Police chief highlights importance of disaster risk management

Jakarta (ANTARA) – National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo has asked stakeholders taking part in national disaster mitigation efforts to improve risk management measures through damage control to ensure the least damage to infrastructure and lives.”Mr. President expects that we have good, even improved, risk management before, during, and after disasters,” he said in a written statement received here on Thursday. He made the statement at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s national coordination meeting the same day. He highlighted the importance of disaster risk management considering Indonesia’s location on the Ring of Fire, which makes it prone to disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and forest and land fires. One of the causes of the rampant disasters is the movement of some faults, such as the Sumatra fault, Palu-Koro fault, Cimandiri fault, Opak fault, Gorontalo fault, Sorong fault, Tarera Aiduna fault, and Yapen fault, the national police chief said. He also cited Indonesia’s geographical position on the Ring of Fire as one of the factors behind the disasters, besides the El Nino and La Nina phenomena that occur each year. Everyone needs to be well-prepared in case a disaster strikes so that the impact can be minimized, he added. “The most important is the efforts for preparation, so when a disaster strikes, the impact can be minimized as much as possible,” he said. Prabowo informed that people could use the formula provided by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to reduce the impact of natural disasters. The risk formula is “hazard multiplied by vulnerability divided by capacity,” he elaborated. “It means that if the vulnerability can be pressed down and capacity can be improved, then the risk from disaster can be reduced,” he explained. Prabowo stressed that everyone, from government, authorities, agencies, and people, must collaborate in order to conduct effective and efficient disaster risk management. baca-jugaRelated news: BNPB to focus on quake mitigation, FMD handlingRelated news: Jokowi urges local govts to make aid disbursement procedures easier

Source: Antara News Agency