PRESIDENT: RI SHOULD BE MORE PREPARED FOR DISASTER MITIGATION

Jakarta, Jan 14 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia should be more prepared than other countries in mitigating disasters happening within its own borders.

"We have to be ready at all times to face disasters. It must not happen that other countries are faster than ourselves in dealing with disasters happenng in the country," the President said in his directive to a Disaster Mitigation Rapid Response Unit (SRC-PB) here on Thursday.

Geographically, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, and even global warming-related disasters, and therefore, the president said, the people should be well prepared to anticipate them.

Consequently, the government had taken a number of measures to increase the speed of disaster mitigation action. One of the measures was the formation of the National Board for Disaster Mitigation and intsalled a Tsunami Early Warning System.

"It means we are ready to manage disaster situations although this alone is not enough. We also have to remain prepared and vigilant so that whenever disaster trikes, we can overcome it," the president said.

The head of state admitted that the natural disaster mitigation system in the past had not run well, especially during the first hours following a disaster.

"It is understandale that during the first hours after a disaster we are in panic but it is exactly in this early period that we have to be one hundred percent ready to save as many lives as possible," the head of state said.

Thus, the president added, there should be an SRC-PB that would give an emergency response, especially in the first hours after a disaster occurred.

"During the first hours after disaster strikes, there are more urgent things to do than such things as coordination of logistical supplies, their distribution and solving transportation problems," the president said.

He said the SRC-PB should continue to step up its capability, readiness, and alertness to be activated whenever and wherever disaster happened.

Therefore, the president said, the government would make every possible effort to provide the SRC-PB with transportation facilities and funds.