In fact, several residents of the island's coastal areas yet lack adequate awareness of disaster preparedness and mitigation, Head of the Tagana-North Maluku Office Achmad Baligi told ANTARA here, Monday.
The district administration should prepare evacuation routes to safer places, while the local residents should be edified and involved in regular disaster response drills to better equip them to save themselves in the event of a disaster, he explained.
Indonesian Social Affairs Ministerial Regulation No.128/2011 on Disaster Preparedness Village stipulates the need for disaster preparedness in every village. To this end, community members should be educated, trained, and well prepared, Baligi pointed out.
Earthquakes regularly strike various parts of Indonesia since it lies on the Circum-Pacific Belt, also known as the Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates meet and cause frequent volcanic and seismic activities.
Morotai Island, home to the historical remains of World War II is part of the Ring of Fire. It is repeatedly jolted by earthquakes.
On June 4, 2020, for instance, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the district's area, causing damage to several houses and public facilities. On Sept 26, 2020, a 4.1-magnitude earthquake again rocked the area, he remarked.
The earthquake that struck several areas of Central Sulawesi Province was one of the deadliest to have occurred over these past two years in the country.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that was followed by a tsunami that hit the areas of Palu City and the districts of Donggala, Paringi Moutong, and Sigi on Sept 28, 2018, claimed 2,102 lives, injured 4,612, and rendered 680 others missing.
A total of 68,451 homes were seriously damaged, and 78,994 people were displaced.
The authorities and humanitarian workers ultimately took the decision to bury the huge numbers of rotting corpses in mass graves.
Meanwhile, the twin deadly disasters caused material losses estimated to reach Rp15.29 trillion.
The provincial capital of Palu bore the brunt of the disaster, with material damage and losses recorded at Rp7.6 trillion, or 50 percent of the total estimate, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
The material damage and losses in Sigi District were recorded at Rp4.9 trillion, or 32.1 percent; while Rp2.1 trillion, or 13.8 percent, in Donggala District; and Rp631 billion, or 4.1 percent, in Parigi Moutong District.
Material damage in the four affected areas reached an estimated Rp13.27 trillion, while material losses were recorded at approximately Rp2.02 trillion, the agency revealed in October 2018.
Related news: Magnitude-6.8 earthquake strikes Morotai, damaging 312 homes: BNPB
Related news: Earthquake of magnitude 5.3 rattles Sumba Barat Daya
EDITED BY INE
Translator: Abdul Fatah, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
