VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia recorded a total of 2,276 natural disasters in the year ending October 17, 2020, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). 

Most of the natural disasters were hydrometeorological disasters caused by meteorological/natural phenomena, the agency said in an official statement posted on Twitter on Saturday. 

The natural disasters comprised of 827 floods, 637 whirlwinds, and 416 landslides.  The disasters affected 4.5 million people, with 307 people losing their lives, 25 people going missing and 469 people sustaining injuries.

In addition, the disasters also caused light, moderate and serious damages to 35,176 houses and 1,481 public facilities. 

The agency also recorded a total of 321 forest and land fires and five volcanic eruptions over the period of time. Meanwhile, non-natural disasters include the COVID-19 pandemic.

Until Saturday (Oct 17), Indonesia reported 357,762 confirmed cases, with 381,592 people recovering from the infection and 12,431 others succumbing to it. (Antaranews)

Culinary practitioner (Chef) Ryhan Dhira said that traditional Indonesian cuisine is rich in taste and variety and has the potential to become an international culinary treat, so it is not only enjoyed by local people.

"This is even proven by the most popular chef in the world, Gordon Ramsay, who learned to cook Rendang directly to Padang, West Sumatra from Indonesian senior chef William Wongso some time ago," he said in a virtual discussion with the theme of Food Care Series: World Food Day 2020 Get To Know. Local and Traditional Food, which is monitored in Jakarta, Friday.

According to him, this proves that authentic Indonesian foods have great potential to penetrate the international culinary market.

He said this applied not only to Rendang, because several other Indonesian dishes were well known abroad.

An example is the famous Tempeh dish in France. In addition, in every Indonesian restaurant spread in various countries, there are mandatory menus that are always served including balado eggs, soup, noodles, and so on.

"Even the chili paste in America is used as a companion to certain foods there," he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the existence of local or traditional food in Indonesia itself, he assessed that several restaurants have made it a "brand", for example in Bali.

This includes the restaurant nona manis which is available in several malls in the country, which is an example of how traditional or local food is served in a better way.

"Even the Nasi Rames menu can be served amazingly. So, what is important is the seriousness if you want to develop local cuisine," he said.

On the other hand, he said that actually efforts to develop traditional Indonesian cuisine can be done from oneself first. This can be done in the simplest way, namely by starting to cook it.

The easiest way, he said, is to start learning to cook these foods at home and this can be done by anyone.

"I have been in the culinary field for five years, initially only in the form of fried rice and the like, but then I started to seriously study," he said.

With experience, later a dish can be created by combining local and imported products. Or it can also create food outside of Indonesia but still has a local flavor that is rich in spices, said Ryhan Dhira. (Antaranews)

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 reported that patients recovered from the new type of coronavirus infection in Indonesia increased by 3,883 people to 277,544 people, while there was an additional 4,301 positive COVID-19 patients to 353,461 people until 16 October 2020 at 12.00 WIB.

Based on data received by ANTARA from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Jakarta, Friday, an additional 79 people died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 12,347 people.

The most additional number of COVID-19 patients was in DKI Jakarta (1,045 people) followed by West Sumatra (484), Central Java (443), West Java (424), East Java (291), and Riau (278 people).

The Task Force reported that there were no additional new COVID-19 patients in Central Sulawesi and Papua.

The highest number of patients recovered from COVID-19 was in DKI Jakarta (982 people), Central Java (396), West Java (387), East Java (346) followed by East Kalimantan (208), South Sulawesi (166), Bali (133) ), Aceh (129), and North Sumatra (111 people).

The Task Force noted that there were no additional COVID-19 patients in Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, and Papua.

Until now, the transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic has occurred in 500 districts/cities in all 34 provinces in Indonesia.

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 also recorded 157,672 people as suspect COVID-19.

Meanwhile, 41,541 specimens have been examined to find out whether a person is positive or negative for COVID-19. (Antaranews)

Research director for the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia Piter Abdullah predicts that Indonesia's economy will recover fully in the fourth quarter of next year, along with the availability of vaccines.

"The availability of vaccines will increase confidence that the pandemic will end next year so that economic recovery can begin," he told Antara in Jakarta, Friday.

Piter said the economic recovery will take about three to six months so that if the vaccine is available at the beginning of the year, it is estimated that the economy will recover in the fourth quarter.

Piter said that even though the economy fully recovered in the fourth quarter, the economic revival would be felt since the second quarter because the availability of vaccines pushed public euphoria.

He explained that economic activity will increase compared to today so that consumption will speed up and will be followed slowly by the revival of the business and investment world.

Therefore, he suggested that the government can take advantage of the euphoria of the community, one of which is by continuing various stimulus programs in a more planned and targeted manner.

"The economy can grow even higher if the government can take advantage of the euphoria of the community after it is free from the pandemic," he said.

Piter is also optimistic that next year's economic growth will reach around 4 percent to 5 percent with vaccines and increased community activity.

"With the vaccine at the beginning of the year, economic growth in 2021 is believed to be positive in the range of 4 percent to 5 percent," he said.

The same thing was conveyed by Economic Observer Indef Bhima Yudhistira that the government needs to continue to provide adequate social help to the community to encourage recovery.

He said the Indonesian government could emulate Vietnam in providing social help by providing rice ATMs in quarantine areas or areas.

According to him, through the provision of rice ATMs, the poor can take basic needs so that compliance with government policies in handling COVID-19 also runs smoothly.

"The key is adequate testing, tracing, and treatment and social help," he said. (Antaranews)