Fire in Jakarta

Fire in Jakarta

What is happening! Every day in Jakarta there are reports of
horrible fires that claim the lives of innocent people, and
destroy the homes and businesses of many citizens. This is so
very sad because it is so preventable.

The Fire Safety Educational Program developed by Fire
Department (Dinas Kebakaran) is commendable but has limited
funding, which therefore results in limited public awareness. To
help combat Jakarta's fire epidemic through public awareness,
television and radio stations should be required to dedicate
"prime time" five to ten seconds public service announcements
addressing Fire Safety.

Newspapers should provide periodic coverage of Fire
Prevention. Home Fire Safety should be taught to children in
schools and the children encouraged to bring Fire Safety into
their homes.

Certainly, Fire Prevention Education and Public Safety
Awareness alone will not solve the problem. Lack of proper
housing, poor living conditions and limited fire prevention
measures contribute significantly to the fire epidemic. However,
it is so ironic, the fortunate who own homes and can afford fire
prevention measures like smoke and fire detectors, are the ones
who ignore fire prevention. The unfortunate who are the poor fire
victims, cannot afford such detectors, but are the ones who are
in most need of fire protection.

R. PAUL

Jakarta