Activities of the Centre

Past activities

In view of the need to rapidly disseminate earthquake information among ASEAN countries, the AEIC has started its activities since the name was first proposed by SCMG. With funding support from the MGA of Indonesia, the Centre issued regular earthquake bulletins which were available to all other ASEAN countries. The issuance of these bulletins were then discontinued due to some technical problems relating to the slowness of computer and communication facilities at the Indonesian NSC in processing earthquake data, and rapid dissemination of processed data to other NSCs in other countries.

Further improvement of facilities and human resources at the Centre was recently made with financial support from the Government of Indonesia allowing more facilities to be upgraded. As a result, near real time earthquake data could now be disseminated to other ASEAN NSCs and interested parties. The Centre also received a boost when it implemented a project on "ASEAN Network for Rapid Exchange of Strong Earthquake Data (ASNET-RESED)" with funding support from the Government of Japan. The project, completed in July 2000, was aimed at enhancing and interconnecting existing facilities of the NSCs of ASEAN countries via the internet to enable them to send and receive seismic data transmission as close to real-time as possible. To achieve the aim of the project, computer facilities were installed in each NSC in ASEAN, and relevant training was given to ASEAN seismologists and technicians.

Another significant achievement of the Centre is the establishment of a website of the AEIC (http://aeic.bmg.go.id) in April 2000. The website, hosted and managed by MGA of Indonesia, displays earthquake and related events and can be accessed by the general public. Further, two application systems for dissemination of earthquake information have been employed by the Centre. The first system allows automatic updating of earthquake information to be done in the web site. The second system allows earthquake data to be sent automatically to email addresses in the mailing list. Since August 2000, earthquake phase data and preliminary hypocenter have been sent automatically to all NSCs in ASEAN and other subscribed members. This information is also sent to the Tsunami alert system of the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA).

Current activities

· Closely maintaining links with all NSCs in ASEAN countries.

· Continuously enhancing earthquake data exchange among NSCs in ASEAN.

· Maintaining and improving the Internet server (email, ftp and web server) at the Centre, and coordinating with other NSCs in upgrading their communication facilities.

· Continuously updating earthquake information in the Web allowing the public be informed of the latest earthquake events, and building data bank to enable scientists to carry out studies on earthquake-related subject in the region.

Future activities

With funding support from the MGA of Indonesia and also from external sources, the AEIC has identified the following activities in the future:

· To upgrade the email server and performance of the web page and the Centre and other NSCs, and to assist NSCs in some member countries to be linked through internet.

· To issue AEIC bulletin, electronic bulletin or/and printed materials for dissemination to registered members and the public.

· To promote public awareness through publication of earthquake manuals for distribution to schools and the general public.

· To conduct training programs and workshops on seismology-related areas such as hypocenter determination, focal mechanism, microzoning and regional tectonic activities.

· To collaborate with other advanced seismological centres in R&D in areas such as earthquake monitoring systems and earthquake prediction.

· To provide facilities for seismologists from member countries for research attachments.