VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jan. 28 - The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano, belched hot ash clouds sliding up to two thousand meters in the southwest direction or the upstream of the Kali Krasak and Boyong rivers on Thursday.

The initial eruption of pyroclastic clouds took place at 10:13 a.m. local time and had been recorded on a seismogram, with an amplitude of 69 mm and a duration of 175 seconds, the Center for Geological Disaster Research and Technology Development (BPPTKG) reported on its official Twitter account on Thursday.

"The height of the column could not be observed, as it is foggy. The estimated sliding distance is two thousand meters toward the southwest," the BPPTKG tweeted.

Based on BPPTKG’s observation data recorded on Wednesday, from 00:00 to 24:00 local time, Mount Merapi, located between the provinces of Central Java and Yogyakarta, spouted hot clouds 58 times, with a sliding distance of up to three thousand meters, and spewed material avalanches four times, with a maximum distance of 800 meters toward the southwest.

The gliding distance of the hot clouds was still within the danger radius set by the BPPTKG, which is five kilometers from the summit of Mount Merapi in the south and southwest directions of the Boyong, Bedok, Krasak, Bebeng and Putih rivers.

During an explosive eruption, the materials could disperse as far as a three-kilometer radius from the peak.

Following the eruption on Wednesday, volcanic ash blanketed several villages in Tamansari Sub-district, Boyolali District, and Boyolali City.

Since January 4, 2021, Mount Merapi has entered an effusive eruption phase, also known as the Merapi type, which is categorized by eruptions, with activity in the form of lava dome growth, accompanied by lava flows and avalanches of hot clouds, the officials noted. (Antaranews)

Jan. 28 - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) gave instructions to extension service workers of the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) to step up public awareness campaigns showcasing the importance of strengthening household resilience.

"Most importantly, awareness should be raised on how to build comprehensive household resilience in the health, economy, and education fields for children," President Jokowi noted at the State Palace here, Thursday.

To this end, Jokowi remarked that the BKKBN did not solely handle matters pertaining to the number of children and birth interval length, or the period between two consecutive live births, in Indonesian households.

Hence, the BKKBN should apply different strategies while guiding and empowering various segments in communities, the president told participants of a coordinating meeting on the Family Planning Establishment (Bangga Kencana) Partnership Program.

One of the targeted groups of the BKKBN's extension service workers are young married couples that are accustomed to the digital lifestyle. In such a situation, they are required to change their communication methods.

"All have had smartphones and like using them and social media platforms. This reality leaves the BKKBN with no choice but to change its communication methods to make them relevant to the nature of the new media," President Jokowi emphasized.

Hence, the BKKBN is able to create and share information that is well-received and understood by its targeted segments in communities, he pointed out.

President Jokowi stressed that BKKBN's extension service workers, in their guidance and community empowerment program, should also lay emphasis on the pillars of household happiness, such as managing nutrition, maintaining decent sanitation, ensuring good environmental preservation, and getting access to education.

At the meeting, President Jokowi lauded the BKKBN workers for their dedication in guiding and empowering communities in rural areas across the country.

"BKKBN's position is so strategic for the future of our nation and state because families are the pillars of a state, he affirmed.

At the meeting, President Jokowi also tasked the BKKBN with executing extraordinary programs to reduce Indonesia's stunting rate, from 27.9 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2024.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), children, with stunted growth, are those whose "height-for-age is more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median." (Antaranews)

The accident of Space Shuttle Challenger occurred on January 28, 1986, when the space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after being launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. 

This incident was broadcast live on US television and witnessed by a lot of people. The accident resulted in the death of seven astronaut crews.

One of the astronauts trained by NASA was a civilian, a teacher named Sharon Christa McAuliffe. The plan was that she would become the first civilian in the world to explore outer space.

Jan. 28 - Landell Mills, one of the world's leading international development consulting firms will hold a monthly media briefing with the EU Ambassador to ASEAN, Igor Driesmans, to discuss the EU-ASEAN strategic partnership.

The European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened a new chapter in their longstanding relationship by becoming Strategic Partners in 2020. On the first media briefing on Thursday, Driesmans said that he will attend a monthly media briefing on various EU-ASEAN activities.

The relationship between the two regional organizations is based on shared values and principles such as rules-based international order, effective and sustainable multilateralism, free and fair trade. This elevates their partnership with a commitment to regular summits at the leaders’ level.

Effective media relations activities will help raise awareness of the EU ASEAN Strategic Partnership and general EU engagements in ASEAN and Indonesia as well. 

Every month, strategically targeted national and international media outlets in Indonesia will be invited depending on the particular topic of the month.

The monthly media briefing is designed to be smaller in scale (compared to a press conference) but more in-depth. One of the issues that will be focused on is EU aides to combat Covid-19 in ASEAN. (VOI/Weny)