With Indonesia sitting precariously on the Pacific Ring of Fire, resulting in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods and tsunamis, coping with such events is both a national pastime for the population and a serious concern for the government. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), there have been on average 289 significant natural disasters per year over the last 30 years in Indonesia.
AmCham Indonesia met with Bernardus Wisnu Widjaja, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) deputy for prevention and preparedness, to discuss natural disaster risks and ways to increase preparedness in Indonesia. Widjaja has held numerous positions with BNPB including director of reduction of disaster risk, deputy of construction and rehabilitation and his current role, which he has held since 2014.
AmCham Indonesia: What exactly does BNPB do?
Bernardus Widjaja:BNPB was established based on Law Number 24 Year 2007 regarding Disaster Management, which requires national and local governments to be responsible for disaster mitigation. According to the law, BNPB has three roles. First is to formulate policies on disaster management. This involves different stakeholders including non-government organizations [NGOs], the private sector and ministries. We involve them in policy making because it is part of our commitment to have a bottom-up approach, as disasters require multistakeholder responses. Second is to coordinate stakeholders in policy implementation, which can be either national plans or regulations. Third is to ensure the policy is implemented successfully. We are currently supervising the National Disaster Management Plan and the Presidential Regulation on the Disaster Management Master Plan 2015-2045, which is also part of the Ministry of National Development Planning’s (BAPPENAS) Indonesia’s Vision 2045. In my unit we are responsible for coordinating all activities in regard to the reduction of disaster risk and pre-disaster situations.
Which ministries and agencies does BNPB work with?
Disasters are complex and multidisciplinary, and thus require strong coordination with various ministries and agencies. BNPB works with most ministries and agencies, depending on their focus on disaster management. For pre-disaster management, we coordinate with agencies related to research such as the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT); the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI); the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG); the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN); National Mapping Agency of Indonesia (BIG); the Ministry of Environment and Forestry; the Ministry of Health and the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN). For management during disasters, we coordinate with the armed forces, National Police, the ministries of social affairs and health, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.
For post-disaster management, we coordinate with the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection. We focus on women in disaster management because statistically most victims are women and children. There are many reasons behind this, but most of the time in our society women are treated differently than men, and as a consequence, women have limited freedom to choose their clothes and in some cases are not allowed to swim. There are also other cultural elements that forbid women from leaving their house without their husband or male siblings. All these social constructions mean women have more limited chances to survive in natural disasters than men.
But women have a strong instinct to protect themselves and their family. A couple of months ago we conducted training and socialization for disaster awareness specifically for women. The results were very satisfying. Within a week, the participants had already implemented the plan in their homes and had even socialized it with their friends. They bought fire extinguishers, fire alarms and many other things for disaster management. They were very responsive and creative, which shows that women play a vital role in disaster mitigation.
What is your opinion of Indonesia’s disaster awareness culture?
No society can be 100 percent aware and ready to face potential disasters. However, there are also some cultural aspects in Indonesia that can give a uniquely positive contribution toward disaster awareness. For example, Nya Roro Kidul[Indonesian Sea Goddess] is a myth that warns locals to not build houses near beaches in the southern part of Java, which actually is a scientifically solid warning considering the high earthquake potential in that area. There is also a legend from Simuelue Island off of Aceh that tells peoplewhatto do if sea waves suddenly recede. This legendary knowledge remarkably saved almost everyone in Simuelue – only three people died – during the Aceh Tsunami in 2004. Meanwhile, in Palu there is a traditional early warning system called Nalodothat tells people near the ocean to go as high as possible when an earthquake occurs.
However, the current development of information and communication technology (ICT) remains an issue. Since most people are connected through their smartphones, they often easily trust information they receive without verifying sources and facts, rather than following legitimate information from local authorities. Regardless, smartphones are still be the best early-warning tool we have, due to their reach and speed in transmitting information. Thus, we will try to adapt to ICT development.
How can social media and the latest technology help BNPB increase public awareness of disaster management?
Socialization is an important tool, however, I believe the approach should be different for different age groups. For instance, baby boomers and post-baby boomers will not suit a social media approach as they are not used to it. Instead, we have to attract these groups through more traditional means of story/news-telling such as Kethoprakan [Javanese traditional theatrical performance], Wayangan [Indonesian puppet show] or any other traditional shows they are familiar with. For millennials and post-millennials, social media is my favorite tool because these age groups are very dependent on them. In fact, we will be using social media more often as almost half of Indonesia’s population are millennials. My point is that in dealing with people’s awareness, we should be more innovative and less dependent on the old, conventional ways.
