Thousands of Schools Attend Training on Disaster Risk Reduction

Tempo Interactive, Friday, 06 August, 2010 | 14:59 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Yogyakarta: As many as 2.293 schools in Yogyakarta have organized training on disaster risk management for students and teachers. Yogyakarta is an area susceptible to disasters, from earthquakes, tornadoes, to landslides. The training was facilitated by Arbeiter Samariter Bund, a Germany-based non-governmental organization.

“We have been providing education on disaster risk management to schools since 2006,” said Yogyakarta Arbeiter Samariter executive, Wahyu Sulastomo, yesterday. For this program, Arbeiter Samariter is cooperating with the local Education Office, the Yogyakarta Disaster Risk Reduction Forum, and the European Commission Humanitarian Assistance.

According to Wahyu, in 2006, their training program began from schools in Sleman, Bantul, Yogyakarta regencies. The next year, they moved to Gunungkidul and Bantul, and in 2008 the training was held in Klaten, Central Java.

This Saturday, Wahyu said, disaster preparation training will be organized for children with special needs at the Gadjah Mada University. The program will last for 15 months, involving children from 35 sub districts and 230 villages in Yogyakarta.

Suroyo, the Yogyakarta Education, Youth, and Sports Office chief in charge of Special and Basic Education, said all schools in Yogyakarta are required to follow a disaster risk management simulation every three months.

Besides the training, he continued, at least 90 percent of the school buildings in Yogyakarta are earthquake-resistant. “After the earthquake in 2006, schools in Yogyakarta are designed to resist earthquakes,” he said.

MUH SYAIFULLAH