National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection‘’ We are from different countries, but we are all connected to the ocean.’’ isthe most impressive sentence in my heart. I still how I felt before attending
this program.
This was the first time I presented something unfamiliar. I knew that theprogram was about disaster, gender and vulnerability. The topic was closely
connected to all of us, but I couldn't really understand it before I finished thissummer program. In order to get more understanding about this issue, ourteacher invited several domestic experts to teach us. At that time, I had apreliminary understanding of this issue and started to research Taiwan’sdisaster. The disasters in Taiwan are mostly typhoons and earthquakes, andthis is very similar to Japan's. Because of the geographical location, Taiwan
and Japan suffer many typhoons and earthquakes every year. Typhoon causes
severe floods and mudslide. Taiwan’s terrain is long and narrow, so most of
the water will flow to the sea in a short time. I think this is the difference
between Taiwan and Jogja. Therefore, Taiwan has no flood policy but , wehave many reconstruction policies after disaster.
I have learned a lot about volcanoes in this program. Jogja has many
experience and techniques of recovery and evacuation. From few days ofclasses and outdoor visits, I found that Jogja has strong disaster link system.
They divided the volcanic eruption into several stages. Before eruption, theyneed to start the early warning system and let residents in dangerous areas toevacuate. During eruptions, many evacuation centers are already toaccommodate the refugees. After the eruption, they will check if the area issafe for the refugees to settle down.
Throughout the process, many professional organizations have cooperated
with each others very well which is what Taiwan lacks. I think the history andreligion in Jogja play a very important role. When we visit Museum Mt.
Merapi, we not only learned knowledge about Merapi, but also respect
theYogyakarta people. They trust the volcanic eruption is the anger from theearth, so they have a ceremony to the volcano or observe the volcano fromanimal's behavior. This is not to resist it, but to find a balance between
themselves and the volcano. Therefore, when the volcano is about to erupt, aseries of evacuation or rescue system don't make me feel that panic and I
found that people in Jogja were willing to devote themselves and cooperate

1National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection with each others. And,

there were no conflicts between the government and the residents. Taiwan’s
rebuild and reconstruction policies after typhoon hit the area often cause theaborigines fall into panic. From residents' interview, I think Jogja government
has done a good job in this matter.
Jogja brought us together, regardless of our background, we accepted eachothers and learned from each others. Gender and Vulnerability Role indisaster is really an important and necessary issue. ’’ We are from different
countries, but we are all connected to the ocean.’’ We need to keep in touchand care about what happens in the world. I will miss our time in Jogja.

2National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Lauren/ YI-CHING, PENG

Reflection

I am Lauren, a student from Nationial Kaohsiung University of Scienceand Technology. The very first time I set my eyes on this program, I had noidea what I could say about it. We all had a hard time understanding any
related topics with this program when we were in Taiwan. However, after wearrived in Yogyakarta for nearly two weeks, we started to get familiar andinterested about it. There were so many excellent professors giving lectures
to us. Every professor got their own professional lessons to us. Professor
Hafiz Amirrol's lesson was the one I got interested in the most. He didn’t use
too many difficult words to present, instead he talked in an easy way to guide
every student. Except the lectures, there were also many meaningful games
teaching us how to confront with the really disasters.
One of the games taught by Professor Hafiz Amirrol was giving us
characters like NGO, government, media, donor, victim and so on to actout. Victim was the one I acted out ,so I could temporarily feel how
depressed the real ones were. When I acted out as the victim, I told media
how sorrow we felt and how helpless we were. No one came to give ahelpng hand or cared what was going on here. It was just a simulated
situation, but it gave a whole new experience to the disaster. I can't imagine
how chaotic and panicking disasters can causae. This kind of situation
reminded me of the presentation I did on September 13th. Every woman I
interviewed suffered a great deal of pain during rehabilitation.
However, they all conquered their fear with the support of their families. I
finally can understand how desperate the situation could be.
The other game was played on our last day. Through team work we learned
the power of listening. We often ignored others when we only listen to what
we want to hear.. Why listening is so important? Because it can make usaware of emergency in when disaster strikes.
Besides attending classes, having time with all the students in different
shelters and museums were quite a special memory. I will never forget theirkindness and passion to teach us the knowledge we didn’t know, even thesilly ones. I really appreciated it. Although we came from different countries
and spoke different languages, we got together to complete this program
perfectly.

3National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

This was the first time I came to Indonesia as well as the first time in Jogja.
I loved the food and weather in Jogja. All the people were so nice and kind tous. We started to miss everything there just one day after we came home!The
most impressive one to me was the cultural diversity. I noticed this as I was
shopping on Malioboro road. Chatting with vendors and people was very
funny and interesting. Thanks to all the teachers and fellow students I met inJogja. If I didn’t attend this program, I wouldn't have known how amazing
this city was.

