It feels like we’re now up and running here with our programme. We’ve completed our first group of Introductory Visits and met with well over 150 people in the districts we visited – Palu, Donggala, Mataram, Bengkulu, Padang and Pesisir Selatan.

We’ve met motivated people keen to build more resilient communities and learned a lot about the natural hazards and risks the different districts face. We’ve also learned about the challenges encountered trying to reduce risk, and prepare for, respond and recover from disasters.

All the information we’ve gathered will help us prepare for the next step which is the first of the Action Plan workshops in March.

We’ve been very humbled by the enthusiastic welcome and the support and commitment shown for the StIRRRD programme. We’ve also learned a lot about resilience Indonesian style and think there is a lot communities in NZ could learn from the community structures and extended local community networks in place at the village and sub-district level in Indonesia.

We’re looking forward to our next visit!