Jakarta (ANTARA) - National Police (Polri) is keeping a close watch on the natural disaster potential in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) through mitigation and preparing facilities and infrastructure to ensure that the 2023 ASEAN Summit is held smoothly.

Head of Polri's Public Relations Inspector General Sandi Nugroho stated here on Friday that several disaster vulnerabilities that the police are watching out for include earthquake, abrasion, and extreme weather.

"Potential disasters that can occur in NTT include earthquake and abrasion and then there is hydrometeorological disaster and the heat levels in NTT that are quite high," Nugroho stated.

NTT is still hit by several natural disasters, such as flooding in West Manggarai due to overflowing of the Wae Jare River on Thursday.

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) also warned locals concerning the potential for rains and strong winds.

On a separate occasion, Police Chief Operation Assistant Inspector General Agung Setya Imam Effendy stated that the police and related stakeholders have a standard operating procedure (SOP) in place for handling disasters when the 2023 ASEAN Summit commences.

This includes the management of evacuation, whether it is done for important guests and other delegations affected by natural disaster.

The evacuation will be handled by the Presidential Security Force of Indonesia (Paspampres), military, Polri, and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) based on the natural disaster handling procedure that had been agreed upon together.

Moreover, the Polri has prepared Search and Rescue (SAR) equipment, such as inflatable boats, helicopters, and personnel conducting SAR for security purposes, Effendy stated.

In addition to preparing for disasters, the police had currently conducted various preparations to secure the 2023 ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, NTT, on May 9-11.

These preparations include deploying 2,627 security personnel that comprise 947 personnel from the Police Headquarter, 1,660 personnel from the NTT Regional Police, and 20 personnel from West Nusa Tenggara Regional Police.

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Translator: Laily Rahmawaty, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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