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.