ESARWG is an association of 9 organizations in the eastern and southern portions of Africa that coordinates seismological activities including training the region of Eastern and Southern Africa.

Its members include 1) University of Nairobi, Kenya, 2) University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 3) Eritrea Institute of Technology, 4) Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, 5) Catholic University of Malawi, 6) National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe, 7) Uganda Geological Survey, 8) Universidad Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique, and 9) Zambia Geological Survey.

In early December 2015, representatives of the ESARWG group met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a training course focused on the determination of earthquake magnitudes in the region. It was sponsored by the International Science Program at Uppsala University in Sweden that provided much of the financial support for the workshop. The workshop was hosted by the Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia with Dr. Atalay Ayele leading the effort.

The workshop focused on a variety of topics related to seismic instrumentation including sensors, acquisition systems, telemetry and power systems, as well as station installation considerations. IRIS participated in the workshop and presented portions of the subject matter related to station installation as well as generation of correct metadata for seismic stations that enables proper determination of magnitudes.

The participants in ESARSWG embrace the concept of open access of data between their countries as well as openly sharing their data beyond their borders. Several small projects were identified where data from several of the stations in the region will become available to the broader seismological community, some of which will come to the IRIS DMC. Dr. Atalay Ayele (second from the left in the front row) was the host for the training course.