In addition to socialization, we also use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to crowdsource information from the public. The information will be collected in our application PetaBencana.idto produce spatial visualization of disaster information in real-time. This application received an award as the best public services application in the world from the United Nations in May 2019.
We have developed many applications that can hopefully help build a disaster awareness culture. The latest isinaRISK Personal, available from both Google Play and the Apple Store. The application enables users to know the potential risk in their current location, as well as providing simple guidelines on how to handle pre-disaster, disaster and post-disaster situations. We hope expatriates can also download the application to help them work and live more comfortably in Indonesia.
What can we learn from developed countries in disaster management?
All countries need to learn from each other. As for developed countries, we need to learn their technology in handling disaster mitigation. However, it is not that we should build all of their advanced technologies as it will be very expensive to maintain them.
I see disasters as more of a social rather than a technological concern. Disaster mitigation requires collaboration between people instead of just relying on advanced technology. When the tsunami occurred in Japan in 2011, 35 percent of the people survived because they understood how to help themselves, 32 percent because of their families and 28 percent because of their neighbors. Surprisingly, the search and rescue team only helped 5 percent of the victims. These statistics showed us that 95 percent of people can survive during the early stages of a disaster because they understand the risks and help each other. Therefore, disaster management can only be effective when society is highly aware and actively involved in mitigation.
Having said that, I see Indonesia’s biggest strength in disaster management as its people. Our country has numerous potential natural disasters every year, but the risk of residents being impacted is, in fact, very low. This is because our instincts and abilities to help each other are incredible. Indonesians become less individualistic when disasters happen, which is extremely vital in saving people’s lives. This is what developed countries can learn from us in regard to disaster management. We were chosen as the country with the best disaster risk reduction practices by the UN in February 2019.
How can the private sector contribute to disaster management in Indonesia?
For the private sector, the most important thing is to secure themselves first. There are four steps to do this. First is to understand and be aware of the disaster risks in the place they are working. It is important to know potential disasters around you to estimate the risk and prepare a rehabilitation plan whenever a disaster occurs. Second is to start including disaster risk management into corporate governance. This is particularly important to ensure all stakeholders are aware of the plan and ready to evacuate in case a disaster occurs. Third is to invest in disaster management resources and infrastructure. This provides the best tools for their business continuity plan. They can also invest in building insurance and/or life insurance for their workers. Last but not least is to conduct community disaster awareness training within their organizations. This is important to increase people’s reflexes and instincts when a disaster occurs. Simple things such as knowing evacuation routes can lower potential casualties.
After adopting all of these steps, they can then contribute to alleviating the causes of disasters in Indonesia. Around 95 percent of the disasters are meteorological and hydrological, or related to weather or climate changes caused indirectly by human activities. Therefore, conducting environmental activities will contribute to disaster management in Indonesia. They can start with simple things such as planting trees around their area of business or conducting environmental campaigns, reforestation activities and/or environmental charity. It would be even better if these environmental activities can benefit the society around them. These activities should not be ceremonial events, but should also be sustainable activities that can benefit the environment in the long run.
Any bittersweet moments while at BNPB?
Serving people in disaster management gives mixed feelings. Sometimes there are some sweet moments and also some bitter ones. The sweet moments are when people appreciate and thank us for what we have done. It is enough to make us more than happy. Meanwhile, the bitter ones are when we hear people complain about our services even after we have done our best. Regardless, it is okay because we see it as constructive criticism to do better in the future.
What are your hopes for the future of disaster management in Indonesia?
My hope is that people who reside in Indonesia have adequate knowledge to understand the risk of disasters. If they live in areas with high natural disaster potential, they need to be better prepared for mitigation and invest more in it. I also hope that they can be disciplined in following existing rules. We already have regulations and guidelines for disaster management such as implementing regulation BNPB No. 11 Year 2014 that focuses on public involvement in disaster mitigation. However, it will not work if stakeholders underestimate them.
Our mobile application contains a lot of information and guidelines and we hope people can use it to increase their awareness of disaster risk and casualty reduction. We also hope that investors will not be afraid to invest in Indonesia, as long as they know the risks of natural disasters and understand how to manage them. If they need more detailed information, they can come to us or download theinaRISK application. We are happy to help at any time.
