The StIRRRD team arrived in Palu on 9 November 2014 to kick-off the StIRRRD Activity. Palu is the capital of the Province of Central Sulawesi and is quite a large city with a population of about 350,000. The active Palu-Koro Fault has shaped the landscape, with earthquakes, landslides, and debris flows a common occurrence.

We met with old friends and colleagues from Palu on the Monday and held a workshop with them, exploring Palu and surrounding districts’ current risk reduction strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Palu was one of two districts that we worked with on the pilot project in 2011-12 (the other was Padang). We’ll be continuing to work with Palu and Padang over the next few years as well as eight new districts.

There were some 45 people taking part in the workshop in Palu from a mix of organisations including BPBD (emergency management), Bappeda (planning), public works, social and health agencies, NGOs, as well as elected representatives.

The workshop introduced the 5-year Activity and then invited the participants to contribute some information about Palu’s hazards and vulnerabilities in a fun and interactive way. While the exercise generated a lot of good information,  participants had an opportunity to meet and network with new people.

Next stop Donggala.