The government needs a specialized body to manage anticipation and mitigation of earthquakes, says Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) chief Yusuf S. Djajadihardja.
Yusuf said agencies such as BPPT, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), and the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), had been working on earthquake anticipation and mitigation based on different operational procedures.
"We need overall standard operational procedures to improve coordination to minimize earthquake impacts," he said during a seminar on earthquakes and tsunamis held Wednesday.
He said one specialized body could coordinate the related institutions in the distribution of human resources, funds, equipment and technology.
"This body can *help* provide the basis for a good system in preventing *negative impacts of* another earthquake in the future," said Yusuf.
He added that the body could also serve as an educational center on earthquakes for the public.
"Japan and Singapore handle earthquake problems by setting up such specialized bodies," he said.
"They even have earthquake schools and have produced many graduates in this field."
Meanwhile, Teuku Abdullah Sanny, associate professor of the Department of Petroleum and Mining Technology at Bandung Institute of Technology, said that the forming of such a specialized body might not take place in the near future due to financial constraints, which had hampered earthquake anticipation and mitigation efforts.
He added that the government had not even provided sufficient financial support for researchers. Therefore, researchers had made limited efforts in the field of earthquake anticipation and mitigation.
He said if financial constraints could be resolved, researchers could conduct observations that would provide a clearer picture for government and the public.
"One of the anticipation actions would be zone mapping based on the degree of risks," said Abdullah, adding that this mapping would divide regions into high risk zones, medium risk zones, low risk zones and very low risk zones.
"People should be prevented from living in high risk zones," he said.
He estimated that a province would need Rp 5 billion (US$532,481) for the provision of technology to enable observations.
Abdullah added that the lack of human resources had also been one of the problems in forming a specialized body for earthquake anticipation and mitigation.
"The country has only 20 earthquake experts," he said.
He categorized the experts as those with Doctoral degree in geophysical engineering with experience of earthquake anticipation and mitigation via their research.
"Not many students are interested in becoming geophysical experts, as subjects in this direction are not easy for most students," he said
"Complicated mathematical techniques are one of the problems holding them back from this field."
Indonesia lies in the ring of fire, an area that is highly prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.
A number of earthquakes have rocked parts of Indonesia in recent months.
Sukabumi, West Java, was rocked by a mild 5.1-magnitude tremor on Saturday morning while Manokwari, West Papua, was struck by an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.
A massive 7.9-magnitude quake jolted the area of Padang and Padang Pariaman in West Sumatra on Sept. 30 killing hundreds of people while Tasikmalaya, West Java, was hit by a 7.3-magnitude quake on Sept. 2.
A massive 9.3-magnitude quake jolted Aceh in Dec. 26, 2004 triggering a huge tsunami and about 125,000 Aceh and Nias residents lost their lives. (nia)
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