"We have central and regional governments. But, in handling such natural disasters as the Mount Merapi`s cold lava floods, the district and subdistrict governments are enough," he said here Sunday.
Therefore, the subdistrict and district governments should not always rely on the central government, said the former vice president.
Similar to the PMI, the impacts of Mount Merapi`s cold lava floods were just handled by the PMI personnel from Magelang district, Central Java province, he said.
Speaking to newsmen after visiting the cold lava disaster zone in Sirahan village, Salam subdistrict, Magelang district, he said the government had warned residents of being cautious with the cold lava flooding.
The authorities were asked to prepare sites for the disaster`s evacuees. "None can stop the natural disasters. What we can do is just maintaining our alertness and taking anticipatory measures to avoid fatalities," he said.
Accompanied by Chief of Central Java province`s PMI Sasongko Tedjo, Jusuf Kalla further said that the communication system among stakeholders of the disaster mitigation should remain excellent.
Asked about a number of bridges collapsed by the cold lava flooding, he said the government had to fix them immediately and prepare alternative routes for replacing the damaged main routes.
In helping the displaced people, 50 PMI volunteers were deployed to assist those cooking meals for the victims of the Mount Merapi`s cold lava flooding, he said.
Mount Merapi had erupted repeatedly for several weeks but its most fatal eruptions occurred on October 26 and November 5, 2010.
As a result of the eruptions, at least 259 people had perished and many others sustained serious burns and became displaced.
Mount Merapi, on the border between two provinces, lies geographically close to Yogyakarta but is officially part of Central Java.
Besides killing and injuring several hundred people, eruptions had also damaged 867 hectares of forested land on the volcano`s slopes in Sleman District, Yogyakarta, with material losses estimated at Rp33 billion.
Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, whose eruptions have regularly been detected since 1548. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
