Hurdles Remain in Disaster Management

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Disaster alert team members together with soldiers of the Indonesian Military (TNI) strive to take out survivors from the damaged buildings due to an earthquake in East Pemenang Village, Pemenang district, Tanjung, North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Tuesday (7/8). One of the survivors, Nadia Revanala, 21, a resident of Karang Baru Hamlet, was rescued by the team after being buried in the ruins of the earthquake for two days and two nights.

NORTH LOMBOK, KOMPAS – As the emergency response period in Lombok Island entered its third day after the magnitude-7 earthquake on Sunday, disaster management efforts remain inefficient. There are various information on the number of fatalities and refugees and logistics distribution management is hampered by the lack of a refugees’ urgent needs list.

Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said that he acknowledged the lack of valid information on the number of refugees, their urgent needs list, and access and vehicles available for distributing logistics. Hadi said he had ordered 162/Wirabhakti military resort commander and Lombok earthquake task force commander Col. Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani to make a structured and accurate list of refugees, fatalities and injured victims.

“The plan is to follow up on [fulfilling] the needs of people affected by the disaster,” Hadi said that the Lombok earthquake management post on the North Lombok regency office on Wednesday (8/8/2018). Hadi was accompanied by National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, Health Minister Nila Moeloek and West Nusa Tenggara Governor Tuan Guru Haji (TGH) Zainul Majdi.

Zainul said that three districts in North Lombok, namely Bayan, Kayangan and Gangga, had yet to receive logistical aid. “They are far from urban centers but rally close to the earthquake’s epicenter, resulting in a higher level of damage. A team has been sent there,” he said. He added that there was a possibility to extend the emergency response period, originally slated to end this Saturday, due to still-continuing evacuation and data-compiling processes.

Nila added that 266 people were currently under medical treatment. A majority of them require surgeries for bone fractures.

Fatalities

On Wednesday afternoon, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) on Wednesday afternoon announced that there were 227 fatalities in the Lombok earthquake. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) announced that there were 131 fatalities. BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that differences in data during an emergency response period was common, like during the 2010 Mt. Merapi eruption and the 2009 West Sumatra earthquake.

In Bandung, the Geological Agency emergency response team said that the findings of cracked soils and landslides in Pemenang, Tanjung and Gangga districts in North Lombok regency should be a cause for concern. “Everyone should increase their alertness, especially during rains on the hilly regions,” Geological Agency head Rudy Suhendar said (ILO/SYA/RUL/TAM/NAD/E21/ETA/ZAK/RAM/DIM)