Jakarta – The government is trying hard to overcome the impact of the fire and treat all victims of the Pertamina Depot fire in Plumpang, North Jakarta. Various ways have been done so that fires do not recur and residents’ difficulties can be resolved immediately.
On Friday, March 3, 2023, a fire occurred at the Pertamina Plumpang Depot, North Jakarta. This tragic incident occurred when a vehicle was filling up with fuel, then a technical error occurred so that the pressure was too strong, and a fire occurred. There are dozens of fatalities and dozens of injured victims who are still being treated at the Police Hospital.
President Jokowi stated that there are 2 options that can be done to overcome the impact of the Plumpang fire. The first is to move the Pertamina Depot to Reclamation Island. While the second is relocating local residents, because the depot is a dangerous zone.
Decisions on the 2 options for dealing with the fires will be made soon and President Jokowi will send SOE Minister Erick Thohir and Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono to vote. The reason is because Plumpang is a very dangerous zone.
The government is trying to optimally mitigate the impact of the Plumpang Depot fire. The option of moving the depot was given by President Jokowi, because a depot can contain thousands of kiloliters of fuel, and when there is a fire it will be very dangerous. Let there be no more fatalities.
The government plans to move the Plumpang depot to a reclamation island. It has not been stated which island will be the site of the new depot, but it is located in the Thousand Islands. It is hoped that with this transfer it will be even safer in the future, because the Pertamina Depot is located on an island that is far from residential areas.
Then there is a second option, namely the transfer of residents around the Pertamina Plumpang Depot. The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut B Pandjaitan stated that residents around the Plumpang BBM Depot had to move. According to him, the place he has lived in is a buffer zone , aka an unsafe area.
Minister Luhut continued, residents had to move because the BBM depot used to be vacant land. Don’t let anyone go around giving residence permits to local residents. Later the government will provide compensation to residents who move to other areas, so they can build houses or buy housing again.
In a sense, the BBM Depot fire tragedy should not be repeated. Although there has been no decision whether the depot will be moved or the residents will be moved, everything is done for the sake of safety. Depot employees and the public must both be safe and there must be a middle ground so that there are no accidents, no matter how small.
A depot is designed so that it cannot explode or have an accident, but when there is a fire tragedy, it must be re-evaluated. A depot inspection must be carried out and the investigation continued, so that this tragic incident is not repeated. Likewise with depots in other places, the safety factor must be checked again.
The Pertamina Plumpang depot is a very large fuel storage area, because it supplies 20% of Indonesia’s fuel oil needs. It has not been calculated how much material loss Pertamina has to bear. However, they prioritized evaluating the performance of the depot while trying to fully treat the victims.
Meanwhile, the victim’s family received compensation from Pertamina in the amount of IDR 10,000,000 per person. While the injured victims are fully borne by the costs of treatment until they are fully recovered. This was disclosed by Bambang Setiono, Head of RW in Rawa Badak Selatan Village, Koja, North Jakarta.
Treatment was carried out optimally so that the injured victims could recover as before. The government will cope optimally so that the victims do not have difficulty getting treatment. They are guaranteed to be able to return to their activities after passing the treatment period at the Police Hospital.
BUMN Minister Erick Thohir stated that there would be an evaluation at the Pertamina Plumpang Depot so that this tragic accident would not happen again. Later it will be regulated, there is a minimum distance of 50 meters as a safe zone. Within this radius there are no residential areas so that it will minimize the risk if there is an accident. This also applies to Pertamina depots in other areas.
The provision of a safe zone must be carried out so that no more people become victims. The reason is because if there is a fire it will immediately spread, especially in densely populated settlements. In addition to endangering lives can also destroy objects around it. Therefore evaluation and rearrangement must be carried out as an effort to prevent repeated tragedies.
The government has optimally managed the fire at the Pertamina Plumpang Depot, North Jakarta. The victims have been given compensation and medical facilities so they can recover. The depot will be moved to a reclamation island to minimize contact with local residents, to make it safer. Evaluation continues to be carried out so that there are no more fires, both at the Plumpang Fuel Depot and other depots.
