Indonesia’s
Policies on Disaster Management Related to Social Security
A.
Introduction
Indonesia is an archipelagic nation
extending 5,120 kilometres from east to west and 1,760 kilometres from north to
south. It encompasses an estimated 17,508 islands, only 6,000 of which are
inhabited. The country has five main islands; Sumatra, Java, Borneo (known as
"Kalimantan" in Indonesia), Sulawesi and Papua; two major
archipelagos (the Nusa Tenggara Islands and the Mollucas Islands); and sixty
smaller archipelagos. Indonesia is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, so it
has many active volcanoes that are considered as the most active in the world
(Indonesia has 500 volcanoes in which 129 are categorised as active volcanoes).
Indonesia also has four major
tectonic plates that are thrusting into each other, i.e. the Eurasian plate
that moves south-eastward with a speed of 0.4 cm per year, the Indo-Australian
plate that moves northward with a speed of 7 cm per year, the Pacific plate
that moves westward with a speed of 11 cm per year and the Philippines plate
that moves north-westward with a speed of 8 cm per year. This condition makes
the country prone to earthquake hazard. An earthquake that occurs in the sea
may trigger a tsunami threat, so in this case Indonesia is also prone to
tsunami (about 7,800 villages are categorised as prone to tsunami). Another fact is that Indonesia has 5,950
rivers in which 600 of those rivers are categorised as potential to flood.
Indonesia also has 521 districts or cities in which 154 of it are categorised
as flood-prone and 153 as drought-prone areas. Data about catastrophic and
disaster in Indonesia can be seen on table 1 and 2.
Table 1
Catastrophic in Indonesia
|
No.
|
Date
|
Disaster
|
Victims
|
|
1.
|
1815
|
Mt Tambora
eruption
|
92,000 people died
|
|
2.
|
19 May 1919
|
Mt Kelud - East
Java eruption
|
5,115 people died
|
|
3.
|
26 August 1883
|
Mt Krakatau - Banten
eruption
|
36,417 people died
|
|
4.
|
12 December
1992
|
Ende Flores -
NTT earthquake and tsunami
|
2,100 people died
|
|
5.
|
26 December
2004
|
Aceh and Nias
earthquake and tsunami
|
227,898 people died
|
|
6.
|
27 May 2006
|
Yogyakarta earthquake
|
6,234 people died
|
|
7.
|
October 2008
|
Padang - West
Sumatra earthquake
|
120 people died
|
|
8.
|
25 October
2010
|
Mentawai
Island earthquake and tsunami
|
509 people died
|
|
9.
|
26 October - 5 November 2010
|
Mt Merapi - Yogyakarta
eruption
|
354 people died
|
Indonesia spans 5,120 km and is
spread across an archipelago of more than 17,508 islands. It is home to over
240 million people, making it the world's fourth largest country by population.
It also has a huge diversity of ethnic peoples, speaking more than 300
different local languages. In this context, Indonesia is also vulnerable for
social conflict.
Table 1
Disaster in Indonesia 2009 - 2011
|
No.
|
Type
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
|
1.
|
Disasters
|
1,675 cases
|
644 cases
|
1,545 cases
|
|
2.
|
Died Victims
|
2,620 people
|
1,711 people
|
940 people
|
|
3.
|
Suffered Victims
|
5,500,000 people
|
1,398,923 people
|
294,124 people
|
|
4.
|
Damaged Houses
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Severely damaged
|
19,324 units
|
14,693 units
|
14,935 units
|
|
|
- Moderate damaged
|
9,480 units
|
2,830 units
|
3,300 units
|
|
|
- Slightly damaged
|
13,713 units
|
25,030 units
|
3,676 units
|
B.
Legal Basis
The Indonesian Government has strong
commitment to build disaster resilient nation and communities. It can be
clearly seen by several laws and regulation that has been released as follows:
1. Act
No. 24, 2007 on
Disaster Management
2. Act
No. 11, 2009 on
Social Welfare
3. Act
No. 36, 2009 on
Health
4. Act No. 13, 2011 on
Poverty Alleviation
5. Presidential
Regulation No. 8, 2008 about National
Disaster Management Board (BNPB)
6. National
Action Plan for Disaster Management 2010-2014.
C.
Disaster Management in
Indonesia
Based on the National Disaster
Management System, there are three main activities that need to be considered
as follows:
1. Before disaster
In this phase,
coordination is directed in terms of prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
Each sector or ministry can be a coordinator for each relevant issue.
2. During disaster
In this phase,
coordination is directed in terms of emergency response. All sectors or
ministries are under coordination of BNPB.
3. After disaster
In this phase,
coordination is directed in terms of recovery. Each sector or ministry can be a
coordinator for each relevant issue.
Regarding the, the Ministry of Social
Affairs has responsibilities in providing food supplies, mitigation and
preparedness whilst the Ministry of Health has responsibilities in providing
health care, medicines and health workers. Based on the National Disaster
Management Planning, the Ministry of Man Power and Transmigration has
responsibilities in sending the victims of disaster to safety locations and
providing vocational training for them.
D.
The Policy of Ministry of
Social Affairs for Social Security
To ensure the social security for
victims of disaster, the policy of the Ministry of Social Affairs as follows:
1. Ensuring
protection and social security systems to victims who require special
protection, i.e. the vulnerable group and the poor.
2. Conducting comprehensive,
synergistic and integrated redistribution, to meet the basic and social rights
of the victims who need special protection and social security.
3. Optimising the management
and utilisation of the social sources of public funding to support the implementation
of social welfare by the community.
E.
Programs and Activities of
Ministry of Social Affairs
These are the programs and activities
conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs related to disaster management:
1. Preparedness and Mitigation
a.
Capacity building TAGANA,
TRC, Social Work, etc
b.
Developing Community Based
DM (KSB)
c.
Building Logistic system
2. Emergency Response
a.
Activating all disaster
management networking system
b.
Mobilizing resources
3. Social Recovery
a.
Providing Houses
b.
Enhancing Social Functions
F.
Programs and Activities of
Ministry of Health
The programs and activities of
Ministry of Health related to the disaster management as follows:
1. Preparedness and mitigation
a.
Capacity building team
b.
Dissemination and simulation
to communities
c.
Developing infrastructure of
health in 8 regional areas
2. Emergency Response
a.
Activated all disaster
management networking system
b.
Mobilizing resources
3. Social Recovery
a.
Providing health care
services (physical and mental)
b.
Preventing contagious
diseases in IDPs camps
c.
Providing supplementary food
G.
Lesson Learned
In 2010, Indonesia has successfully
managed the victims of Mt Merapi eruption in Yogyakarta. In that time, the disaster had made 354
people dead, 240 people injured and 47,486 IDPs suffered. However, due to the
experiences in the past and good coordination under BNPB, Indonesian government
had provided temporary shelters for 2,613 families. Some vulnerable groups like
children also had received special services through children centres (pondok
ceria anak). The Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Health had
important roles as follows:
1. Roles of the Ministry of
Social Affairs
a.
Providing social security (Jadup)
b.
Providing temporary shelter for IDPs
c.
Providing psycho-social activities and trauma centers
d.
Providing social supports as a stimulant to start a
small/creative business (UEP)
e.
Providing social services for very vulnerable groups
such as children, elderly and persons with disabilities.
2. Roles of the Ministry of
Health
a.
Providing free health services through mobile
community health centres (puskesmas) near disaster areas (IDPs camps)
b.
Providing medicines for victims/medical logistic
c.
Providing nutrition supports for pregnant mothers and
babies under 5 years old
d.
Providing special services for victims with mental
health problems
e.
Maintaining public health and preventing contagious
diseases
H.
Challenges
Although Indonesian Government has many experiences in disaster
management thorough these years, there are still some challenges which are need
to be considered in the future as follows:
- Minimise the risks of disaster through contingency plan, strengthening preparedness and mitigation system in disaster-prone areas.
- Ensure the security of victims’ lives and their property.
- Provide the services for vulnerable groups who have special needs.
- Synergise the programs of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health to enhance the quality of services in the future.
---------------------------------------------
