Improving Disaster Preparedness, MoSA Inaugurates 120 KSB Volunteers in Kebumen

KEBUMEN (24 July 2023) - The Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) inaugurated 120 Disaster Preparedness Village (KSB) volunteers in Kebumen Regency. They are community members from two sub-districts in Kebumen Regency, namely Bonorowo and Petanahan Sub-districts.

Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini, represented by Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Robben Rico, in the Inauguration and Simulation for the Formation of KSB in Kebumen, said that volunteers from community elements were formed and inaugurated to increase their capacity in disaster management.

"Mr Regent, I entrusted 120 volunteers that we prepared in the context of disaster management outside of the Disaster Voluntary Workers (Tagana), as well as the Indonesian National Armed Forces/Police (TNI/Polri) and National Search and Rescue Agency," said Robben Rico in Kebumen, recently.

Robben said that the 120 volunteers were trained to be prepared to become the main pillars of disaster management in their area. "So, indeed we inaugurated the volunteers to help us. If a disaster occurs, they are the front liners that handle the disaster," he said.

In disaster management, human resources readiness is one of the essential aspects. MoSA has also prepared a social granary. It contains emergency supplies during a disaster so that people can survive for a certain period of time until assistance arrives.

"Inside the granary, there are tents, ready-to-eat foods, rations like in the military, mattresses, blankets, etc., which can later be used at any time if something unexpected happens," he explained.

After being inaugurated as KSB volunteers, the 120 volunteers were then given an introduction about disaster preparedness, and disaster simulation training for three days, from Thursday (20/7) until their inauguration on Saturday (22/7).

The Regent of Kebumen, Arif Sugiyanto, welcomed the inauguration of the 120 KSB volunteers. Disaster preparedness for Kebumen is important since Kebumen is a disaster-prone area, especially floods and tornadoes.

“Currently, disaster management is not only carried out when there are victims of a disaster. Most importantly, we must be aware and fully prepared that Kebumen is a disaster-prone area. Therefore, disaster preparedness is very essential," he said in front of the KSB inauguration participants.

For this reason, his party appreciated the initiation of the inauguration ceremony and the KSB simulation test from the Ministry of Social Affairs. It is a series of efforts to increase disaster preparedness for the community in Kebumen Regency.

On that occasion, MoSA also handed over assistance in the context of preparedness and mitigation for victims of natural disasters.  In Kebumen Regency, the assistance was in the form of social granaries for 6 locations consisting of 2 KSB social granaries and 4 non-KSB social granaries in Kebumen Regency worth IDR 705,166,335.