Beach cities pilot disaster management

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has been organizing training in four Indonesian cities as part of a disaster prevention and management pilot project.

The ministry has chosen four locations, all well known for their beaches, for the training -- Padang in West Sumatra, Serang in Banten, Denpasar in Bali and Lombok Tengah in West Nusa Tenggara.

"There is no method as yet on setting priorities in disaster prevention measures," said Subandono Diposaptono, head of the Sub-directorate for the Mitigation of Disaster and Environmental Pollution at the ministry.

Subandono told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that most people were clueless when it came to disaster management and mitigation.

"People still don't know what kind of disaster prevention is most important in their areas."

"We've gone to those areas five times in over five months to teach them what they have to do when a disaster occurs and also on mitigation efforts. We have also established a strategic plan," Subandono said.

The project involves officials from the central and local governments, local people and ethnic minority groups, experts and NGO activists.

Subandono said the project started in February and is slated to finish in September.

"The areas selected have the potential for tsunamis and landslides. We chose Padang because it is located at the center of the province and it's also the center for local administration," he said.

"Denpasar was chosen because of its unique tourism. Serang because of its industry and Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara because of its fisheries and maritime biodiversity."

Meanwhile, Indonesian Society for Disaster Management (MPBI) head commissioner Sugeng Triutomo said the fisheries ministry's project in coastal cities and regencies was only part of national disaster management efforts.

He said other government institutions, such as the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) and the Forestry Ministry also had disaster management projects.

"Many Indonesian people are more responsive than preventative when it comes to disasters. We need to change the mind-set of the Indonesian people to be readier when disasters happen," he told the Post.

He said a draft law on disaster management could be passed by the House of Representatives as soon as the end of this month.

"MPBI has been involved in the preparation of the draft law with the House. We've given them strategic and conceptual inputs for the future disaster management law," he said, adding that many local administrations were not yet ready to comply with the disaster management law if it comes into effect.

Sugeng said the national disaster management plan had to be in accord with the Hyogo disaster management resolution, which came out of a conference on disaster reduction in Japan in 2005.