Indonesian Researchers Discuss Intl Mitigation Standard

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesian researchers from University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) participated in the discussion of ISO-TC292 in Edinburgh, Scotland on September 5 to 9, a press release from UGM received by Antara here on Wednesday.

ISO-TC292 is standardization in the field of security to enhance security and resilience in the community.

The UGM researchers are Prof. Dwikorita Karnawati (the head of delegation), Teuku Faisal Fathani, and Wahyu Wilopo.

Wahyu said the event was participated by 43 countries of working group members to prepare the standard and 14 countries as observers.

"The ISO is expected to be a guide for communities and stakeholders around the world to improve preparedness and mitigation measures before a disaster takes place. Also, the ISO is expected to be able to provide precise and rapid response when a disaster occurs," he explained.

He explained areas prone to mass or land movement have spread  widely across the world, including Indonesia.

Based on data from the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management in 2016, approximately 40 million people live in areas prone to land movement.

Disaster mitigation needs to be applied to avoid casualties in the forms of structural and non-structural efforts.

"In practice, a disaster risk reduction is effectively done with non-structural mitigation," Wahyu explained.

The non-structural mitigation, according to him, is implemented by increasing community's preparedness through early warning systems.

Improving disaster preparedness can be done by adopting and applying simple and low-cost early warning systems as well as disseminating early warning of natural disasters at the local and national levels. (WDY)