4National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

Cathy/Chen-Lu, Wang
The topic of this program is Gender and Vulnerability in Disaster Risk
Reduction Support. I think it’s important to understand the prevention andsolution of different disasters, how a disaster brings great effects to gender,
the meaning of vulnerability and who the vulnerable people are.
Gender is socially constructed by biology, culture and social factors. I
think it is the roles and responsibilities of men and women that make women
become the vulnerable people because they are not guided in a correct way toevacuate when the disaster comes and they have to stay at home to take careof the children and the elderly which makes them have no chance to evacuate
in time.
We have classes about different kinds of disasters and lots of discussions
considering more proper ways in four phases (prevention, preparedness,response and recovery) when the disaster strikes. During the classes, I’ve
learned a lot of knowledge about different kinds of disasters, including thedefinitions and solutions of floods, earthquake , typhoon and volcanic
eruption in different countries. Besides, some students shared their ownexperience, the situation and solution in their countries during the class. I
really appreciate that because I learned more and realized more through theseexperiences.
When the disaster strikes, we need someone who can be the leader in thecommunity and people trust his words so that they do whatever he says,
operation section is responsible for managing the evacuation route andshelters’ location, planning section is responsible for preparing all the needsfor victims, logistic section is responsible for delivering the goods to shelters
so that the victims could maintain their daily necessities, and there is also afinancial section.
In recovery phase, we have to confirm whether we have prepared all thenecessities for the victims, including shelters, food, water, sanitation, andhealth problems. Furthermore, if some villages are destroyed by the disaster,
we need to find a proper place for them to build a relocation village so thatthe victims could restart their lives.
After learning the knowledge and prevention ways to the disaster, wevisited BPBD in Sleman district management centre and early warning system
5National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

in coastal and mountain areas. We saw the goods they have already prepared
for the next disaster, the system they used to predict the disasters and observe
the activity of the volcano, and the shelters they used to be an evacuation
center.
Through participating in this summer program, I have learned lots ofthings and knowledge that I have never known before. Every country has its
own disasters and solutions. If we can know the information from different
countries, we can figure out more proper solutions when disaster strikes.
The most precious thing for me was making friends with students fromJapan and Indonesia. Though we all came from different countries, haddifferent cultures and spoke different language, we shared what we liked, what
we loved, what we had done, and where we had been to. The most precious
connection between people is that they care, share and trust each other. Thus,
it’s pretty nice that all of us could treat each other as old friends without any
language barrier between us.
It’s an honor for me to participate in this summer program as well as agreat chance to improve myself and to make more international friends. I hope
this program can last so that more people can be aware of the importance ofthis issue.

6National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

Vivian/KAI-WEI, HSIAO
I am Vivian, a student from National Kaohsiung University. Shipping andtransportation is my major, I had no idea about disaster, gender and resilience
before taking part in this program. There are lots of disasters happening in thewhole world. Luckily, I haven’t experienced in any disaster so far. It was a
totally different challenge to me. Before going to Indonesia, my teacher asked
me to present a report concerning gender and disaster. I misunderstood themeaning of it at the beginning and felt frustrating. ‘I cannot finish the reportand I want to give up’ was the only sentence came through my mind at thattime. However, my classmates encouraged me to keep going and gave mesources to support me to complete the report. I can never thank them enough.
This was my first time going abroad, I was excited and a little nervous.
There was a special experience for me when I was at CGK airport. I didn’tknow that it was forbidden to take photos in front of the customs. I was taken
to a small room to answer some questions. After some time, I was released
and I would never dare to take any photos again in any airports.
The place we stayed was called homestay N38 where was a very niceplace. The buildings were not as tall as ours in Taiwan. When we knew that
the Japanese students couldn’t arrive on time, we were disappointed.
On the first day, we did a cultural performance with kind and friendly
Indonesian students. After having classes, we went back to take shower, andfound that there was no hair dryer. We just waited for our hair to get dry andfelt asleep. On the second day, the class I had was called ‘Respect’. We allknow how to write ‘Respect’ in English, Chinese, Japanese or
Indonesian. However, it is not easy for us to do it in reality. People fromdifferent countries, different cultures and speak different languages need to berespected by everyone.
There are no volcanic eruptions in Taiwan. I have read about volcanos inbooks only. We paid a visit to Mountain Merapi which was my first time tosee a volcano. We also went to the museum of Merapi and learned a lot ofknowledge about volcanos. For example, there were many ways volcanos
erupt, not only the lava that we saw in movies. Even though volcanoes can bedisastrous, they can be beneficial to citizens too. For example, the rock ofMerapi.
7National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

