Indonesia unprepared for major natural disaster

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday that Indonesia does not have the scientific and technological know-how to face severe natural disasters, such as the widespread brush and forest fires and warned that such calamities could compromise the nation's economic stability.

"We had not anticipated a natural disaster of such magnitude and we were totally unprepared," Soeharto said at the opening of an international conference on Science and Technology for the Assessment of Global Environmental Change and its Impact on the Indonesian Maritime Conference.

"Despite our tireless efforts and the assistance provided by other countries, it has taken a long time before they can be extinguished," the President said. "This has been compounded by the late rainy season," he added.

More than 300,000 hectares of land and forest have been destroyed in the past few months. The fires have caused severe haze which has also affected neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Soeharto said that as the country struggles to contain the fires, further natural upheavals are set to hit the nation.

"While we are busy overcoming the drought, we must also prepare ourselves for the eventual floods that will come with the start of the rainy season," he said. He said steps should be taken to anticipate the appropriate crops which should be cultivated in such conditions.

"Unless we take appropriate measures, food shortages might occur that will compromise the economic stability which we have been trying very hard to maintain," Soeharto said.

Soeharto underlined the importance of science and technology in helping to alleviate these natural upheavals.

"If we could predict the unusual climactic changes that lead to the drought, we could make the necessary preparations... minimizing possible damage," he added.

The long dry season has already postponed this year's harvest and hundreds of drought related deaths have been reported in several areas of the country.

Soeharto lamented that the available technology to forecast climactic change was not evenly distributed.

"Apparently the scientific and technological mastery is not evenly disseminated," he said. He hoped the conference would produce action plans and make an effort to share skills in predicting climate change and thereby anticipate disasters.

Soeharto noted that the events of recent months prove the inter linkages of natural phenomenons.

Security

Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie later told the conference that Indonesia supported the idea of establishing a multinational research center for climate prediction, crop estimation and disaster mitigation.

But Habibie admitted that in the recent case of the widespread fires, national security reasons had hampered data collection which was crucial in anticipating climate variability.

"We started this conference on global climate change 11 years ago, but still haven't been allowed to present the necessary data on Indonesian maritime conditions due to security reasons," Habibie told journalists addressing the conference at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Four hundred participants are taking part in the three-day conference.

Habibie claimed this would no longer be a hurdle since President Soeharto had opened access to information on Indonesia's territory, whether at sea, on land or in the air, for scientific studies on climate, weather and the environment.

Habibie said the decision was prompted by the fact that Indonesia holds a strategic position as it is located between two continents and two oceans which has been identified as areas that effect global environmental change and the El Nio phenomenon.

The El Nio is a warming of the Pacific Ocean and has wreaked havoc on the global climate. (10/prb)