Reporting disasters is a complex, demanding and sometimes risky activity for journalists.

However, the amount of workplace preparation for such coverage can sometimes be limited.

Over the past few months, at the invitation of a skilled Brisbane broadcaster and producer Anthony Frangi, I’ve had the pleasure of co-developing an online training course for the London-based Commonwealth Broadcasting Association.

Anthony and I have drawn on decades of research, newsroom and firsthand experience to put together a package that will begin to help remedy that situation.

Aided by CBA project manager Adam Weatherhead, who helped set up the content of the course on the CBA’s Moodle content management system, we put the finishing touches on the training package last week.

The first of our nine training modules went live on March 18, 2013, and I will have the privilege of tutoring its initial 20 Caribbean participants over the coming weeks.

See the CBA website for more about this project.

UPDATE: This online course was short-listed for a prestigious Nexus Commonwealth Award (in the Making a Difference Category) in June, 2013.