Consultative Workshop: Strengthening Disaster Risk Reduction and Early Warning in Indonesia
SRSG Opening Remarks
Consultative Workshop: Strengthening Disaster Risk Reduction and
Early Warning in Indonesia
BNPB Conference Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia
10.00am on 29 May 2019
Lieutenant General Doni Monardo,
Esteemed representatives and colleagues,
Good morning and thank you for those remarks,
Indonesia is an important partner of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and I am glad to be here with you to open this workshop.
Two days ago, I was in Bangkok for a high-level ministerial discussion as part of the 75th Session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. The topic was how to involve people in DRR planning to mitigate against disasters. And while the focus was regional, Indonesia was at the top of my mind.
There are few countries in the world that are more at the forefront of the battle to build resilience against disasters than Indonesia.
Indonesians live in one of the most disaster-prone regions of the world. Its cities are located along the most seismically active zone in the world. There are 127 active volcanoes and 317 districts that are at high risk of flooding.
As a result, Indonesia experiences more than its fair share of earthquakes, volcanos, storms, landslides and floods.
Indonesia is also one of the most populous countries in the world, spread out over a chain of islands covering a vast area. It is currently investing heavily in infrastructure projects and economic development to meet the demands of a growing population.
Meanwhile, like other countries in this region, Indonesia is experiencing the effects of climate change through unpredictable weather patterns and extreme weather events.
To its credit, Indonesia is ahead of many in the region when it comes to laying the foundation for comprehensive disaster risk reduction.
The country has established institutional and regulatory frameworks for risk reduction at the national and local levels. Its national strategy on disaster risk reduction is forward-looking and is built on a solid understanding of its disaster risks.
Unfortunately, the amount of risk in the world is growing faster than our ability to counter it. As a result, tragedies are still occurring.
Last year, I expressed my condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the aftermath of the Lombok earthquakes, only for that tragedy to followed by the Sulawesi earthquake and then the Sunda Strait volcanic landslide.
Those were only three of the 2,000 disasters that struck Indonesia last year, claiming at least 4,000 lives and displacing around 3 million people. 2018 has been described as the deadliest year for disaster mortality in Indonesia since 2007.
That makes our presence here today that more important. We must do what we can to prevent these disasters and not accept the status quo.
You understand this better than anyone and are already acting on this. The government of Indonesia has recently taken some bold steps to lower its disaster risk, strengthen preparedness and increase public awareness.
Specifically, I applaud President Widodo’s directive for strengthening Indonesia’s early warning system, so it may truly be end-to-end and reach the communities most in need.
Last year, my team in the Asia-Pacific office took the initiative of commissioning two reviews related to the Sulawesi disaster.
The first focused on the downstream aspect of the early warning system, which encompasses that crucial final phase of when messages are disseminated to at-risk populations to trigger the appropriate response.
Known as the ‘last mile’ of communication, the effectiveness of this process can often be the difference between life and death when disaster strikes.
The second report focused on phenomenon of liquefaction which was the cause of much of the destruction in the city of Palu.
The conclusions of these reviews called for further investment in research and analysis of the social aspects of early warning systems to better understand risk perceptions and enhance the ability of communities to act upon warning messages.
They also called for community engagement in risk assessments so that they have a full understanding of the risks they face at the local level and know what they need to do to mitigate these risks.
I hope you will find the recommendations derived from this review useful in your ongoing efforts to improve the “end-to-end” coverage of your early warning system.
For our part, I want you to know that UNDRR is committed to doing what it can to support you every step of the way, and the Letter of Intent we are signing today is a manifestation of this commitment.
I look forward to learning more today about the new ‘Master Plan for the Multi-Hazard Early Warning System’ and the progress you have made in the integration of disaster risk reduction into your development plans and across sectors.
And I would like to hear your thoughts on how we can further bring this integration down to the local level. I have no doubt that as Indonesia further develops local strategies for disaster risk reduction, there will be much that can be shared with other countries facing similar challenges.
Lastly, before I leave the podium, since we are in the last ten days of Ramadan, which are the holiest of the month, I want to thank you all for being such gracious hosts and I want to give you my early wishes for a happy upcoming Eid.
Thank you very much.