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Insight: Strengthening national preparedness for natural disasters

Three large-scale natural disasters in Lombok, Palu and the Sunda Strait last year served as yet another reminder of the country’s vulnerability to disasters

Philips Vermonte and Muhammad Habib A.D (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, October 14, 2019

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Insight: Strengthening national preparedness for natural disasters

T

span>Three large-scale natural disasters in Lombok, Palu and the Sunda Strait last year served as yet another reminder of the country’s vulnerability to disasters. The three devastating catastrophes claimed at least 5,846 lives, while economic losses reportedly reached Rp 38 trillion (US$2.7 billion), or more than 1 percent of the total state expenditure in 2018.

Those figures are likely to increase dramatically considering the disasters have continued to strike in various magnitudes. During the first half of 2019 alone, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded 2,047 disasters, up by 15.4 percent year-on-year. Not to mention the impacts of natural disasters on the economy.

The disaster in Maluku a few days ago is a case in point. After floods, land fractures and landslides in June 2019, an earthquake jolted Maluku late last month. Reconstruction and rehabilitation costs for the first wave of disasters alone are estimated at Rp 6.4 billion. This figure excludes the budget needed to reconstruct over 5,000 buildings and public infrastructure.

Therefore, it is high time that we devote our attention and resources on efforts to improve our disaster preparedness. Without a commitment to sustainable prevention, local and state budget funds will continue to be wasted for reconstruction and rehabilitation. It is also difficult to imagine we could realize the vision of Indonesia Forward 2045 if our future generation fell victim to disasters.

We at the think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) believe that natural disaster is beyond a humanitarian issue. It has shifted into a national security issue. It is not impossible that several large-scale disasters simultaneously shatter Indonesia, destroying its vital objects.

Therefore, during the past year, CSIS as a nongovernmental study institution identified various problems and solutions related to disaster preparedness in Indonesia. The initiative, which was launched only two weeks before the Sunda Strait tsunami last December, departed from a single assumption that natural disasters could no longer be treated in “business as usual” manner, but rather as the main and fundamental element in building a broader security, development and cultural paradigm.

At least five focus group discussions involving multiple stakeholders — including the best scientific experts from various institutions and universities in Indonesia, relevant ministries/institutions, the private sector, civil society organizations, local governments and international organizations — have been held and produced a proposed framework for national disaster preparedness.

To commemorate the Month of Disaster Risk Reduction (PRB) in October, we have reviewed a number of proposals from the framework that we think are worth considering.

First, political commitment is the main key. The entire discussions found low political commitment from policymakers both at the central and regional levels to the issue of disaster, especially in the aspect of awareness as a prerequisite for natural and man-made disaster preparedness. Only a few leaders at the central and regional levels, even those in disater-prone regions, and political parties have specific and elaborative platforms related to disaster preparedness.

Increasing public awareness of disasters is key. However, raising awareness of disasters in the bureaucracy — planning officials, policymakers and executives — is far more important. Experiences show that the functions of local government are among the first to collapse due to unpreparedness when a disaster occurs. Whereas the critical initial response in the first few hours when a disaster strikes should come from the local government.

To that end, a new breakthrough in mainstreaming this issue among bureaucrats and political actors must be made. Among them is by including the disaster knowledge in the process of recruiting civil servants, preservice education and leadership courses such as the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas).

In due course, several years from now if this proposal is implemented, political commitment to disaster preparedness will be internalized from the central to the regional level.

Second, establishing a legal and institutional umbrella is imperative. After the conclusion of the 2014 to 2019 national legislation period, revisions of Law No. 24/2007 on Disaster Management is hanging in the balance.

On the one hand, this situation provides more room for dialogue between stakeholders. On the other hand, new breakthroughs in the field of prevention are relatively hampered due to the lack of legal certainty.

Third, weaknesses in the horizontal mechanism of disaster prevention between actors, including coordination and integration, need to be addressed. Practical examples can be seen from the variety of existing digital technology disaster applications, ranging from InfoBMKG, MAGMA Indonesia Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and INARISK BNPB. Although each of these digital applications has their respective focus, an integrated digital technology application will be better for the public as users through smartphones or the internet in general.

Fourth, providing a space for flexibility of the country’s financial regime on disaster issues. Learning from the economic impact of the disasters, we need to accelerate the fulfillment of a Road Map for Implementing Disaster Risk Insurance and Financing Strategies, such as the formation of natural disaster pooling funds or increasing insurance for state property, especially in disaster-prone areas.

Apart from sharing or transferring risk to insurance institutions, the government also needs partners in building preparedness for all components of the nation. Therefore, ideally regulations such as Presidential Regulation No. 38/2015 on government cooperation with business entities in the provision of infrastructure is also replicated in the field of disaster to encourage more business sectors to expand their social responsibility at the prevention stage, rather than emergency responses after a disaster strikes.

Bureaucratic rigidity must not cost our preparedness in facing disasters. It takes a strong will from all sectors to jointly invest in disaster resistant infrastructure, disaster research both from the perspective of natural and social sciences, as well as eradicating disaster literacy.

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Philips Vermonte is the executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and head of the CSIS research team on national disaster preparedness. Muhammad Habib A.D. is a member of the research team.

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