PPRD SOUTH III, the first online course on the myDEWETRA.world platform

The first training dedicated to the Civil Protection Department’s myDEWETRA.World platform, which provides global data on flood and fire risks, was held between September 24^th and October 8^th, 2020

The first myDEWETRA.world platform online training was designed within the PPRD South III project and had place during September and October 2020. Started in 2018, PPRD South III is a project aimed at improving risk management and coordination in the European Neighborhood countries – Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. Part of the project foresees the installation of an Early Warning support system based on myDEWETRA.world.

“The main difference among the Italian version of myDEWETRA and myDEWETRA.world is that the latter collects a multitude of data available at a global level that constitute an excellent basis for all possible users,” explains Antonio Libroia, project manager for CIMA Research Foundation. “It includes both static data, such as exposure and national boundaries, and dynamic data from different hydrological, meteorological and forest fire models. It allows also for the integration of local or national data that, through a dedicated interface, allow to improve the monitoring and forecasting of extreme events”.

Beneficiary countries participating at the PPRD South III project will be able to participate in training courses and on the development of future implementation plans of myDewetra.world at national level in teir own countries. The training held in September, in fact, was the first of three planned within the project: it was aimed to acquire some basic knowledge about the platform and to understand how it can be adapted and used operationally at the national level.

“The course took place over two weeks. It gathered about thirty participants from the different countries operating in various sectors of civil protection, such as experts in hydrology, warning systems and GIS tools,” Libroia continues. The pandemic led to a rethinking of how to administer the training courses, and this was the first course on the myDEWETRA.world platform organized completely online.

“We adopted a mixed mode, with synchronous and asynchronous sessions combined with a final exercise on the preparation of alert bulletins. The course used the moodle-based e-learning platform of CIMA Research Foundation”, Libroia concludes. “We organized the course in an interactive way and individual exercises were also carried out. The training is a deliverable of the project, but it is also important because it gives interested countries the opportunity to use the platform, paving the way for potential future collaboration in assistance and support for the development and strengthening of Early Warning Systems in North Africa”.

DEVELOPED BY

By allowing the analysis and the exchange of real-time risk information among multiple practioneers, myDEWETRAworld contributes to the achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

myDEWETRA.world is an integrated system developed by the Italian Department of National Civil Protection (DPC)- Presidency of the Council of Ministers, for real-time prediction, monitoring and surveillance of natural hazards (floods, landslides and wildfires). The system is the result of an Agreement among DPC and CIMA Research Foundation for science-based disaster risk management methodologies and technologies in Italy and in countries where the Italian Cooperation is active. myDEWETRA.world combines scientific knowledge, methodologies and the standardization of operating procedures. It is subject to continuous research and development in order to meet the needs of disaster risk managers and meteo-hydrological national services. For the DPC - Responsible for the Convention: Eng. Paola Pagliara | Design and Requirements: Eng. Angela C. Corina.