Indonesia to teach kids disaster-readiness
Indonesia is ramping up efforts to better prepare for natural disasters, starting with schoolchildren. Last year was the country’s deadliest year in more than a decade. Calamities like tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions claimed more than 4500 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
“Given the potential for disasters in the country, it’s time to have disaster education as part of the national curriculum,” said President Joko Widodo late last month following the tsunami triggered by the sudden eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano.
Mr Joko’s administration believes that training children in disaster preparedness in schools will raise their awareness and equip them with the skills to survive disasters.
At least 37,000 schools nationwide are located in disaster-vulnerable regions, according to figures from the National Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Education and Culture. Meanwhile nearly half a million children were affected last year after more than 24,000 schools were destroyed by earthquakes that shook Lombok and Central Sulawesi, according to the National Secretariat of the Disaster Resilience Education Unit. The government has said it will double its disaster mitigation budget to 15 trillion rupiah (FJ$2.19bn) this year and also revive the defunct countrywide early tsunami warning system.