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View all search resultsThe much-needed disaster budget
We cannot always stop disasters from occurring, but we can prevent them from becoming disastrous for millions of Indonesians by preparing better.
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Anak Krakatau volcano emits smoke on Sept. 5 in Lampung, documented by a team from the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation at Indonesia’s Geological Agency. (Courtesy: Geological Agency/-)
E
very year, natural hazards affect millions of people across Indonesia. While the risks are up, the disaster budget and mitigation programs are not.
Authorities have been scrambling to deal with disasters on three fronts in the past one month: forest and peatland fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra, Mount Anak Krakatau eruptions last week and recovery from a powerful earthquake in East Nusa Tenggara in August.
Forest fires are a recurring problem, fueled by the draining of peatland ecosystems and use of fire to clear land mostly for agricultural purposes. But this year, the country is battling what authorities say is its most intense fire season in 11 years, as a heightened El Niño causes drier climates that allow flames to spread easily.
Sitting along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, one of the most unstable tectonic regions in the world, the archipelago of more than 280 million people is also prone to earthquakes and volcanoes.
Indonesia has some 500 volcanoes, 69 of which are active, making it one of the most volcanically active countries in the world since 1960.
Of the number, 11 active volcanoes erupted this year, including Anak Krakatau which forced Indonesia’s main airports to close last week, disrupting nearly 3,000 flights and affecting 341,000 passengers.
Last year alone, some 4,700 disasters, mostly floods, hit the country, affecting 12 millions of people. That included the widespread flash floods and landslides in three provinces in Sumatra that killed at least 1,200 people, displaced over a million people and damaged more than 280,000 houses and public facilities.
