MPR Deputy Speaker Urges Comprehensive National Disaster Preparedness

Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR RI) Lestari Moerdijat has stated that natural disasters in the country must serve as a momentum to evaluate and build national preparedness, encompassing the education system, infrastructure, and disaster literacy. “Indonesia is a disaster-prone region. Efforts to build national preparedness through an adaptive education system and infrastructure, as well as strengthening public literacy regarding disasters, must be realised immediately,” said Lestari in a statement on Wednesday (26/8/2026).

The statement was made during an online discussion themed ‘The Increasing Earthquake Activity of August 2026: National Preparedness and Systemic Risk in Densely Populated Areas’ organised by the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum. The discussion featured Agus Riyanto (Director of Emergency Response Region I, National Disaster Management Agency/BNPB), Wijayanto (Director of Earthquakes and Tsunamis, Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency/BMKG), and Nuraini Rahma Hanifa (Senior Researcher in Earthquakes and Tsunamis, National Research and Innovation Agency/BRIN) as speakers. Erma Yulihastin (Principal Expert Researcher, BRIN) and Marianus Marselus (Media Indonesia journalist in East Nusa Tenggara) also attended as discussants.

According to Rerie, as Lestari is affectionately known, a number of anticipatory measures must be realised immediately, given the increasing potential threat of disasters to the public. Recent data records that floods and landslides that struck Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra late last year claimed 1,167 lives, left hundreds missing, and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents. Meanwhile, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, resulted in 103 deaths, 986 injuries, and forced hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate. Furthermore, forest and land fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra are currently triggering a surge in acute respiratory infection cases of 25%-30% among the public and schoolchildren.

According to Rerie, who is also a member of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), regional governments in disaster-prone areas must be encouraged to prioritise disaster mitigation, including spatial planning enforcement and audits of earthquake-resistant building construction. The member of the NasDem Party High Council asserted that national resilience begins with preparedness at the smallest community level, such as households and communities. “The readiness of stakeholders and good public literacy regarding disasters is expected to be able to reduce the potential threat of disasters that frequently occur in the country,” said Rerie.

Director of Earthquakes and Tsunamis at BMKG, Wijayanto, revealed that throughout August 2026 there were 11 earthquake events above magnitude 5.7 on the Richter scale, ranging from Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, West Java, North Maluku, to East Nusa Tenggara. This occurred, explained Wijayanto, because Indonesia is influenced by four major world tectonic plates: the Indo-Australian, Eurasian, Pacific, and Philippine plates. Throughout 2025, he added, 43,000 earthquakes were recorded from February 2025 to December 2025. The two main causes of earthquakes in Indonesia, according to Wijayanto, are plate subduction (megathrust) and active faults.

Given these conditions, he explained, Indonesia is a country with high earthquake disaster potential and other impacts such as tsunamis. According to Wijayanto, BMKG also records earthquake shaking levels to estimate the level of damage from earthquake shaking impacts. Wijayanto revealed that BMKG also verifies recorded data with field conditions during the Flores, NTT earthquake. In addition, he explained, BMKG coordinates with relevant ministries and agencies, such as BNPB, regional governments, and the public to disseminate information on the situation, as part of efforts to reduce the threat of hoax news related to disasters.

Director of Emergency Response Region I at BNPB, Agus Riyanto, revealed that in facing the threat of disaster impacts, BNPB is working to strengthen public preparedness. According to Agus, throughout 2026, up to 25 August 2026, BNPB recorded 1,587 disasters, with a dominance of hydrometeorological disasters and 14 geological events recorded. With this number of disasters, Agus explained, Indonesia ranks third out of 193 disaster-prone countries.

According to Agus, disaster risk is highly dependent on the magnitude of the disaster threat, the capacity of the public and institutions in understanding disasters, and the level of existing vulnerability. Therefore, Agus stressed, to build disaster preparedness, these three factors that shape disaster risk must be carefully examined and well understood by all parties, including the wider public. According to Agus, a paradigm shift is needed in disaster management towards prioritising preventive efforts, multi-sectoral approaches, and realising the responsibility of all parties (pentahelix) to build a disaster-resilient society.

Senior Researcher in Earthquakes and Tsunamis at BRIN, Nuraini Rahma Hanifa, opined that the magnitude of the impact depends on our readiness in facing potential earthquake impacts. The map of earthquake sources released by BMKG, said Nuraini, is being studied as part of efforts to anticipate potential future earthquakes. These anticipatory measures, she explained, are part of efforts to build public readiness.

Looking at the building damage that occurred during the Flores earthquake, Nuraini opined that the distribution of damage corresponds to the existing earthquake distribution map. To reduce risk, she stressed, earthquake-resistant buildings need to be realised in earthquake-prone areas. “Earthquakes are essentially natural phenomena; disasters occur when humans living amidst these natural phenomena are not prepared to anticipate their impacts,” said Nuraini. The Flores earthquake, according to Nuraini, must serve as a momentum to strengthen the readiness of urban and densely populated areas in anticipating the impacts of geological threats.