The inking of the cooperation agreement was carried out between BNPB General Secretary Rustian and Indonesian Army Chief of Staff General Maruli Simanjuntak that was also witnessed directly by Head of BNPB Suharyanto at the BNPB office in Jakarta on Monday.
"In all emergency situations, the Indonesian Army always takes a role. With this collaboration, we want to strengthen and optimize all efforts to protect the community from the impact of disasters," Suharyanto remarked.
He then outlined three main focuses from the collaboration, namely prevention, emergency operations handling, and budget support.
Regarding prevention activities, in future, all BNPB personnel and the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) along with the Indonesian Army are ready to strengthen the dissemination of information on early potential disasters and provision to the community in remote areas, Suharyanto explained.
Based on results of the evaluation conducted by the two agencies, it was found that the dissemination of information on early potential disasters is crucial to prepare and protect the community from the impacts of larger disasters, he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the funding support is expected to strengthen the role of Indonesian Army personnel in carrying out disaster impact mitigation efforts, Suharyanto remarked.
He underscored the need for the budget to purchase equipment and supplies, such as rubber boats, tents for evacuation during floods, landslides, tornadoes, and other natural calamities.
The provision of equipment can also optimize the management of forest and land fire disasters that often occur during the dry season, he remarked. This also includes budgeting to support the program to build clean water facilities currently being initiated by the Indonesian Army to address the water woes being experienced by the community.
"BNPB prepares the budget and will distribute it through the BPBD or regional government to the military regional command (Kodam), military resort command (Korem), military district command (Koramil), and other Indonesian Army units in each region," Suharyanto stated.
Meanwhile, General Simanjuntak said that the rehabilitation of areas prone to disasters was also one of the priorities of his agency as stipulated in the agreement.
"In this collaboration, we are trying to bring innovations in the disaster mitigation field along with BNPB," he stated.
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Translator: M Riezko Bima Elko P, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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