"Efforts to involve stakeholders and the community in anticipating multi-disaster threats in the country must be pursued, as our country is naturally surrounded by volcanoes, squeezed between two continents and oceans, which greatly affect the weather," MPR Deputy Chairperson Lestari Moerdijat noted in a written statement received here on Wednesday.
Moerdijat made the remarks in response to a statement by Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency Dwikorita Karnawati that Indonesia, as a country with several islands, situated in the Ring of Fire, and an active seismic country, was prone to multiple natural disasters in the form of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, and landslides.
Moerdijat cited data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, which stated that some 3,092 disasters, predominantly hydrometeorological in nature, had struck in 2021.
The most frequent disasters were floods, with some 1,298 events, followed by 804 incidents of extreme weather, 632 occurrences of landslides, 265 incidents of forest and land fires, 45 incidents of tidal waves and abrasion, 32 occurrences of earthquakes, 15 incidents of drought, and one volcanic eruption.
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Moerdijat called for everyone's attention to the situation, so that the national disaster mitigation plans could be realized properly.
Disaster mitigation efforts must be improved by involving experts in infrastructure, urban planning, and the environment, she stated.
Preparedness against disasters was aimed at reducing the number of victims of natural disasters to as much extent as possible, Moerdijat stated.
"These efforts must be followed by (expediting the dissemination of information to the) public regarding the (risk) of natural disasters that exist around their residences," she stated.
Moerdijat also stressed the importance of prioritizing local wisdom in disaster mitigation in order to push for greater public understanding.
She expected that the national risk of multiple disasters could be taken as a challenge that should be faced through sound collaboration among all citizens.
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Translator: Imam B, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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