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Official Proposes Disaster Education in Schools
November 12, 2010

A woman and her child in Pagai Selatan, Mentawai Islands, crying after hearing about the deaths of family members following the tsunami on Oct. 25. Officials said that education can help reduce casualties when calamities strike. (Antara Photo) A woman and her child in Pagai Selatan, Mentawai Islands, crying after hearing about the deaths of family members following the tsunami on Oct. 25. Officials said that education can help reduce casualties when calamities strike. (Antara Photo)
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Jakarta. The government needs to make education about natural disasters part of the school curriculum, an official said on Friday.

"Including knowledge about natural disasters in the school curriculum is one way to help reduce casualties when a disaster strikes," said Safri Baharuddin, chief of information at the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare.

He said that many Indonesians did not know what to do in the event of natural disasters, like earthquakes or tsunamis. This often adds to panic during such situations.

"People, especially those living in disaster-prone areas, must be taught what they must do during a disaster. Conducting disaster drills may help, but such exercises are not regularly done," Safri said.

He added that 1uake-proof buildings should also be enforced. "BMKG [The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency] and the Ministry of Public Works have created a model of a seismic-proof buildings. I suggest that developers, especially those who want to build housing complexes near disaster-prone areas, use the system," he said.

To try to reduce the number of casualties in the event of natural disasters, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) had earlier announced that it would allocate Rp 100 million ($11,200) in 2011 for the mapping of disaster-prone areas in Indonesia.

"The map is needed to support local governments' efforts to daw up maps of the vulnerable areas. These areas must not be used for housing development or construction of public places," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, BNPB's director of Disaster Risk Reduction.

He added that the funds would be distributed equally among BNPB's office in 33 provinces to support the mapping work.

Sutopo expressed hope that the mapping of disaster-prone areas in Indonesia could help the government reduce the number of casualties due to natural disasters.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world because it is located on the Pacific Ocean's “Ring of Fire” of volcanoes and earthquakes.

Last month, Indonesia was hit by three major disasters in different parts of the country. The first one was a flash flood in Wasior, West Papua, on Oct. 3 that left 124 people dead and 123 others missing.

The second disaster was an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7, which was followed by a tsunami in the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, on Oct. 25. At least 408 people were killed, 303 others missing and 23,000 displaced.

Just one day after the Mentawai earthquake and tsunami, Mount Merapi, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, started to erupt on Oct. 26.


Antara