Banda Aceh – A number of students from the United States campus, the University of Rhode Island (URI) conducted a study tour to Syiah Kuala University. During the visit, USK introduced various advantages of USK at this time, one of which was the disaster mitigation program at the USK Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC) Building.
The group of students and lecturers from URI was led by Dr. Brook W. Ross. Their visit was also welcomed by USK Rector Prof. Dr. Ir. Marwan. In his speech, the Rector said that this visit was very special because it could strengthen the cooperation that had been built so far.
“We hope that someday Dr. Brook and the URI Team can return to Aceh with various other cooperation programs with USK,” said the Rector.
On this occasion, Dr. Brook was very appreciative of USK’s welcome to their visit. He considered that various collaboration programs and disaster research from USK were very meaningful for the lives of the wider community.
“Thank you for inviting us to collaborate. This is an extraordinary opportunity,” he said.
USK Disaster Science S-2 Study Program Coordinator Dr. Rina Suryani Oktari, S.Kep., M.Si in her presentation introduced the USK disaster science study program to the URI Team. She revealed that this study program was born with the aim of producing superior human resources in the field of disaster management. Their presence is expected to support government efforts related to disaster mitigation.
“Disaster Science was born as a form of USK’s support in reducing disaster risk in Indonesia and the world, especially in Aceh,” she said. 
TDMRC USK Coordinator Prof. Syamsidik, S.T., M.Sc in his presentation also explained the purpose of this TDMRC.
“TDMRC aims to produce innovative and applied researchers in disaster risk reduction, serve consultation, advocacy, education and training in disaster risk reduction, strengthen cooperation networks, develop institutional capacity and human resources,” he said.
He also said that in TDMRC there are various tools that can be used for various kinds of research such as tsunami research there is a flume, infrastructure resilience research there is a shaking table tool and various other research tools that can be used for research.
