** March 2022 News from Sentinel Asia Project Office **- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *Topics:
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters
2. [Interview] Mr. Sadhu Zukhruf Janottama, Mr. Keith Paolo Landicho, and Mr. Mohammad Fadli(AHA Centre)
3. How to Send an Emergency Observation Request
4. Using the Sentinel Asia Operation System, OPTEMIS- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters(1) Flood in Thailand on 24 February, 2022 (GLIDE Number FL-2022-000180-THA)
Heavy rain over Malay Peninsula in late February brought flooding in southern Thailand.
According to ReliefWeb, 12,129 households were affected. The Thaiger reported that a bridgein Narathiwat Province collapsed and six people were killed.
(https://reliefweb.int/report/thailand/thailand-flooding-southern-region-25-feb-2022,
https://thethaiger.com/news/national/southern-thailand-flooding-causes-bridge-collapse-6people-reported-dead)Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) made an Emergency
Observation Request (EOR) to Sentinel Asia on 3 March. Among Data Provider Nodes (DPNs),
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Applied ResearchLaboratories (NARL) provided data. Among Data Analysis Nodes (DANs), the Mohammed
Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), and the Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT) provided their VAPs. Information on the latest response by
Sentinel Asia is available at the following link:
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2022/article20220224TH.html

Satellite image (ALOS-2) provided by JAXA

Satellite image (FORMOSAT-5) provided by NARL

Value-Added Product by EOS

Value-Added Product by MBRSC

Value-Added Product by AIT- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *2. [Interview] Mr. Sadhu Zukhruf Janottama, Mr. Keith Paolo Landicho, and Mr. Mohammad Fadli(AHA Centre)
The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA
Centre) is one of the key players in the Sentinel Asia community. Since its establishment in 2011,
the AHA Centre has been engaged in monitoring, preparedness, and response related to disasters
in the ASEAN Region. While the AHA Centre has been supporting Sentinel Asia with its
extensive network and distinguished expertise as an international organization, recently, its
support for and partnership with Sentinel Asia has been strengthened further.

The Sentinel Asia secretariat interviewed AHA Centre staff members to introduce their activities
reflecting the centre’s dedicated support for the ASEAN region through its partnership with
Sentinel Asia.

Left to Right: Mr. Sadhu Zukhruf Janottama, Disaster Monitoring and Analysis Officer, AHA
Centre; Mr. Keith Paolo Landicho, Disaster Monitoring and Analysis Officer, AHA Centre; Mr.
Mohammad Fadli, Pacific Disaster Center, AHA Centre Liaison
Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
The AHA Centre lists (1) Disaster Monitoring, (2) Preparedness and Response, and(3) Capacity Building as its activities. Including these points, could you explain your roleand mission in ASEAN?
Mr. Janottama:
One of the core strategies and pillars that translate the spirit of One ASEAN, One Response
into concrete actions is to perform Risk Identification, Early Warning, and Monitoring.
Through these activities, the AHA Centre aims to reduce loss of life and damage to property
from disasters caused by natural hazards through the identification of risks prior to impacts
and by increasing warning time.
The AHA Centre works closely with the national disaster management organizations(NDMOs) of all ten ASEAN member states in monitoring and sharing information about
hazards and disasters in the region. The AHA Centre also conducts hazard and disastermonitoring from various verified sources such as hydrometeorological and geologicalagencies of the ten ASEAN Member States. Information management and dissemination,
including information from Sentinel Asia, may help strengthen the coordination efforts ofassisting parties when responding to potential as well as actual disasters. The AHA Centre
believes that accurate information, shared in a timely manner, might help save lives during
critical times.
The AHA Centre, particularly the Disaster Monitoring and Analysis unit, use two primary
tools/platforms to perform 24/7 monitoring of hazards and disasters in the ASEAN region,
namely the ASEAN Disaster Monitoring and Response System (DMRS) and the ASEAN

