Jakarta (ANTARA) - House of Representatives (DPR) member M.F. Nurhuda Yusro praised the Disaster Ready Village Program designed by the Social Affairs Ministry in regions for mitigating disaster.

"I commend it because the Disaster Ready Village Program is quite effective in handling, monitoring, and mitigating disaster. This can become one of the effective mitigation methods to handle disaster," he remarked.

In a statement on Friday, Yusro noted that the Disaster Ready Village Program can be a formal platform for community-based disaster mitigation in disaster-prone regions.

To this end, increasing the villagers' knowledge and awareness as well as their active participation had become the keys to developing the Disaster Ready Village Program.

"The keys are knowledge, awareness, local resource utilization, and strengthening the people's solidarity, so that emergency response can be quick since it is locally based," he noted.

Yusro deemed that the Disaster Ready Village Program necessitates synergy between the program's officials, social office, and Social Affairs Ministry for more effective disaster mitigation.

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The central and regional governments should synergize, so that the program's officials can perform optimally, he remarked.

"I have pressed for training, simulation, and their equipment. Now, I urge the regional governments to tend to the officials and equipment in order to maintain them," he remarked.

While attending the Disaster Ready Village simulation event in Karangjompo Village, Tirto, Pekalongan, Central Java, on Thursday, Yusro expected the program to not solely be implemented in Tirto.

This is because Pekalongan is a disaster-prone region.

For instance, the program can be implemented in Siwalan, Wonokerto, West Pekalongan, North Pekalongan, and East Pekalongan.

According to Yusro, Karangjompo Village and four adjoining villages are hit by floods annually.

Villages in Tirto experience floods during the rainy season and flash floods during the dry season.

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Translator: Imam B, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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