VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 5 - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has urged regional governments to focus on disaster mitigation in tsunami-prone villages through mangrove conservation.

“I think all governors and district heads have looked at the spread of (tsunami-) prone (villages) on the map. Let us exercise caution. Don't think since no (tsunami) occurred in the past one year, three years, or five years, so there won't be (another tsunami). It may happen tomorrow, or even after this moment, since nobody can control earthquakes,” he said during a national coordination meeting on disaster mitigation in 2021 here on Thursday.

Tsunami-prone villages are spread over most parts of Indonesia and regional governments need to pay attention to the spread of tsunami- and earthquake-prone villages, he stressed.

“Don't say we are not prepared. We all must be prepared. We must not cry about something only because we are not prepared,” he remarked.

Data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) shows that the number of earthquakes increased to 8,264 in 2020 from an annual average of 6,445, though the figure showed a decline compared to 11,920 in 2018 and 11,515 in 2019.

“Nobody imagined a 9.1-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami would devastate Aceh province in 2004,” Pandjaitan said.

"Indeed, a quake cannot be predicted and its recurrence period is long, thus making people forget it easily and (end up) unprepared. Thus, it seems it happened all by sudden,” he added. (antaranews)