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We need ambitious disaster risk reduction more than ever
Concern over disasters has not been ingrained in the mindset of our decision-makers.
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A rescuer searches damaged homes at Curah Kobokan village in Lumajang on Dec. 8, after the Mount Semeru eruption that killed at least 34 people. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
“Salus populi suprema lex esto. The safety of the people shall be the supreme law.” Officials always have this adage in their back pocket whenever a disaster strikes.
But guess what? This is barely spoken during peacetime, the only window of opportunity we have to prepare for future disasters. What has been happening since Mt. Semeru in East Java erupted last weekend feels like Groundhog Day.
Even though 14 years have passed since Indonesia enacted the Disaster Management Law, we continue to lodge the same complaints. We probably ask the exact same questions we raised in the aftermath of the 2004 Aceh tsunami, the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, the 2010 Mt. Merapi eruption also in Yogyakarta, the 2018 Central Sulawesi triple disaster or the great flooding in South Kalimantan earlier this year.
What has gone wrong with our early warning system? What about the shelters and evacuation routes? Which lessons have we incorporated from the previous tragedies that caused huge human and material losses?
As per my observation, these questions only lead us to one conclusion – our disaster risk reduction program is not ambitious enough, despite the fact we live in a disaster-prone archipelago. At least not ambitious enough to withstand the increasing severity, variety and complexity of disasters in Indonesia. We have yet to make any extraordinary reforms in the way we respond to COVID-19 or climate change.
To that end, the four following points are worth discussing.
First, political commitment to disaster risk reduction is the elephant in the room. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Research and Activity Report on Strengthening Disaster Preparedness already highlighted the concern that disasters have not been ingrained in the mindset of our decision-makers. As a result, disaster preparedness suffers resource constraints even in disaster-prone regions.
