Experts advises TV usage in flood warning system

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration has been advised to step up its information campaign on minute-by-minute progress on flooding, in the absence of a proper early warning system.

Heru Sri Naryanto, an expert on disaster mitigation, said on Monday that the administration had to supply radio and television stations with all the necessary information as such media directly reached the public.

"The administration must supply as much information about flooding as possible to those stations; it must not wait until reporters ask for information," said Heru, from the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

For years the city has failed to establish a proper early warning system, saying that it now needs Rp 200 billion (about US$ 23.5 million) to set up a crisis center. This year's city budget currently allocates only Rp 15 billion to start the center.

Heru cited the important role of several radio stations in delivering information during the huge floods in Jakarta in early 2002 that caused the death of at least 30 people and forced more than 300,000 to flee their homes.

The radio stations were also crucial in supplying information to those who wanted to distribute aid to the victims.

Heru said formal cooperation with several electronic media would ensure that the administration's information reached the public.

A large city like Jakarta should have a reliable crisis center that can become an information center for any disasters in the city, including the annual floods, he added.

He said that a good crisis center would be equipped with a database on various matters, including flood-prone areas, population levels, vulnerable properties and all equipment needed during an emergency.

Professional crisis center management, he said, would have specified job descriptions, including for those in charge of the early warning system.

"In such a center, who does what, when and where would be clear, to avoid people blaming one another," Heru added.

He said his office drafted a master plan on a crisis center for the city administration in 2001, but its implementation was very slow and was still in the very early stages.

With an overall budget of over Rp 12 trillion this year, he said the city could establish a crisis center online to all relevant officials from the governor to subdistrict heads.