INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY APPRECIATES DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA

Jakarta Forum - London, The UN Agency for Humanitarian Affairs, donor countries and NGOs engaged in humanitarian affairs acknowledged that Indonesia is an example of a country with a very good and effective disaster management system.

The recognition came to the surface when the UN-OCHA held a meeting of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Board in Geneva, First Secretary of the Indonesian Permanent Representative in Geneva Achsanul Habib, told Antara on Wednesday.

Deputy Indonesian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, WTO and other international organizations in Geneva Ambassador Desra Percaya, on behalf of the Indonesian government, had been asked to make a briefing on the successful handling of the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra.

UN-OCHA said Indonesia`s representation in the meeting was an example of the success of a country in carrying out UN humanitarian operations, especially in disaster handling.

In the briefing ambassador Desra Percaya underlined that the Indonesian government had applied disaster handling management in Padang under close coordination with UN agencies and friendly countries.

The handling of the quake in Padang went smoothly thanks to the support of very good coordination between the central government and regional administration, the UN-OCHA and its rapid action team.

The handling of the Padang quake also served as a good example with the change in approach of the Indonesian government in disaster handling.

Under the framework, the Indonesian government made a more proactive approach focusing on efforts of reducing disaster risks, placing the people as an important actor in reducing disaster risks.

All those factors had amounted to a number of important notes for the participants in the meeting comprising UN-OCHA officials, UN agencies, and important donor countries like the US, European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, and a number of NGOs engaged in humanitarian affairs.

Ambassador Toni Frisch, representing the Swiss government`s humanitarian assistance agency, said Indonesia is a very self-reliant country with an adequate disaster management capability with the support of very strong natural resources.

Source: