Puan: Still Many Natural Disasters, People Must Quickly Receive Solutions
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, stated that the public must quickly receive solutions amid the ongoing occurrence of numerous natural disasters in recent times, especially since some disasters are recurring.
Puan, as per a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday, mentioned that nearly 700 natural disasters have occurred over the past three months. This situation demonstrates the continued vulnerability of society to natural disasters.
“With the still high number of natural disasters, particularly recurring ones, this must be viewed as a form of public vulnerability to natural disasters that has not shifted much and requires immediate solutions,” she said.
According to her, the string of natural disasters up to early April 2026 should be read as a signal that Indonesia is facing increasingly dense, widespread, and complex pressures from disasters with significant social impacts.
“The issue is no longer sufficient to understand as an accumulation of seasonal natural events, but also as an indication that many living spaces of the public remain in vulnerable conditions against repeated natural disaster disruptions,” she stated.
Puan said the biggest challenge now is not just how the state responds after an event, but also how the national system can read the patterns of vulnerability that keep emerging in relatively the same locations.
If recurring floods continue to dominate, then issues of water management, environmental capacity, and settlement readiness have not fully progressed as quickly as the changing risks faced by the public.
In this context, according to Puan, disaster incident data should not stop at weekly statistics but must serve as the basis for sharper corrections in the areas most frequently affected.
“And what needs to be most protected in situations of recurring disasters is the ability of families to survive after the disaster has passed. This must be a priority for the government,” she emphasised.
In addition, she mentioned that the longest burden post-disaster lies in the recovery phase, when homes are damaged, incomes are halted, schools are disrupted, and families must reorganise their lives with limited resources.
Therefore, she assessed that measures for handling disasters are not sufficient based solely on the speed of initial aid, but also on the state’s ability to ensure that the public does not repeatedly return to the same points of vulnerability.
According to her, if one region continues to experience similar disruptions year after year, what is needed is not just faster responses, but also the courage to gradually and measurably address the sources of vulnerability.
“In the end, what is most important to maintain is that the public does not feel they are living in a cycle of continuous damage without real change,” she concluded.