Indonesia to make West Sumatra disaster mitigation pilot project
Indonesia to make West Sumatra disaster mitigation pilot project
17:10, March 30, 2010 
Email | Print | Subscribe | Comments | Forum 
The Indonesian government intends to make the quake-prone West Sumatra province as a pilot project for disaster mitigation model to be applied to the country, hopefully it will also become a model in Southeast Asian region, an Indonesian official said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"With the help of foreign assistance we have been conducting orchestrated efforts, drafting the mitigation procedure to save lives in the disaster hit areas. We have decided to make West Sumatra as a model of disaster mitigation procedure," Bakrie Beck, an official at the national disaster management agency, told a press conference held here after a workshop session discussing earthquake mitigation in West Sumatra province.
Bakrie said that West Sumatra province is actually the " supermarket" of natural disasters that commonly occurred in the country. The province is prone to earthquake, tsunami, volcano eruption and landslide.
"Saving lives is the top priority in the mitigation efforts. That's why we set top priority in designing infrastructure that would act as shelters for refugees after the disaster takes place, " Bakrie added.
Among the infrastructure construction designed as shelters for the people to seek refuge are the public market, schools, hospitals and mosques. Besides that, wider roads will also be built to allow people to run freely with their feet to save their lives from possible tsunami, he said.
To materialize the central government's aim, the provincial administrator is highly expected to set tighter requirements for those who want to build buildings in West Sumatra. Those buildings must comply with quake-proof design, and be able to make people evacuate quickly when the disaster strikes in.
The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit West Sumatra on Sept. 30 last year has killed thousands of people, and most of them were buried alive under the debris of buildings.
Source:Xinhua
"With the help of foreign assistance we have been conducting orchestrated efforts, drafting the mitigation procedure to save lives in the disaster hit areas. We have decided to make West Sumatra as a model of disaster mitigation procedure," Bakrie Beck, an official at the national disaster management agency, told a press conference held here after a workshop session discussing earthquake mitigation in West Sumatra province.
Bakrie said that West Sumatra province is actually the " supermarket" of natural disasters that commonly occurred in the country. The province is prone to earthquake, tsunami, volcano eruption and landslide.
"Saving lives is the top priority in the mitigation efforts. That's why we set top priority in designing infrastructure that would act as shelters for refugees after the disaster takes place, " Bakrie added.
Among the infrastructure construction designed as shelters for the people to seek refuge are the public market, schools, hospitals and mosques. Besides that, wider roads will also be built to allow people to run freely with their feet to save their lives from possible tsunami, he said.
To materialize the central government's aim, the provincial administrator is highly expected to set tighter requirements for those who want to build buildings in West Sumatra. Those buildings must comply with quake-proof design, and be able to make people evacuate quickly when the disaster strikes in.
The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit West Sumatra on Sept. 30 last year has killed thousands of people, and most of them were buried alive under the debris of buildings.
Source:Xinhua
Special Coverage
Major headlines
Editor's Pick
Most Popular
Hot Forum Dicussion
