Ministry of Social Affairs Encourages Strengthening of Disaster Management

SENTUL (February 4, 2020) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reminded all parties how the scale of the disaster has increased, both in terms of frequency, damage, extent and magnitude of the impact it causes. Disasters also afflict various countries in the world, not only Indonesia.

The President believes, many disasters can be prevented and reduced by all of us. But at the same time, President Jokowi saw that there were still many people found who often stuttered in the face of disasters.

"Especially in the stages of disaster management, such as dealing with disasters, repairing infrastructure damage, handling survivors or during recovery. This stage should be clear. Because some of our disasters have occurred frequently or repeatedly, such as forest fires," President Jokowi said at the 2020 National Disaster Management Coordination Meeting (Rakornas PB) in Sentul, Bogor Regency, West Java, Tuesday (4/1).

So to strengthen disaster management efforts, at the National Coordination Forum in 2020, President Jokowi delivered four orders to all elements of the nation, including Rakornas participants.

First, all central and regional government agencies must come together, work together to prevent, mitigate and improve preparedness. Local governments need to conduct spatial control based on disaster risk reduction.

"It is swift to the potential threat according to the characteristics of the region, whether geology, volcanology, waste, hydrometeorology, biology, environmental pollution," the President said.

Secondly, every governor, regent and mayor must immediately, immediately (the President repeat his words) prepare a contingency plan including the provision of preparedness facilities and infrastructure that can be fully carried out by all parties and must be ready to handle disasters completely.

Third, disaster management must be carried out with a collaborative approach, 'Pentahelix', which is collaboration between elements of government, academics and researchers, the business world, the community, and the support of the mass media to be able to deliver news to the public.

Fourth, the central government and regional governments must improve leadership and develop reliable human resources in disaster management, qualified institutional arrangements, including programs and budgets that must be increased according to the priorities of the 2020-2024 RPJMN.

"Fifth, Armed Forces Commander and National Police Chief to participate in supporting disaster management efforts including law enforcement. National mobilization and support to the regional level can work well together with the central and regional governments, "the President said.

Strengthen Disaster Management

Following up on the President's orders in strengthening and managing disaster management, the Ministry of Social Affairs has prepared a number of steps. Most fundamentally, the Ministry of Social Affairs supports and encourages discussion on the Disaster Management Bill (RUU) which is now included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

The Ministry of Social Affairs hopes that the Disaster Management Bill (RUU) will soon be discussed with the Indonesian Parliament. Social Minister Juliari P. Batubara said, the Disaster Management Bill was now included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

An important substance regulated in the bill is to strengthen disaster management systems or management. "In it regulated and strengthened disaster management systems. Namely how to deal with before, disaster emergency and post-disaster, between related parties in a coordinated manner, "said the Minister of Social Affairs in Bogor, Tuesday (02/02/2020).

This bill pays more attention to systems and process approaches. Where in the management of disaster management will be arranged starting from prevention, mitigation, emergency alert, emergency response, emergency transition, to the reconstruction and rehabilitation stage, into a system that runs coordinated from the center to the regions.

"Thus the importance of the substance regulated in this law, so its presence is awaited. We have a need, this year too, this bill can be passed, "said the Minister.

The ratification of this bill is expected to complete the existence of Law No. 24/2007 concerning Disaster Management. This Act 24 regulates more on institutional strengthening marked by the formation of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) which has authority from the center to the regions with the establishment of the BNPBD in the regions.

"Institutional arrangements in Law No. 24 is in line with the needs of the time and so far it has gone well, "he said.

In line with the President's order, said the Minister, the current disaster management has a broad spectrum and involves many parties involved in disaster management. So even though the Ministry of Social Affairs and BNPB have worked optimally, in general, the impact of the disaster is still quite extensive.

"Therefore, a more systematic and coordinated mechanism is needed that involves all relevant parties," said the Minister. Apart from strengthening the disaster regulatory framework, the Ministry of Social Affairs also established four main steps in handling when a disaster occurs.

First, coordinating with the Social Service and Disaster Preparedness Team (Tagana) in the affected areas for the purposes of the assessment which is to record the basic needs and the number of residents in the refugee camps. Second, the deployment of Tagana and the Disaster Preparedness Zone Team (KSB) for data collection on victims, evacuation of victims to safe places, especially for vulnerable groups (the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and other special groups).

Third, logistics distribution to meet the basic needs of disaster victims sourced from the Republic of Indonesia Ministry of Social Affairs' Warehouse and Provincial Central Warehouse. Fourth, holding field public kitchen services and psychosocial support services (LDP) to meet the basic needs of survivors in refugee camps, especially children.

"The Ministry of Social Affairs also distributes death benefits to the heirs of the dead amounting to Rp.15 million per person," said the Minister.

In the anticipation stage before a disaster occurs, the Ministry of Social Affairs also develops a KSB which is a formal forum for community based disaster management. The focus is on providing education to the public and facilitating the preparation of Minimum Service Standards in the field of Disaster Management which regulates the division of tasks and authority between the center and the regions in disaster management.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the Ministry of Social Affairs also provided life insurance, as well as the Family Hope Social assistance program for survivors who had fallen into poverty due to the disaster.

Public Relations Bureau

Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs