Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has established a disaster management operations control center in Papua Province as an effort to bolster the region's capacity in responding to disasters.
Director of Victims and Evacuees' Facilitation at the BNPB, Nelwan Harahap, in Jayapura, Papua, on Tuesday, noted that the establishment of the control center is a strategic step to ensure disaster response in Papua is carried out more quickly and effectively.
"We cannot avoid disasters because Indonesia, including Papua, is located in a disaster-prone area," he remarked.
Thus, he continued, the step that can be taken is to reduce the risks through development and spatial planning that takes into account mitigation aspects.
"For that reason, the presence of the disaster management operations control center in Jayapura District, Papua, is expected to curb the risks," he added.
Harahap underscored that building regions' resilience in responding to disasters requires a long process and institutional strengthening efforts.
"This control center is equipped with information system technology that is integrated with disaster early warning, both from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation," he remarked.
He further said that the facility is expected to help Papua strengthen its disaster management system so that the regional government can take response measures more quickly.
"The BNPB also encourages integrating disaster mitigation into the regional development planning system to enhance the capacity of the community, institutions, and the environment," he said.
