BMKG prepares 30 school programmes to enhance disaster victim adaptation

The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) has scheduled the implementation of 30 emergency field school activities to strengthen mitigation and adaptation capacities for communities in the Sumatra region.

Speaking at the ANTARA Heritage Center in Jakarta on Thursday, the Head of BMKG, Teuku Faisal Fathani, stated that the educational programme includes Fisherman Weather Field Schools (SLCN), Climate Field Schools (SLI), and Earthquake and Tsunami Field Schools (SLG).

This massive educational operation in western Indonesia is being rolled out through a special funding scheme, supported directly by a Presidential Instruction to respond to urgent needs in three specific regions. Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra were previously hit by massive flash floods and landslides in late November 2025. According to data from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), these disasters resulted in 1,189 deaths, 148 people missing, over 5,400 injuries, damage to approximately 157,800 houses, and impacts on 3,222 public facilities and infrastructure.

Fathani added that BMKG targets a cumulative quota of between 1,500 and 2,000 participants, with each implementation area consisting of study groups of approximately 50 people. This new phase of the Field School programme is designed using a combination method involving the general public and regional officials, such as village heads, village secretaries, and field officers, who are projected to act as ‘trainers of trainers’ (ToT).

Through the involvement of these community leaders and local authorities, BMKG hopes that the dissemination of weather, climate, and tsunami preparedness information can spread more rapidly and accurately to every village.

‘All of these activities are currently in the funding process this year. Following the President’s instruction, the additional activities we are conducting there have received special funding,’ said Teuku Fathani.