Later, all BMKG information related to weather, climate, earthquake, and tsunami will be more disabled-friendlyJakarta (ANTARA) - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) is making efforts to provide disabled-friendly information services to develop the disaster mitigation capabilities of people living with disabilities.
"Later, all BMKG information related to weather, climate, earthquake, and tsunami will be more disabled-friendly," Head of the agency Dwikorita Karnawati announced at a Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Day seminar, which was followed online from here on Thursday.
If they can understand such information, people living with disabilities will be able to save themselves in the event of a disaster, she added.
According to Karnawati, if people with disabilities develop the capability to save themselves, they could also help others.
"That is the concept of disaster mitigation, namely independence," she said.
She gave the example of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan. Ninety-five percent of the people who survived the quake managed to do so not because they were saved by the government, she said.
Thirty percent of them survived because they managed to save themselves, 30 percent were saved by others in their immediate environment (relatives and neighbors), and the rest were saved by other people, she elaborated.
"We learn that safety is mostly due to individual independence and the independence of the surrounding environment, and that is what Indonesia aims to build," she said.
She noted that all Indonesians are vulnerable to the threat of extreme weather, climate change, as well as disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
She said that in order to develop independence, education needs to be carried out intensively.
This is in accordance with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution, namely the state goal to protect the whole Indonesian nation and the entire native land of Indonesia.
"It is further explained in Law Number 31 of 2009 that the BMKG is tasked with providing operational services in the form of information related to meteorology, climatology, and geophysics," she added.
To this end, she invited all parties to work together to build the independence of Indonesian citizens, including people living with disabilities, in facing disasters.
During the same seminar, Presidential Special Staff for Social Affairs Angkie Yudistia emphasized that people living with disabilities must enjoy the same opportunities for a proper education, work and career, and achievements, as well as access to information that is inclusive, including in terms of disaster mitigation.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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