TEMPO.CO – Mar 7
Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) invites all people to work together to face natural disasters, especially the floods that often occur in Indonesia.
“Public should be made aware of this and given mitigation (training), [so they] understand if a disaster occurs,” said JK in Jakarta on Wednesday, March 7.
Kalla said the Indonesian people can learn from the tsunami in Aceh in 2004. Some 200,000 Banda Aceh residents have killed due to the natural disaster while the casualties on the Simeulue Island only 11 people. In fact, the island is closer to the center of the disaster.
The vice president said it was because the culture of the Simeulue Island residents was to go to high places in case of an earthquake.
Besides the earthquake, Indonesia is also prone to flooding, especially in the Central Java. According to Kalla, there are two possibilities to prevent a flood, namely reducing the incoming water and speeding up the water to come out.
Kalla said the key is in forests and plants whose one of the original functions is to hold the incoming water. But nowadays, many forests are destroyed, so it can no longer absorb the rainwater.
To cope with the floods, Jusuf Kalla suggested that people grow plants which will reduce natural disasters besides reaping the plants’ production.
