Sumatra Earthquake Government Not Learning From Experience

JAKARTA, TimeIsNews.com - Still has often afflicted with natural disasters, governments of Indonesia have never learned from the experience. Handling of victims of natural disasters is still not optimal and comprehensive.

“What has been done is still far from expectations. Not to learn from previous earthquakes of the procedure. Each earthquake is characteristic, such as an earthquake in Padang is like an earthquake in Jakarta. The government is not prepared to handle casualties victims.”, said volunteer disaster, Farid Faqih, in a polemic discussion on Handling of Earthquake Jakarta, Saturday (3/10).

The number of victims, he said, because the government does not have disaster management SOP. In addition, Indonesia also has no concrete saws or heavy equipment to lift the other buildings that collapsed. In fact, if the building was quickly cleared away, many lives would be saved.

He also lamented, the evacuation process is still using sniffer dogs that came from abroad. Local Indonesia Police should be able to train their own police dog they had. That way, they can immediately find out where the victims are still missing.

He continued, the government has not made the mapping of disaster prone areas. This makes handling of the disaster becomes not optimal because there is no disaster management preparation. “Everything is just done when a disaster has come. I can not imagine what would happen if the quake-stricken Jakarta.”, he said.

This, he said, will not be tolerated any further. The government must immediately enact laws and Presidential Decree in disaster management. That way when disaster strikes, all aid has been prepared and the victim can get help immediately. “If the existing laws and Presidential Decree, the president and vice president no longer need to hold a coordination meeting. Help can be given quickly and not perfunctory.”, he said.