REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Successor to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief's post still awaits the revision of Presidential Regulation Number 8 of 2008 on BNPB. Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko stated that to the journalists here on Thursday.
"The BNPB can be like the National Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency. The SAR agency is currently under the Coordinating Ministry of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs. Thus, not all those agencies are under the president," he said.
According to Moeldoko, shifting the BNPB's responsibility and accountability was taken into account for the sake of realizing effective coordination. He explained that the government has evaluated the disaster mitigation agency's position.
The BNPB can likely be directed by the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Ministry in connection with the disaster rehabilitation process, he noted. Moeldoko further explained that the future tour of duty of the BNPB chief would be carried out for organizational revitalization for the agency.
Indonesia's mainstream media have highlighted the name of Lt General Doni Monardo, who is currently the National Resilience Council (Wantanas) secretary general, as a possible successor of the agency's incumbent chief, Willem Rampangilei.
"Doni's track records have been well-recognized. He has so many initiatives," Moeldoko noted in connection with Doni Monardo, candidate of the BNPB chief's post.
Indonesia lies on the Circum-Pacific Belt, which is also known as the Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates meet and cause frequent volcanic and seismic activities. As a result, several parts of the archipelago are prone to earthquakes, as could be observed from last year's deadly earthquakes in Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara Province, and Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi Province.
By considering the factual reality, the BNPB's role holds significance. In 2018 in West Java alone, the BNPB recorded that 1,561 natural disasters had struck in different parts of the province, killing 50 people and affecting 75,706 residents.
According to Head of the West Java Disaster Mitigation Agency's Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Division, Budi Budiman Wahyu, landslides dominated the catastrophes, followed by house fires, whirlwinds, flooding, forest and bush fires, and earthquakes.
As a result of 544 landslides, 434 house fires, 286 whirlwinds, 149 floods, 141 forest and bush fires, and two earthquakes that occurred through the year, 50 people died, 75,706 others were affected, and 31,474 houses were damaged and destroyed, he pointed out.
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