Indonesia's Disaster Awareness Plan Targets Schools, Hospitals
Jakarta. If there was a fire in her neighborhood, 10-year-old Emili Rihanda says she would be at a loss for how to respond.
“I also do not know what causes fires,” Emili told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Zafira Salian, 9, said she knew of some disasters, such as floods, fires, earthquakes and eruptions. But she does not know how to respond.
“When my home is flooded, I don’t know what I can do. All I do is sit at home,” said Zafira, a student at SDN Jati Pulo 01 state elementary school in West Jakarta.
Despite Indonesia being prone to frequent disasters, from earthquakes to volcanoes, floods and fires, millions of children and adults are not unlike Zafira and Emili in being clueless in the face of such peril.
In response, the government on Thursday launched a public disaster-awareness campaign known as One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals.
“I urge local health agencies and medical officers nationwide to formulate programs and allocate a budget for disaster risk education in hospitals,” Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said during the launch of the campaign, which will last through November in 1,000 schools and 100 hospitals nationwide.
“Emergency exits and access for evacuation must be well established. All health officers and medical practitioners should understand and be very aware of potential disasters in their individual regions,” Endang said.
The Coordinating Ministry of People’s Welfare, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Education and the National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB, are collaborating on the program.
Fasli Jalal from the education ministry said that the 1,000 schools chosen to participate were spread across disaster-prone regions such as North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bengkulu, Yogyakarta, East Nusa Tenggara and Papua.
“We will be providing education to teachers and students about preparation for disasters. We are fully committed to this campaign,” Fasli said. As part of the campaign, teachers must establish a special forum to discuss disaster response.
Separately, Syamsul Maarif, who heads the BNPB, pointed out that even as the 2007 Law on Disaster Mitigation requires every region to have its own disaster risk map, few have them.
Jakarta, East Java, Aceh and West Kalimantan had adequate disaster risk maps, he said, but they are the exceptions.
“The disaster risk map for West Sumatra is in the pipeline now. My hope is that these maps are drawn not only on a provincial level but also on the subdistrict level. When a disaster strikes, it does not normally strike an entire province,” Syamsul said.
Separately, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono said that preparedness should be the main priority of disaster planning.
“However, disaster preparedness gets only the smallest bit of attention and priority in our society. We need to work more on this as every citizen needs to be protected,” Agung said, adding that readiness should start at the community level.
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