VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Sorong office, recorded 1,040 earthquakes in various parts of West Papua province in 2020, with 27 quakes jolting the province in the month of September alone.

The average magnitudes of the earthquakes that intensively rattled West Papua in September, 2020 was recorded at three and four, the agency's head, Rully Hermawan, said here on Wednesday.

Sorong district is vulnerable to earthquakes as it lies on the Circum-Pacific Belt, also known as the Ring of Fire. Its vulnerability is also a result of the "Sorong fault”, which runs through the fault zone in Sulawesi Island, which triggered the Palu and Majene earthquakes.

Sorong district has repeatedly been rocked by strong earthquakes over the past decades. In 2009, for instance, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake jolted Manokwari district and triggered a tsunami in Ransiki town.

On September 26, 2015, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Sorong district's Tanjung Kasuari, Hermawan said.

"This reality needs to be responded to cautiously. We must stay alert, but we do not need to get panicked," he remarked.

Earthquakes regularly strike various parts of Indonesia since the country lies on the Circum-Pacific Belt, where several tectonic plates meet and cause frequent volcanic and seismic activity.

This year, two strong earthquakes rattled several parts of Sulawesi Island in eastern Indonesia.

On January 15, 2021, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake, followed by several aftershocks, rattled the districts of Majene and Mamuju in West Sulawesi, claiming 81 lives.

Meanwhile, the deadliest earthquake was reported in Central Sulawesi on September 28, 2018. The magnitude of the earthquake was recorded at 7.4, and it was followed by a tsunami that ravaged Palu City and the districts of Donggala, Paringi Moutong, and Sigi.

The catastrophe claimed 2,102 lives, left 4,612 people injured, and rendered 680 others missing. A total of 68,451 homes were seriously damaged, while 78,994 people were displaced by the disaster.

The authorities and humanitarian workers had to resort to burying the large number of rotting corpses in mass graves.

Meanwhile, material losses inflicted by the twin deadly disasters were estimated to be Rp15.29 trillion.

The provincial capital of Palu bore the brunt of the disaster, with material damage and losses recorded at Rp7.6 trillion, or 50 percent of the total estimate, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

The material damage and losses in Sigi district were recorded at Rp4.9 trillion, or 32.1 percent of the total estimate; Donggala district Rp2.1 trillion, or 13.8 percent; and Parigi Moutong district Rp631 billion, or 4.1 percent.

The material damage in the four affected areas reached an estimated Rp13.27 trillion, while the material losses were reportedly around Rp2.02 trillion, the agency revealed in October, 2018. (Antaranews)

Indonesia on Wednesday added 12,568 COVID-19 infections, 9,755 recoveries, and 267 deaths over a single day.

With this, the total tally of cases in the country has risen to 939,948, while total recoveries have reached 763,703, and the death toll has climbed to 26,857, the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling reported here on Wednesday.

At present, Indonesia has 79,418 people in 510 districts and cities who are suspected to have contracted the virus.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 58,805 specimens have been tested in laboratories across the country.

Provinces that have reported the highest number of new cases on Wednesday include Jakarta, with 3,786 cases, followed by West Java (1,814), Central Java (1,775), East Java (955), and South Sulawesi (661).

The largest number of daily recoveries have been recorded in Jakarta (3,885), followed by West Java (1,484), East Java (830), South Sulawesi (627), and Central Java (528).

The highest cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Jakarta (236,075), followed by West Java (117,570), Central Java (107,851), and East Java (107,851).

So far, Jakarta has registered the highest number of total recoveries at 210,741, followed by West Java (95,510), Central Java (70290), and East Java (87,381).

In terms of the death toll, East Java has recorded the highest number of deaths at 7,135, followed by Central Java (4,742), and Jakarta (3,847).

In the meantime, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto has said restrictions are being tightened in specific areas in all six provinces on Java Island and Bali province till January 25, 2021 to counter a spike in COVID-19 infections.

Restrictions are being tightened in Jakarta and adjoining areas, including Bogor City, Bogor district, Depok, Bekasi City, and Bekasi’s districts, as well as partly in Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, and Bali provinces, the minister informed. (Antaranews)

National Police chief candidate Com.Gen.Listyo Sigit Prabowo must continue Indonesia's war on drugs by intensifying law enforcement against domestic and trans-national rings, which remain a threat to the entire nation, a legislator said.

"I have appealed to him to keep focusing on handling the drug crimes," said Andi Rio Idris Padjalangi, a member of Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR), which oversees legal affairs, here on Wednesday.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the national police chief candidate's fit-and-proper test at the parliament building, Padjalangi said the Indonesian police's performance in the war on drugs has been remarkable.

The police have successfully uncovered several big drug-trafficking cases and seized large quantities of illegal drugs from suspects, he noted.

However, the remarkable performance under Listyo Sigit Prabowo's leadership as the chief of National Police's Criminal Investigation Directorate in fighting drug lords and offenders can still be improved, he added.

To this end, the National Police needs to maintain good synergy with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and other related agencies as well as continue improving infrastructure and equipment needed for the fight against drug crimes, Padjalangi said.

The Golkar Party politician also suggested that Prabowo keep improving the quality of human resources amid the fact that domestic and trans-national drug lords have intensified the use of digital technology for their crimes.

President Joko Widodo has nominated Com.Gen. Listyo Sigit Purnomo as the successor to National Police chief, General Idham Azis, who will retire on February 1, 2021.

Domestic and trans-national drug dealers perceive Indonesia as a potential market owing to its vast population and millions of drug users. Drug trade in the nation is valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.

People from all strata of society are falling prey to drugs in the country, regardless of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds.

The Indonesian government has taken harsh punitive action against drug kingpins found smuggling and trading drugs in the country over the past few decades.

BNN chief Com.Gen.Heru Winarko has sought capital punishment for those involved in drug trade in the country.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has also issued shoot-at-sight orders against drug kingpins.

However, this has failed to deter drug traffickers, who continue to treat Indonesia as a main market, prompting Indonesian law enforcers to tighten vigilance against them. (Antaranews)

The Ministry of Communication and Informatics has highlighted the issue of personal data protection for Indonesian citizens during the First ASEAN Digital Senior Officials Meeting (ADGSOM) held virtually.

"Indonesia has intensively participated in discussions and working groups on digital data governance during 2020. We are aware that a data management framework is very important to effectively protect the data of Indonesian citizens (WNI) if the data flows across regional boundaries," Mira Tayyiba, the ministry's secretary general, noted in a press statement here on Wednesday. At the virtual meeting, discussions centered on efforts to create an inclusive, safe, and reliable digital ecosystem for the grouping amid the COVID-19 pandemic by adopting the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 (ADM 2025).

At the meeting, Tayyiba remarked that on the basis of various inputs, she could not as yet adopt the ASEAN Digital Master Plan in order to protect the personal data of Indonesian citizens.