By Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation, and Management
AIT’s innovative disaster risk management (DRM) platform, CRISTA, marked a major milestone in its expansion to Lao PDR with a Project Inception Meeting, Stakeholder Workshop, and Field Observation Visits in Luang Prabang on 11-13 February 2026. Convening government authorities, humanitarian organizations, and local communities, the three-day engagement laid the foundation for piloting the digital system to strengthen disaster preparedness, emergency response, and critical infrastructure risk management in the country.
Developed by AIT’s Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management and led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Indrajit Pal, CRISTA is a geospatial digital platform that supports real-time hazard/incident monitoring and impact assessment at local levels for improved disaster preparedness and emergency response. Building on its successful pilot in Nepal, the project aims to adapt and operationalize CRISTA in Lao PDR in partnership with the National University of Laos (NUOL) and with funding support from WFP’s Humanitarian Innovation Accelerator Sprint Programme (HIA 2.0).
Stakeholders discuss gaps and CRISTA complementarities
The Inception Meeting and Stakeholder Workshop brought together over 25 participants representing central, provincial, and district-level government agencies, universities, humanitarian actors, WFP Laos, civil society organizations, and community representatives.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Khathtiya Vannasack, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, highlighted Luang Prabang’s increasing exposure to climate-related disasters and the urgent need for improved coordination, timely data, and practical tools to protect infrastructure and communities. Dr. Bae Pheaxay, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at NUOL, emphasized the critical role of research and innovation in supporting data generation, capacity building, and long-term risk management planning.
Dr. Indrajit Pal and Ms. Oulavanh Sinsampanh (NUOL) introduced CRISTA’s ability to support real-time incident reporting and monitoring, impact assessment, response prioritization, and public alerts – features that resonated strongly with local authorities facing information gaps during emergencies.
Panel and focus-group discussions helped establish a shared understanding of disaster risks, institutional roles and operational challenges in Lao PDR. Officials and humanitarian actors shared real-world experiences of responding to disaster events, revealing challenges related to delayed incident reporting, fragmented data storage, limited impact assessment methods, warning and advisory capacities and reliance on traditional communication channels. Participants also explored how CRISTA could complement existing disaster management systems, strengthen coordination between agencies, and improve the speed and accuracy of emergency response decisions.
Community visits underscore the importance of CRISTA
Following the workshop, the CRISTA project team conducted field observation visits to areas affected by past floods and landslide events. The visits included interactions with local communities who shared firsthand accounts of flood impacts, response timelines, and recovery challenges. These on-site observations provided critical insights into how hazard and infrastructure damage data are currently generated, communicated, and utilized at local and provincial levels and reinforced the relevance of CRISTA’s geospatial and real-time monitoring capabilities, particularly for remote and high-risk areas.
