Dealing with disaster

Dealing with disaster

Located in one of the most active volcanic belts in the world,
Indonesia is no stranger to earthquakes and the devastation which
they bring about. In fact, when we include the very mild tremors
that nobody finds worth a moment's thought, earthquakes are said
to be daily occurrences in this sprawling archipelago of more
than 17,000 islands.

And yet every time disaster strikes a certain area we ask
ourselves whether something can't be done to lighten, if not
prevent, the suffering which earthquakes cause. In the latest
powerful one which hit the Kerinci regency in Jambi province on
the island of Sumatra during the weekend, 79 people were reported
to have died. At least 737 people were reported to have been
badly injured and 1,520 suffered light injuries. Thousands of
buildings were reported to have been destroyed and the number of
people made homeless is legion.

According to a local resident who called this newspaper by
hand phone from the disaster site, the Kerinci earthquake struck
while people were still asleep and hardly had time to flee their
homes to safer areas. Communications with the world outside were
practically cut off. With the definite body count still vague as
army personnel continued to search under the rubble for more
victims yesterday, people continued to live in fear of
aftershocks.

If all this has a familiar ring, the reason is quite obvious.
In February last year an earthquake of a somewhat lesser
magnitude -- 6.5 on the Richter scale compared to 7.0 for
Saturday's tremor -- struck the Liwa area, West Lampung Regency,
in southern Sumatra, killing 201 people and injuring almost
2,000. The Lampung earthquake destroyed about 80 percent of the
buildings in and around the village Liwa, cut off the water
supply and totally disrupted communications for several days. The
worst killer earthquake to have struck this country in the past
few years occurred in December 1992 on the island of Flores in
East Nusa Tenggara Province. In this disaster some 2,000 people
were killed.

We could go on listing the various cataclysmic quakes that
have occurred in this country in the past. The more important
point, however, is the one contained in the question already
cited: how to minimize the suffering which natural disasters such
as earthquakes bring about? Scientific and technological progress
notwithstanding -- it is still impossible to predict with any
degree of precision when or where a disaster is going to strike
-- the next best thing to do would be to improve our relief
organization.

We have no doubt that in every case the authorities do the
very best they can to make life for the surviving victims as
bearable as is possible under the circumstances. Yet it still
seems that any new major natural disaster takes us more or less
by surprise. It would without doubt be helpful if the
mobilization of assistance could be carried out more swiftly. Or
if more stand-by supplies were kept on hand. Or perhaps greater
community or volunteer participation is called for.

The point is: in a country such as ours it certainly seems
worth the effort to do everything we can to be prepared to move
swiftly and effectively in case disaster strikes.