"Indonesia already has the Disaster Resilient Village program, we also have funding from the World Bank and work together with the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) for early warning using the provided equipment," BNPB head Suharyanto stated on Thursday.
"If a tsunami occurs, the community has been trained to immediately evacuate," he added.
One of the training simulations involves an 8-meter tsunami wave warning, with the community having 80 minutes to evacuate, he informed.
"Based on predictions, in training by BMKG, an 8-meter tsunami gives 80 minutes to evacuate. We continue to train the community in the 80-minute evacuation," he said.
According to Suharyanto, disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis still cannot be predicted accurately.
However, in Indonesia, where three Earth plates meet, disasters such as megathrusts or earthquakes with a magnitude above 8.0 on plate faults in the Pacitan area, East Java, or Pelabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi, West Java, can happen at any time, he noted.
"We must continue to increase public awareness. We also gradually build awareness for the community in disaster areas because they are in danger areas. If BMKG issues a warning, they can immediately evacuate to the specified point," he said.
He pointed out that disasters such as earthquakes do not happen suddenly, but tend to recur and may happen again after a space of several years.
"For example, like the tsunami in Aceh. Did it only happen in 2004? No, because if we look back, it has happened before. The earthquake and tsunami in Palu, Central Sulawesi, also happened 40–50 years earlier," he stated.
"Sometimes, people forget when generations change, so we have to remind them continuously," he added.
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Translator: Lintang Budiyanti, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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