Disaster Information Network (ADINet). The DMRS is a tool that shows real-time
information of the hazards in the region as they happen, as well as hydrometeorological data,such as wind direction and speed, clouds, sea temperature, etc. The maps can be overlaid
with additional information such as population density data, location of criticalinfrastructures, and other spatial data that can aid decision-making during emergency
response operations. The ADINet is a repository of information concerning hazards anddisasters that have happened in the region. The platform is open to the public. The AHA
Centre verifies and validates any submitted information to ensure the accuracy of the data.
ADINet has been recording disaster information in the region since 2012.
Mr. Fadli:
DMRS is a derivative product from “DisasterAWARE”, which is operated to monitor not
only regionally but also globally and consists of multiple layers that include all the required
information for disaster monitoring.
Mr. Janottama:
Added to the second item of the first question, as a part of its preparedness and response
efforts, the AHA Centre develops various tools and guidance to accelerate the mobilizationof resources between ASEAN member states and its partners in times of disaster.
For the third item of the first question, about capacity building, the AHA Centre supports thenational disaster management authorities across ASEAN member states through capacity
building to build a disaster-resilient region. There are two signature courses in the ASEAN
region. One is the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT),
and the other is the AHA Centre Executive (ACE) Programme that is designed to prepare
future leaders of disaster management in ASEAN.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
How do the DMRS and Sentinel Asia contribute to each other?
Mr. Fadli:
We process some of the information gathered from the main system, “DisasterAWARE”.
The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) collects and includes information from various sourcesfrom other organizations such as Sentinel Asia, the UN, etc. where they publish reports. For
any disasters or hazards that happen globally, our team is standing by to make inputs to thesystem so that we can distribute information to the public soon, and then local governments
and organizations can refer to and use the data for disaster responses.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
The Sentinel Asia Secretariat deeply appreciates your contribution to past Emergency
Observation Requests (EORs) that you supported. Could you tell us about the AHA Centre’srole in case of EORs and list some EORs important to you or where Sentinel Asia could
significantly contribute?
Mr. Janottama:First of all, speaking of EORs, the AHA Centre is working as the coordination centre amongten ASEAN member states. Concerning EORs to Sentinel Asia, the AHA Centre not only
works as a requester, but also supports other users from the ten ASEAN member states for
EORs to Sentinel Asia. The AHA Centre, in close coordination with national disastermanagement organisations (NDMO), also checks and monitors the EORs to Sentinel Asia
from the other departments or ministries in the ten ASEAN member states to avoid
duplication of the EORs.
I would cite the following EORs as particularly important ones to the AHA Centre in recent
times. What is significant in these EORs, in my view, is that these EORs are made by the
AHA Centre itself and the products and information provided by Sentinel Asia were used in
AHA Centre internal meetings/analyses, as well as shared with the 10 ASEAN member
states.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Flooding in Myanmar, 27 July 2021
Typhoon GONI in the Philippines, 1 November 2020
Flooding in Cambodia, 17 October 2020
Flood in Aceh, Indonesia, 8 May 2020
Flood in Jakarta, Banten, and West Java Province, Indonesia, 1 January 2020

Mr. Landicho:
Among the five EORs that Mr. Janottama mentioned, personally, I would cite the case of
Typhoon GONI as the best. Back in November 2020, Typhoon GONI hit the Philippines andI myself made an EOR for the Philippines. This EOR stems from lessons learned during an
earlier EOR made by myself as well less than a month before Typhoon GONI. In October
2020, Tropical Cyclones LINFA and NANGKA combined with the effects of the InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affected Viet Nam and as mentioned, we used data fromthe Data Analysis Nodes (DANs) and Data Provider Nodes (DPNs) of Sentinel Asia in our
information product—Situation update, to aid our emergency response operations back in
October (for Viet Nam) and November (for the Philippines). It was the first time for the
AHA Centre to respond to disasters in the region during a pandemic and it was advantageous
to identify which areas were accessible and which areas were most impacted in such a flood
situation using the data from the Sentinel Asia network. We were able to identify priority
areas which was crucial for the response. That is one of the best practical cases for us.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
The AHA Centre issues “Situation Update” and “Flash Update” for several types ofdisasters. Could you introduce these?
Mr. Janottama:
Situation Update of the AHA Centre is a disaster information product which specificallyprovides information related to a disaster that being responded to by the AHA Centre. You
can see the details at https://ahacentre.org/situation-updates/.
Flash Update is a disaster information product which provides immediate brief information
about an emerging and/or actual significant disaster in the ASEAN region that may be theimpetus of a significant impact and/or potential humanitarian operations which does not yet
require our response at the time. Most first updates come from the ASEAN member states,
and in our experience, data from Sentinel Asia is used for updates. You can see the details at
https://ahacentre.org/flash-updates/

