Sarwono urges decree on natural disasters

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja has said another, more comprehensive decree on natural disasters is needed to better prepare for future problems.

Speaking at a year-end media gathering Tuesday evening, Sarwono said a clearer definition of what a disaster was and ways to cope with one were needed to help the country's bureaucracy work in a crisis.

He said a presidential decree would help refine the work of the National Disaster Coordinating Board (Bakornas PB).

"The definition of a disaster and ways to deal with one (in the current presidential decree) are neither clear nor complete," he said.

He said it was the nature of a bureaucracy "not to be able to work if given an unclear definition of a problem or incomplete ways of dealing with it."

Bakornas PB, chaired by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas, was established under a presidential decree in 1990 as a inter-ministerial coordinating institution.

Some of the bodies it includes are the ministries of social affairs, home affairs, health, public works, information; the Armed Forces; and provincial governors.

The office of the state minister of environment, the ministries of forestry, agriculture, defense and security, and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technologies are non-permanent members of Bakornas PB.

Sarwono said: "Although it (last year's forest fires) was clearly a disaster, not many (bureaucrats) responded well to it."

He recounted his recent experiences with government colleagues who had "no sensitivity to the urgency of the problem at all."

"In this situation only those who are innovative can react fast to this kind of disaster without bothering with the red tape," he said.

According to Sarwono, the recent brush and forest fires should have served as a "good lesson" for both the government and the bureaucracy.

"Among other things we should be more knowledgeable about ways of detecting a (forest fire) disaster. We need to create an early warning system that will enable us to take any necessary steps," he said.

Huge brush and forest fires raged in Sumatra and Kalimantan in the latter half of 1997. The resulting haze not only enveloped many parts of the country but also neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

The situation was aggravated by the El Nio weather phenomenon which helped delay the monsoon.

Sarwono maintained that the ad hoc national coordinating team to fight forest fires, set up by President Soeharto last September, should be incorporated into Bakornas PB through a new decree.

"If it was, every province would have its own forest fire coordinating unit," he said.

Sarwono said a "detailed final losses assessment" of the disaster would be completed in two months.

He said a study of the impact of the fires was currently being conducted by the government in cooperation with the European Union. (aan)