City to have emergency center

JAKARTA: Governor Sutiyoso has proposed the establishment of an emergency center to provide help for people with various problems at the City Revenue Agency building.

"I'm very impressed with the idea of an emergency center. However, it is still just a plan," he said on Monday.

Sutiyoso was inspired by South Korea, after his visit to the host country of the 2002 World Cup with neighbor Japan, which has emergency centers in its capital Seoul. People can call the center with one contact number to get help.

The city administration has worked with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to create a crisis center. The center was expected to map Jakarta in detail to enable the administration to make risk analyses to provide an early warning system in case of natural disasters.

The center was launched three years ago with a total budget of Rp 2 billion (US$232,560) for the first phase of the project. -- JP