The Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture emphasizes the importance of disaster preparedness in Indonesia, a country located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and prone to natural disasters. The 2023 National Disaster Preparedness Day (HKBN) serves as an opportunity to raise awareness and improve readiness in facing disaster situations. The ministry’s Assistant Deputy for Disaster Mitigation and Social Conflict highlights the dissemination of information and education as crucial in boosting people’s understanding and alertness. The focus is on creating a disaster preparedness culture starting at the village level and involving all stakeholders. Through collective awareness, mitigation strategies, such as evacuating vulnerable groups and storing valuable documents, can reduce the impacts of disasters. The academician from Jenderal Soedirman University confirms HKBN’s significance regarding recognizing disaster threats and improving the culture of disaster awareness. He notes that the theme for the 2023 HKBN, “Improving Villages Resilience, Reducing Disaster Risks,” highlights the need to strengthen the disaster-resilient villages program. The emphasis is for regions to prepare disaster mitigation apparatus and distribute preparedness bags, as per BNPB, to anticipate earthquakes. Translated by Wuryanti Puspitasari and Raka Adji, edited by Yuni Arisandy Sinaga. COPYRIGHT © ANTARA 2023.
