By : Maya *)
Disaster Risk Index issued by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) mentions, Maluku province is one of the areas in Indonesia with quite high disaster risk. These risks include floods, volcanic eruptions, landslides and tsunamis.
“That means we are living in prone areas of disaster risk. Well, the first step that must be done is improving mitigation, namely disaster risk reduction,” said the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Maluku, Farida Salampessy on BPBD meetings held on the sidelines of the Moluccas view days ago.
Measures to improve mitigation, further Salampessy said, is through training, education, mass media and through the interaction between the government and the private sector and the public. “In terms of spreading information about disaster risks,” he said.
The obstacles that might conquer, Salampessy admitted, is geographical condition of Maluku archipelago which is compounding in collecting informations about these matters. So what we need is a system of information and good transportation. If we had a radio from the district to the districts, we would be able to predict the upcoming disaster that might strike Maluku, “he explained.
Therefore, he added it had to equip the radio officer in Amateur Radio Inter-Population Indonesia (NEAT) with an understanding of good information systems.
Meanwhile, Maluku Governor Said Assagaff in his written speech read Expert Staff Development, Lutfi Rumbia in the event said, the disaster could occur due to natural factors due to human actions. “Therefore, our task is to provide an understanding to the public on disaster management in order to reduce disaster,” he said.
The governor hoped that coordination meetings can generate productive programs to prepare human resources and other support aspects of disaster risk reduction.
*) The Author Is Maluku Regional Contributor