Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's disaster management agency is seeking additional funding through foreign loans to bolster disaster prevention and mitigation efforts, citing limited state budget allocations, the agency’s chief told parliament on Tuesday.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Head Suharyanto said prevention spending remains constrained by the state budget, prompting efforts to secure approval for overseas borrowing to strengthen preparedness and reduce future disaster risks.
“We are trying to maximize disaster management, particularly prevention and mitigation, because the state budget is limited,” Suharyanto said during a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta involving social and disaster-related stakeholders.
He said BNPB’s annual prevention budget is relatively small, ranging between Rp17 billion (US$1.01 million) and Rp19 billion (US$1.13 million), limiting the agency’s ability to fund long-term risk reduction programs nationwide.
Suharyanto said several foreign loan facilities had been approved over the past five years, helping strengthen BNPB’s pre-disaster capabilities, particularly in mitigation and preparedness, which he described as critical to reducing future losses.
In addition to loans, BNPB also uses its emergency standby fund, an allocation normally reserved for disaster response during emergency and alert phases, to support preventive measures in disaster-prone regions.
“Many disasters are recurring events, often in the same areas,” Suharyanto said, adding that emergency funds are also used to build preventive infrastructure to prepare communities for potential future disasters.
BNPB is also working with Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, BMKG, to develop concepts for earthquake and tsunami early warning systems, Suharyanto told lawmakers.
He said BNPB had secured foreign loans totaling Rp949.17 billion (US$56.59 million) to build operation control centers in all 34 provinces and in 30 districts and cities.
Along coastlines frequently hit by earthquakes and tsunamis, sensors have been installed to detect rising sea levels and transmit early warnings to regional disaster agencies, while evacuation routes have been marked, Suharyanto said.
