T

he city administration is expecting better coordination of natural disaster management under a planned new institution called the Regional Disaster Miti-gation Agency (BPBD), an official said Friday.

Deputy Governor Prijanto said the mitigation body, which will integrate the existing Natural Disaster Mitigation Board and Refugee Crisis Center (Satkorlak PBP) and the Fire Services and Disaster Management Agency, would work more effectively and efficiently in handling large scale disasters, those which are more complex than recurring floods.

“An evaluation result has shown that the current structure and coordination of disaster management units is inefficient and ineffective in handling larger scale disasters. If we were to face a disaster on par with those that hit Yogyakarta and Padang [in the past years], we wouldn’t stand [a chance],” he told journalist at City Hall.

Yogyakarta and Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, were devastated by earthquakes measuring 6.3 and 7.6 on the Richter scale in 2006 and 2009, respectively. More than 5,700 and 1,100 people were killed in each respective disaster.

The new body, which will be known by its acronym BPBD, will be chaired ex-officio by Jakarta city secretary Fadjar Panjaitan, and will manage a city administration budget allocation as regulated by the 2008 Home Minister Regulation No. 46 on disaster mitigation bodies.

Under the new line of command, the city’s heads of agencies, bureaus and bodies will be coordinated under the BPBD in managing natural disasters.

Due to the capital’s special autonomy status, Jakarta’s five municipalities would not need to form their own disaster mitigation units, unlike those in other provinces, Prijanto said, adding that the city would still conduct further discussions concerning the new body before establishing it by gubernatorial decree.

The new body will be responsible for coordinating three main aspects of disaster management: prevention and building readiness against disasters; emergency response and logistic provision; and post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Faisal Djalal, secretary-general of nongovernmental organization Disaster Mitigation Society Indonesia (MPBI), told The Jakarta Post that it was important for the nation’s capital to establish a special unit responsible for natural disaster management.

“It’s important for the Jakarta administration to adhere to existing laws and regulations over the matter; in this case, to establish a single body overseeing disaster management,” Faisal said.

He said that Jakarta, as the center of the government and commerce, would be vulnerable to the risks of any major disaster.

Indonesia, a vast chain of islands, is vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that line the Pacific Ocean.

Last month, a twin disaster — an earthquake and tsunami in the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, and the volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta — occurred hours apart in one of the most seismic active regions on the planet.