Government Has a New Disaster Plan for the New Year

Jakarta Globe, Dessy Sagita | December 29, 2010

Following a series of major natural disasters in 2010 that claimed hundreds of lives, the government plans to shift its focus next year to programs aimed at minimizing fatalities, a minister has said.

Three incidents alone this year — flash floods in the West Papua town of Wasior, a tsunami in the Mentawai Islands and the eruption of Mount Merapi — killed around a thousand people in the space of a few weeks.

“There are some disasters we cannot prevent such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes, however, we can do many things to minimize the losses,” Agung Laksono, the coordinating minister for people’s welfare, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

He said the most common disasters this year were floods and landslides, adding that human activity played a role in most of these incidents.

Next year, he added, the government will intensify efforts to educate the public about how they can protect themselves during a disaster.

“Children at school should know what they must do when disaster strikes,” he said. “It should be taught across the country as part of the curriculum.”

Regional governments should take the lead in this educational campaign, the minister said. Municipal authorities, he added, were obliged to inform residents about what to do and where to go in the case of an emergency.

He said the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) was responsible for leading the emergency response and post-disaster rehabilitation.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, BNBP’s director for disaster risk reduction, said focusing on disaster mitigation instead of emergency response was a relatively new idea that was being adopted by countries around the world.

Effective mitigation programs, he said, help save lives and minimize the financial losses from a disaster. He warned, however, that such programs required sizeable investments to set up.

“The government should earmark at least 4 percent from the state budget for disaster mitigation programs and emergency responses,” he said.

Agung said the government would allocate Rp 4 trillion ($444 million) for disaster management in 2011. That is a massive increase from this year’s Rp 500 billion.

He also said the response to this year’s three major disasters had been quicker and more efficient than in the past because of the establishment of two rapid-response units to help deliver emergency aid to victims.

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Indonesia to Put Disaster Mitigation on the Map