ID :
106126
Thu, 02/11/2010 - 21:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/106126
The shortlink copeid
News Focus: RI PRAISED FOR TIME-TESTED DISASTER MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY
By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta, Feb 10 (ANTARA) - Lying on part of the so-called "Pacific ring of fire", Indonesia has been routinely hit by natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunami and floods but this reality has also compelled it to keep on improving its ways of managing disaster-caused emergency situations.
Its long experience in dealing with natural disasters has virtually made Indonesia resilient and versatile in rescuing victims of natural disasters and because of that, the world's largest archipelagic country has come to be regarded as an example of a country with a very good and effective disaster management system.
This recognition was given when the UN-OCHA held a meeting of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Board in Geneva recently, first secretary at the Indonesian Permanent Representative's Office in Geneva, Achsanul Habib, told Antara on Wednesday.
The UN Agency for Humanitarian Affairs, donor countries and NGOs engaged in humanitarian affairs acknowledged that Indonesia is an example of a country with a very good and effective disaster management system.
Deputy Indonesian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, WTO and other international organizations in Geneva Ambassador Desra Percaya, on behalf of the Indonesian government, had been asked to give a talk on the successful handling of the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra.
UN-OCHA said at the meeting Indonesia was an example of the success of a country in carrying out UN humanitarian operations, especially in disaster handling.
During the talk, Ambassador Desra Percaya said the Indonesian government had applied disaster handling management in Padang in close coordination with UN agencies and friendly countries.
The handling of the quake in Padang went smoothly thanks to the support of very good coordination between the central government and regional administration, the UN-OCHA and its rapid action team.
The handling of the Padang quake also served as a good example with the change in approach of the Indonesian government in disaster handling.
Under the framework, the Indonesian government made a more proactive approach focusing on efforts of reducing disaster risks, placing the people as an important actor in reducing disaster risks.
All those factors had amounted to a number of important notes for the participants in the meeting comprising UN-OCHA officials, UN agencies, and important donor countries like the US, European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, and a number of NGOs engaged in humanitarian affairs.
Toni Frisch, representing the Swiss government's humanitarian assistance agency, said Indonesia is a very self-reliant country with an adequate disaster management capability with the support of very strong natural resources.
A natural hazard cannot be avoided and can happen in every part of the world. Combining with the vulnerability of the area, this hazard can turn into a disaster which causes great losses and damages.
"To reduce these impacts, a disaster management is needed. This process can be very complicated due to the complexity of the cases. One of the most complex cases in disaster management is Indonesia, which experienced one of the most recent catastrophic natural disasters in world," he said.
To reach the objective of the research, which is to define what natural disaster management strategy can be applied for Indonesia coastal area--specifically in the case of Aceh tsunami--based on theory and practice, a literature review is conducted.
The literature review functions to picture the shifts in disaster management, both in theoretical perspective and also in the Aceh provincial spatial plan (practical perspective). Moreover, it will explore basic strategies in disaster management which with another results of the literature review are used to gather experts' opinion on disaster management strategy for Aceh by using Delphi Method.
According to him, theoretically, the disaster management shifts from response management towards risk management which emphasis on vulnerability reduction. This management asked for more pro-active measures by implementing multidisciplinary approach and involving partnerships in the institutional framework.
In addition, it also requires community participation on the planning process and continuous communication with communities. Connecting this shift with the disaster management strategy, "prepare urban area for tsunami" is the most ideal strategy in the disaster management.
This strategy even promoted through Hyogo Framework which focused on reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience, he said, adding that practically, after the tsunami on December 24, 2004 there was a major change in the disaster management in Indonesia which also influenced the Aceh spatial plan draft: the disaster management becomes one of the focuses in the spatial plan. Before, the disaster management was ignored and did not mentioned at all in the spatial plan.
However the disaster management could run well, if there is such a partnership with other similar foreign agencies, Said Nizar SH, LLM, an observer of the Hassanuddin University, said on Thursday.
Disaster management in Indonesia could be strengthened by a partnership between Indonesia?s National Coordinating Board for Disaster Management (BAKORNAS) and Emergency Management Australia (EMA) in the past especially in the handling of Aceh tsunami.
The two leading disaster management agencies have signed a subsidiary agreement to facilitate a close partnership that will commit Australian expertise to helping strengthen Indonesia?s capacity to manage and respond to natural disasters.
The BAKORNAS PB-EMA Emergency Management Partnership (BEEMP) aims to strengthen the management of Indonesian national and provincial disaster management agencies and to raise their prevention/mitigation, response, preparedness and recovery capabilities through an active partnership and cooperation with EMA.
