving one month’s worth of rain in a single day.

As flooding paralyzed traffic on major thoroughfares, disrupted commuter lines for over two consecutive days, inundated the state national hospital, and cut off electricity to over 1,600 substations, residents continued to search for verified information about the flood situation in order to make timely decisions about safety and response.  Amidst a spread of misinformation, the National Emergency Management Agency (BNPB) endorsed PetaBencana.id as the official information sharing platform to collectively mitigate risk.   Read More

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.”  Read More

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.  Read More

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.  Read More

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  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. 
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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. Read More

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.“
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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. Read More

    …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. Read More

    …The ease of reporting through PetaBencana.id will enable more efficient reporting, and allow us to respond more effectively to flood events.… 

To continue building a growing network of active resident reporters and encourage effective sharing of disaster information in Semarang, Yayasan Peta Bencana is conducting workshops and outreach events with a range of communities active in the disaster management ecosystem in preparation for the upcoming monsoon season.

On August 10th, 2018, Yayasan Peta Bencana conducted a workshop with Semarang’s Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Kota Semarang) network of volunteer communities. During disaster events, these independent community groups coordinate with BPBD Kota Semarang to aid in immediate first response efforts before the agency is able to deliver formal response. They also serve as key points of contact between the regional disaster management agency and the residents in their respective communities. These groups are active in raising disaster awareness within the local communities in which they are formed. Read More

    …Sharing disaster information through PetaBencana.id will not only support disaster managers and first responders, but will support response and strengthen resilience at the level of individuals and communities.… 

To continue to build a growing network of information sharing and strengthen community resilience in Semarang, Yayasan Peta Bencana is conducting workshops and outreach events with a range of communities active in the disaster management ecosystem, in preparation for the upcoming monsoon season.

As part of this initiative, Yayasan Peta Bencana has been collaborating with universities in Semarang to engage university students through training workshops about how to accurately and effectively share disaster information.

On July 25th, 2018, Yayasan Peta Bencana held a workshop with Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) (State University of Semarang) in the Faculty of Social Science. By collaborating with the faculty’s weekly “Research Sharing” event, the workshop not only socialized the platform but was able to stimulate further discussion regarding disaster management ecosystems. This provided valuable feedback, and also further stimulated student and academic interest in building resilient communities. Read More

          PetaBencana.id is recognized by Ars Electronica for demonstrating the latest developments in social software, building community action and interaction, strengthening the role and ability for civic participation, and promoting social innovation as well as cultural and environmental sustainability through internet technology.        

On June 11th, 2018 Ars Electronica announced the winners of the 2018 Prix Ars Electronica competition, awarding PetaBencana.id with an honorary mention.

Recognized as the “world’s most time-honored media arts competition”, the Prix Ars Electronica was launched in 1987 by Ars Electronica co-founder Hannes Leopoldseder. The prize awards projects displaying excellence in seven categories: Computer Animation, Interactive Art, Digital Communities, Digital Musics and Sound Art, Hybrid Art,  and u-19 Create Your World (a category for kids up to age 19). Previous winners of the prestigious prize have included Pixar in 1987, Wikipedia in 2004, and Wikileaks in 2009.

This year 3,046 entries from 85 countries were submitted for the Prix Ars Electronica Prize. PetaBencana.id was one among 12 projects that received honorable mentions for the Digital Communities category. ‘Digital Communities’ recognizes projects that demonstrate the latest developments in social software, build community action and interaction, strengthen the role and ability for civic participation, and promote social innovation as well as cultural and environmental sustainability through internet technology. Read More

On February 4th 2018, the Peta Bencana Foundation transformed the Fatahillah Square at Kota Tua (Old Town Jakarta) with an anamorphic street art installation. Located along the east bank of the Ciliwung river and surrounded by the Jakarta History Museum, Puppetry Museum, and Fine Art & Ceramics Museum, the square heavily fills up with residents, visitors, artisans, and jugglers on car-free-day Sunday mornings. Peta Bencana took this opportunity to meet with thousands of PetaBencana.id users, as well as to engage with new audiences and launch the second of a series of disaster preparedness events for the 2017/2018 monsoon season. (Read more about our first event here!)

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.

We were excited to see thousands of residents engaging with community art to spread messages of awareness and solidarity in preparedness for the forthcoming monsoon. The installation demonstrated the effectiveness of art installations in communicating, reaching, and engaging a wide and varied demographic.

One visitor commented: “This is a great example of how community-based art can be used for disaster preparedness in a fun and engaging way. What a great community-building and teaching tool as well!”

It was a great opportunity to hear the stories and experiences of the thousands of residents who already use PetaBencana.id, as well as to reach thousands of new users who expressed great interest in learning about the platform and displayed an enthusiasm towards adopting the platform to improve safety for the upcoming monsoon season. We were also encouraged by conversations with residents visiting from other cities in Indonesia, who expressed an eagerness to see the PetaBencana.id platform expand to their locations!

As the crowd collected and conversations grew, passers-by quickly displayed an increased enthusiasm as they begun to share their own stories and experiences of disaster preparedness.

Seeing the success of the combined power of the selfie, social media, and community-art installations in public spaces in supporting community-based resilience, we look forward to hosting the next event! Stay tuned to find out more!