Jakarta – Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the 2023 National Coordination Meeting (Rakornas) for Disaster Management on Thursday (02/03/2023) at the Jakarta International Expo, Kemayoran, Jakarta.

In his address, President Jokowi said that currently all countries are aware of climate change which has the potential to increase the frequency of disasters.

“Climate change has caused a drastic increase in the frequency of natural disasters and Indonesia is among the three most disaster-prone countries,” the president said.

The president revealed that the frequency of disasters in Indonesia has increased by 81%, from 1,945 disasters in 2010 to 3,544 disasters in 2022, including floods, volcanic eruptions, landslides, earthquakes and disasters. other natural and unnatural disasters.

“Therefore, being alert and alert is the key, both in the pre-disaster stage, during the emergency response phase and after the disaster. Everything must be prepared, everything must be well managed,” recalled the president.

The President stressed that the pre-disaster phase is very important to mitigate risk and minimize casualties and losses from disasters.

“We are often busy in the emergency response phase, when a disaster happens, even if it is called pre-disaster, the pre-disaster phase is much more important. How to prepare the community, how educating the community, how to provide training to the community for the anticipation stages, that has to be a priority,” he said.

Also, regarding the pre-disaster stages, President Jokowi pointed out a number of things. Firstly, namely the early warning system.

“First of all, it is important early warning. We are often still late, in early warning,” he said.

Second, educate the public about disasters, such as what to do if an earthquake occurs or if there is a risk of a volcanic eruption.

“Educating the community, providing training to the community is much more important. So that people know where to flee, where to take refuge,” the president said.

Thirdly, the president emphasized land use planning and building

The third concerns land use planning and construction. The president asked relevant officials, especially regional public works offices and regional development planning agencies, to pay attention to this issue.

“Don’t let this happen, because it always repeats itself, for example in Palu, there is a village or a sub-district where every 20 years, every 50 years, there are always earthquakes, tsunamis, cracked ground is still at the same point, but housing is still being built there,” he said.

The president also asked relevant officials to pay attention to the disaster vulnerability map when granting building construction permits.

“We already have a map of places where volcanic eruptions occur, where earthquakes occur frequently, we know everything. It should start to be mandatory for people who construct buildings to be directed to construction, namely earthquake-resistant constructions,” he said.

Also accompanying the President at the event, among others, Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy, Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law and Security (Polhukam) Mahfud MD, Minister Secretary of State (Mensesneg) Pratikno, Commander Admiral of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Yudo Margono, Chief of National Police General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Chief of National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto and DKI Jakarta Acting Governor Heru Budi Hartono.