The program will include primarily technical assistance and training, including training for BAKORNAS staff in Indonesia or Australia and staff exchanges between the two countries, Nizar said.
Jakarta, Feb 10 (ANTARA) - Lying on part of the so-called "Pacific ring of fire", Indonesia has been routinely hit by natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunami and floods but this reality has also compelled it to keep on improving its ways of managing disaster-caused emergency situations.
Its long experience in dealing with natural disasters has virtually made Indonesia resilient and versatile in rescuing victims of natural disasters and because of that, the world's largest archipelagic country has come to be regarded as an example of a country with a very good and effective disaster management system.
This recognition was given when the UN-OCHA held a meeting of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Board in Geneva recently, first secretary at the Indonesian Permanent Representative's Office in Geneva, Achsanul Habib, told Antara on Wednesday.
The UN Agency for Humanitarian Affairs, donor countries and NGOs engaged in humanitarian affairs acknowledged that Indonesia is an example of a country with a very good and effective disaster management system.
Deputy Indonesian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, WTO and other international organizations in Geneva Ambassador Desra Percaya, on behalf of the Indonesian government, had been asked to give a talk on the successful handling of the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra.
UN-OCHA said at the meeting Indonesia was an example of the success of a country in carrying out UN humanitarian operations, especially in disaster handling.
During the talk, Ambassador Desra Percaya said the Indonesian government had applied disaster handling management in Padang in close coordination with UN agencies and friendly countries.
The handling of the quake in Padang went smoothly thanks to the support of very good coordination between the central government and regional administration, the UN-OCHA and its rapid action team.
The handling of the Padang quake also served as a good example with the change in approach of the Indonesian government in disaster handling.
Under the framework, the Indonesian government made a more proactive approach focusing on efforts of reducing disaster risks, placing the people as an important actor in reducing disaster risks.
All those factors had amounted to a number of important notes for the participants in the meeting comprising UN-OCHA officials, UN agencies, and important donor countries like the US, European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, and a number of NGOs engaged in humanitarian affairs.
Toni Frisch, representing the Swiss government's humanitarian assistance agency, said Indonesia is a very self-reliant country with an adequate disaster management capability with the support of very strong natural resources.
A natural hazard cannot be avoided and can happen in every part of the world. Combining with the vulnerability of the area, this hazard can turn into a disaster which causes great losses and damages.
"To reduce these impacts, a disaster management is needed. This process can be very complicated due to the complexity of the cases. One of the most complex cases in disaster management is Indonesia, which experienced one of the most recent catastrophic natural disasters in world," he said.
To reach the objective of the research, which is to define what natural disaster management strategy can be applied for Indonesia coastal area--specifically in the case of Aceh tsunami--based on theory and practice, a literature review is conducted.
The literature review functions to picture the shifts in disaster management, both in theoretical perspective and also in the Aceh provincial spatial plan (practical perspective). Moreover, it will explore basic strategies in disaster management which with another results of the literature review are used to gather experts' opinion on disaster management strategy for Aceh by using Delphi Method.
According to him, theoretically, the disaster management shifts from response management towards risk management which emphasis on vulnerability reduction. This management asked for more pro-active measures by implementing multidisciplinary approach and involving partnerships in the institutional framework.
In addition, it also requires community participation on the planning process and continuous communication with communities. Connecting this shift with the disaster management strategy, "prepare urban area for tsunami" is the most ideal strategy in the disaster management.
This strategy even promoted through Hyogo Framework which focused on reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience, he said, adding that practically, after the tsunami on December 24, 2004 there was a major change in the disaster management in Indonesia which also influenced the Aceh spatial plan draft: the disaster management becomes one of the focuses in the spatial plan. Before, the disaster management was ignored and did not mentioned at all in the spatial plan.
However the disaster management could run well, if there is such a partnership with other similar foreign agencies, Said Nizar SH, LLM, an observer of the Hassanuddin University, said on Thursday.
Disaster management in Indonesia could be strengthened by a partnership between Indonesia?s National Coordinating Board for Disaster Management (BAKORNAS) and Emergency Management Australia (EMA) in the past especially in the handling of Aceh tsunami.
The two leading disaster management agencies have signed a subsidiary agreement to facilitate a close partnership that will commit Australian expertise to helping strengthen Indonesia?s capacity to manage and respond to natural disasters.
The BAKORNAS PB-EMA Emergency Management Partnership (BEEMP) aims to strengthen the management of Indonesian national and provincial disaster management agencies and to raise their prevention/mitigation, response, preparedness and recovery capabilities through an active partnership and cooperation with EMA.
The program will include primarily technical assistance and training, including training for BAKORNAS staff in Indonesia or Australia and staff exchanges between the two countries, Nizar said.
