Prabowo Approves BNPB Proposal to Build Disaster Logistics Warehouses in Every Region
President Prabowo Subianto has officially accepted input from the Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Suharyanto, regarding the strengthening of disaster mitigation at the regional level. The main proposal put forward is an obligation for every Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) to have logistics warehouses and stockpiles of aid ready for immediate use when a disaster occurs.
The input was presented by Suharyanto during a coordination meeting on handling the impact of the earthquake in Nagekeo Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The meeting was led directly by President Prabowo at the evacuation post of the Territorial Development Battalion (Yon TP) 834/Wakanga Mere, Tonggurambang Village, Mbay, on Wednesday (26/8).
In his report, Suharyanto highlighted the distribution constraints that are often hampered by the limited availability of logistics in the regions. He revealed that many BPBD logistics warehouses in various areas are empty, making it difficult for regional governments to provide a rapid response in the early phase of a disaster.
“When the disaster occurred recently, this region could not do anything because the BPBD logistics warehouses were indeed empty,” said Suharyanto, as monitored via the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel.
Although the central government has distributed presidential community assistance as well as additional Unexpected Expenditure (BTT) funds amounting to Rp20 billion for each of the eight regencies in NTT, Suharyanto stressed the importance of regional logistics self-sufficiency for the long term.
Responding to this, President Prabowo Subianto stated that he would consider the proposal for national implementation. The President assessed that regional governments, both governors and regents, should ideally have reserve granaries for emergency conditions.
“I think that is a good suggestion. So let us calculate it nationally, and later we will help each province, so that governors have warehouses and food preparations, as do regents,” President Prabowo asserted.
The Head of State added that if initiatives from regional governments have not yet run optimally, the central government will take intervention measures to ensure every region is prepared to face disaster threats without having to wait for logistics distribution from the centre, which takes time.
Suharyanto reminded that BNPB is an instrument of the central government that does not have a direct command relationship with BPBD. Therefore, strengthening logistics capacity at the provincial and regency/city levels is key so that basic assistance can be received by affected communities within hours after a disaster occurs.