President Prabowo Leads Limited Meeting on National Mitigation and Preparedness in Disaster Management

President Prabowo Subianto Monday (09/07) led a limited meeting on the latest development of disaster mitigation response at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, to evaluate the Government’s efforts to manage disasters that hit several parts of the country.

The President said that the Government is focusing to handle postquake management in Flores, to mitigate eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, forest and land fires, as well as the impact of haze in Kalimantan.

According to him, the country is required to always be vigilant and prepared for any natural disaster as  Indonesia sits on the Pacific “ring of fire”. He went on to say that Indonesia’s national mitigation capacity must be improved, by allocating more budget for disaster mitigation measures.

President Prabowo also said that the Government’s response to handle previous disasters, for example disasters in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra provinces, has reflected improvements in both the speed and scale of disaster management, which involved the massive deployment of national resources.

“We restored conditions in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra using our own resources. In my view, we were quite successful in overcoming them. I would like to thank all parties involved,” he said.

Regarding forest and land fires, the President called on the Government to make a shift from a reactive  toward anticipatory approaches. According to the President, preparedness planning must ensure that facilities and equipment in disaster-prone areas including helicopters, water pumps, firefighting vehicles, and excavators, are well-prepared before an incident occurs.

“In making plans, I want us to think that it is better to have more than to have too little. This should also be prepared by the Minister of State Secretary, who should inform the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Development Planning. That means more helicopters are better, more water pumps are better, and more firefighting equipment is better,” he explained.

President Prabowo also called for the preparation of a comprehensive and large-scale mitigation master plan. This strengthening effort includes the use of aircraft carriers that will be modified to support helicopter and drone operations, the addition of aircraft for weather modification operations, and the development of drone technology to support aerial firefighting.

“So, we must prepare to address and mitigate disasters without waiting for the incidents to happen. We need to make preparations well in advance,” the President firmly said.

On that occasion, he also wanted to ensure that all quake-affected residents in Flores get easy access to basic needs as quickly as possible, including in areas he had not yet visited personally. During the meeting, the President called for reports through a tiered coordination mechanism from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), the Indonesian National Police (Polri), and regional governments. (BPMI of the Presidential Secretariat) (RAS/AW)