"Indonesia has been hit by 644 disasters during 2010 while 81.5 percent of them was hydro-meteorological type of disasters such as floods, landslides and flash floods," he said here on Tuesday at a meeting with several cabinet ministers at the Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare office in Jakarta.
He said though floods and landslides dominated disasters in Indonesia, it was earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that had caused the most casualties and material losses to the country. There were 1,711 people who died with over a million people injured due to natural disasters in 2010.
Syamsul said BNPB in 2011 had allocated Rp228 billion for disaster mitigation activities such as the mapping of disaster-prone areas in Indonesia, training for government officials and local people to raise their awareness about natural disasters and certification of around 10,000 volunteers.
Earlier, presidential aide for disaster and social affairs Andi Arief said from a study and observation seven provinces and 13 districts/municipalities in Sumatra and Java had been identified as deserving priority in implementing the government`s earthquake and tsunami mitigation programs.
However, Andi did not name the provinces and districts which were prioritized for the earthquake and tsunami mitigation program.
"The priority for the seven provinces and the 13 districts/municipalities is because they are prone to earthquake and tsunami that can claim considerable amount of lives and material damage," he said.
But he added that almost all of 33 provinces across the country were potential to have ecological disaster such as landslide, flash flood, and whirlwind.
According to Andi disaster mitigation program was necessary to be carried out as a starting point for disaster management to reduce the number of fatalities and material damage.
"Thus pre-disaster mitigation is necessary for the people and all parties so that they know what to do when a real disaster does occur," Andi said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