The day we presented our report gave me an unforgettable experience.
There were some videos in our report that we could play without any problems
before we presented. However, it wouldn't play during our presentation. It
was so pity and frustrating. Unpleasant things do happen unexpectedly.
The last part I want to share is the people I met in Indonesia, the Japaneseand the Indonesians. As I said before, we all came from different countries
with different languages. However, we tried our best to speak English tocommunicate with each other. In these two weeks, besides learning disastercourses, I got warmth from all the friends. We stayed together, studied together
and partied together. We were like a big family.
On the last day in Indonesia, I felt upset because all the Japanese friends
had to leave earlier. Homestay N38 suddenly became empty and very quiet.
If not for this program, we wouldn't have the chance to know each other. It
will be wonderful if we can meet again someday to share our life stories.

8National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

Michael Alfera
First, I want to say thank you to UGM and Kobe University as facilitatorsof this summer course and especially Mrs. Melyza Perdana, Professor Roni
Alexander, and colleagues for handling this course. Also, I want to say thankyou to Professor Hui Lung Yu and Professor Sun Jhih Sian for inviting me tojoin this summer course. Also, my thanks to all the participants from different
countries and universities joining this course.
2018 UNESCO Chair summer course offered a course for people whoweren't familiar or didn't do the research related to Gender and Vulnerability.
From this two-week course, I personally got a lot of new point of view of how
to treat people (gender equity) equally and more women are supported tobecome decision makers in decision making process. In 21st centuries, thereare still a lot of unsolved problems that are related to gender and vulnerability.
So, we need to consider more about this problem for our future because
disaster is happening more often than before, and the biggest impact of thedisaster is number of women and children as victims is bigger than men. We
also learn a lot of disaster prevention and recover process from a lot ofdifferent perspectives. In this course, we were taught by lecturers about
flooding, volcanic eruption, earthquake, and tsunami disaster prevention andrecovery. And, as a bonus for me, we learned how NGO worked from different
perspectives that general public never thought about. The visitation program
to disaster management office was a meaningful experience. I will also neverforget about the group project and other program such as visitation to
Borobudur temple, etc.
This course was facilitated by UGM in 2018 and it was a great course
and meaningful to me. However, more preparations needed to be done byperson in charge of this course. I summaries are as followed and hopefully
they can be considered for the future program.
1. Need more preparedness for this event because for me the information of
the course was limited and sometimes the information wasn’t clear enoughfor the participants
2. Language translator or interpreter is the most important point in this course
because there were a lot of participants from different countries withdifferent level of English ability. Sometimes students needed to translate
without clarifying which became an awkward mistake9

National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

3. Time management and group project management needed to be improved
so that participants know that we were on schedule. Most of the programs
were not punctual and sometimes participants from UGM left suddenly
without notifying (participants should have asked UGM lecturers to makesure that the Indonesian students who helped us in the group were available).
4. Make a brief information before the event started so that every participant
would know what they should prepare and do; such as course information,brief information about the country that held the event, weather information,
how much personal expenses needed to be prepared, etc.
Regardless of the above four points that I have quoted, I still feelsatisfied with this program and once again thanks to all the people whoinvolved in this program.
P.S. This summary can be quoted by event facilitator.

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National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management

Reflection

Joy/TING-YUN, LI
I am honored to participate in this overseas program held by the University
in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Initially, when I heard about this program, I felt
uneasy. I didn't think my English ability was good enough to talk about
disaster and gender issues. However, I was very fortunate to be encouragedand advised by the teachers. This is a great experience in my life.
During the program in Indonesia, teachers arranged lecturers fromdifferent professional fields and discussions on gender and disaster issues.
There were eight hours of lessons a day. At the end of a day, we could sharedifferent viewpoints from different countries' disaster reduction and relief
practices. We also shared the disaster issues through researches, education andpolicies

They were group work to arrange prevention and disaster relief for the
local volcanic disasters in Yogyakarta, discussion on gender issues, impacts
in the disaster relief process, and personal assignment and presentation.
The teachers arranged us to visit local disaster relief centers and village tounderstand how to rescue and rebuild after volcanic eruption. I reallyappreciated this visiting experience.
Although my English is not very good, everyone was willing to listenpatiently and gave me response. I could use body language so that I was notafraid to communicate. This is a very unforgettable experience for me. Ingroup discussion, I learned a lot from different nationalities' point of view.
I met friends from Japan, Indonesia, China and other countries. We
exchanged culture, ideas and issues. It certainly has broaden my horizon andlearned more new knowledge.

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