Jokowi Issues 4 Instructions on Disaster Mitigation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has sent four instructions to improve the national disaster mitigation. The order was released during the National Coordination Meeting for Disaster Mitigation in 2021 in State Palace, Wednesday, March 3, 2021.

“First, let us not focus on drafting rules. But the vital thing is the implementation in the field because that is what the public sees,” he said.

Widodo emphasized that the vital thing is the monitoring and enforcement of standards in the field. The second is about integrated policies from upstream to downstream in order to minimize disaster risk. He asked for neither sectoral egos nor regional egos.

“All should be integrated. Everything complements each other. Everything covers each other. Nobody should feel that this is not his job. Be careful, this is a disaster, it is different from normal things,” he underlined.

The third instruction is emergency response management and the ability to carry out rapid rehabilitation and reconstruction, including early warning systems, contingency plans, and operational plans during emergency response. “Once again, speed is the key to saving the people and reducing casualties.”

For the last instruction, Jokowi went on, the government should enhance public education and literacy related to disaster mitigation, starting from the smallest social group which is a family. “Hold routine disaster simulations in disaster-prone areas, so that residents are better prepared,” he said.

EGI ADYATAMA