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
Were there any cases where you introduced Sentinel Asia EOR statuses or their VAPs in“Situation Update” or “Flash Update” and which resulted in contact/feedback from outsideor actual support?
Mr. Landicho:
The AHA Centre mostly used the Sentinel Asia EOR products in the Situation Update. Now,
speaking of cases which resulted in actual support, as I mentioned earlier, I would cite thecase of Typhoon GONI in 2020. The super typhoon affected the Philippines and Viet Nam.
In the Situation Update in 2020 for GONI, processed data—detected flooding by the DANsof the Sentinel Asia network—were used in the information products. The series of Situation
Updates were circulated within the AHA Centre’s network, the governing board (GB) of the
AHA Centre - ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management, ASEAN Secretariat and partner
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international non-governmental organizations(INGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), etc. As mentioned in the Situation Update,Sentinel Asia and Earth Observatory Singapore (EOS) ARIA-SG provided several raw andanalysed satellite images that can support the ongoing emergency response. What isparticularly significant is that, since this was one of AHA’s first responses amidst the
COVID-19 pandemic in which situation monitoring and relief and rescue activities from theground were severely challenged, the information provided by Sentinel Asia and its
dissemination via Situation Update warranted a pandemic-adjusted response. To be specific,
we have managed to identify which areas were accessible and which areas were most

impacted in such a flood situation. Thus, we were able to provide relief goods easily andconsider which areas should be more prioritized. I think that is one instance where it's reallyadvantageous to have this partnership with Sentinel Asia.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
In terms of the AHA Centre’s role in raising awareness of Sentinel Asia to the public, we
also appreciate your introduction of Sentinel Asia activities in “ARMOR” issued by the
AHA Centre in March 2019, focusing on the effectiveness and significance of Sentinel
Asia’s space-based disaster support. Could you explain the purpose of this and its
significance for ASEAN disaster management organizations, including the AHA Centre?
Also, could you share with us the outcome of this ARMOR, if any?
Mr. Janottama:
The ASEAN Risk Monitor and Disaster Management Review (ARMOR) in 2019 aimed atconsolidating knowledge related to risk monitoring and disaster management within the
ASEAN region, and seeking to provide a mechanism for the sharing of best practices and thelatest research and analysis. At the same time, the ARMOR was to showcase innovations andinspire disaster managers and researchers across the region and the world, or what we called
bridging science to decision-making. And Sentinel Asia was introduced in Chapter 10 on“Utilization of Space-based Information for Supporting Emergency Response andRecovery”, based on actual emergency response experiences in which space-based
information was utilized alongside direct field observation to inform operational decision
making. This ARMOR underlined the benefit of Sentinel Asia for the ASEAN region andrecommended that all national disaster management organisations (NDMOs) of ASEAN
member states be exposed to the Sentinel Asia platform. In fact, as the primary target of the
ARMOR is the NDMOs of the ten ASEAN member states, they are being effectively
exposed to the works and information of Sentinel Asia. This can be helpful for the ten
ASEAN member states, as well as the AHA Centre to have smooth and good coordination
with Sentinel Asia.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
In recent Sentinel Asia EORs, the AHA Centre is recognized as a key partner in ASEAN,
especially in the “Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Emergency Observation
Requests”, one established in Myanmar last year, and two others in Cambodia and Lao PDR
this year, and you are recognized expressly as a pre-defined active body of EORs. What does
the AHA Centre think about this? How do you expect to make disaster management support
more efficient through these SOPs?

Mr. Landicho:
The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Emergency Observation Requests provides us
a clearer role and task to support the national agencies / ASEAN member states. This canallow us to support the ten ASEAN member states especially when they are busy to conduct
Emergency Response Operations. This is also in line with the primary mandate of the AHA
Centre as a coordinating agency to support the ten ASEAN member states. It will also be
advantageous to build on these SOPs for EORs and embed them in the AHA Centre’s
guidelines like the EOR Guidelines or DMA guidelines. Seeing the speed and scale of theSentinel Asia network’s work, we feel positive about building on these relationships
especially for areas in Southeast Asia because there tends to be potential underreporting ofdisasters.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
As a cooperative effort between Sentinel Asia and the AHA Centre, upon invitation from the
AHA Centre, Sentinel Asia participated in “the AHA Centre Executive (ACE) Programme”
organized by the AHA Centre. First, could you tell our readers a little bit about the ACE
Programme?
Mr. Janottama:
The AHA Centre Executive (ACE) Programme is designed to prepare future leaders of
disaster management in ASEAN. I think the ACE Programme is by far the most intensive
disaster management training programme in the region. Through cooperation with theGovernment of Japan, the ACE Programme aims to enhance the capacity of ASEAN
member states’ disaster managers through the exchange of knowledge and skills amongst
them and with other disaster management experts in the region as well as outside the region.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
In the ACE Programme’s 7th batch last year, a special joint session was organized, led by
Prof. Mizan Bisri from Kobe University, through cooperation among Sentinel Asia’s
volunteer Joint Project Team members based in Japan. Young professionals and future
leaders of disaster management authorities in ASEAN countries learned about theapplication of satellite data for disaster management in this area. Could you tell us thesignificance and outcome of this joint session for the AHA Centre? And if you have any
feedback from the participants or reports on the session results, could you tell us aboutthem?
Mr. Landicho:
From my point of view, the importance of the joint session with Sentinel Asia in the ACE

programme is to have a good foundation of the theoretical knowledge, especially for those
who are still learning, and show the cooperation between Sentinel Asia and the AHA Centre
as a practical example.
Mr. Janottama:
In fact, the DMA Officers of the AHA Centre also joined this session as participants together
with the representatives of the ten ASEAN member states. This session was beneficial for
the AHA Centre and NDMOs to understand the work and role of Sentinel Asia, including
how we can connect our work and projects to Sentinel Asia. This session also provided
useful knowledge and information for the participants, as reflected by the summary of the
feedback from the participants below. Thanks to this Sentinel Asia session, they have also
learned to relate the session materials that are relevant to what they are doing in the office.
More importantly, they feel that the issues raised by the session connect to activities,
projects, programmes, and policies in their country.
I think the significance and outcome of this joint session for the AHA Centre would be our
exposure to Sentinel Asia’s activities and inspiration for future collaboration to raiseawareness. We will need to discuss internally first, but we hope to propose projects for the
future.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
Could you tell us how the AHA Centre will contribute to Sentinel Asia in the future,
considering the above points?
Mr. Fadli:
The ADINet might be useful for DAN to make their data more precise, so I hope Sentinel
members take a look of it. It is available for the public at https://adinet.ahacentre.org/.
Mr. Landicho:
I think the AHA Centre can contribute to Sentinel Asia in the future by continuing to makeemergency observation requests for ASEAN member states as well as providing feedback,and maintaining the partnership between us. The AHA Centre is also at a good vantage pointin coordinating not just response and relief efforts but also monitoring efforts in a regional
scale. Therefore, our partnership with Sentinel Asia not only strengthens regional
preparedness but also the international community of translating the spirit of One ASEAN
One Response into action.

* - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *3. How to send an Emergency Observation Request
JPT member organizations are entitled to send an Emergency Observation Request (EOR) for
disasters in the Asia-Pacific region. Please refer to https://sentinel-asia.org/elearning/Emergency_Observation_Request.html.
EOR Order Desk:
Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)
HP: http://www.adrc.asia/
E-mail: sarequest@adrc.asia
FAX: +81-78-262-5546,
TEL: +81-78-262-5540- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *4. Using Sentinel Asia Operation System, OPTEMIS
Sentinel Asia launched a new operation system, OPTEMIS. Please refer to the website on how tocreateanaccount
for
OPTEMIS.
https://sentinel-asia.org/elearning/Emergency_Observation_Request.html+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+=
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