Indonesia unprepared for major natural disaster

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)