Depok, August 10th, 2023. “Indonesia, A Beautiful Country Prone to Disasters”, written in the 2020 National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Disaster Risk Index Book, implied that most areas of Indonesia are at high risk of natural disasters. Departing from this, Universitas Indonesia (UI) recently visited the BNPB office on (7/8). During the visit, the UI delegation was led by the Vice Rector for Human Resources and Assets, Prof. Dr. Ir. Dedi Priadi, DEA. The purpose of this visit was to follow up on the strategic agenda of cooperation that will be carried out between UI and BNPB, which is in line with the Three Principles of Higher Education in terms of disaster management.
The strategic agenda includes cooperation in the education sector which includes plans to open an Applied Bachelor program in the Vocational Education Program in the field of disaster management.
These educated personnel will later be prepared according to the needs and requests of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and industry. This visit was also to strengthen cooperation at the Masters and Doctoral levels in Disaster Management at the School of Environmental Sciences (SIL). This collaboration for the Postgraduate level will involve the Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) as a scholarship provider with SIL UI.
This visit also followed up on the disaster research cooperation plan and the preparation of a disaster research roadmap which will involve international research institutions, one of which is the Disaster Prevention Recovery Institute from Kyoto University, Japan. Another agenda for this visit was to assist in preparing a strategic plan for the Minister of Finance Regulations and BNPB Regulations concerning Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Pooling Funds in an effort to reduce the impact of disasters.
“Following up on this visit, UI will start implementing research-based technology in designing disaster-resistant permanent residential houses (in this case earthquake-resistant). It is hoped that this collaboration will also continue in the form of community service by conducting disaster response training, especially for the elderly and children,” said Prof. Dedi.
Since 2014, UI has had a Disaster Research and Response Center (DRRC) that does community service and provides other services in the field of disaster. DRRC UI provides disaster-related services, training and online learning for disaster personnel, digital products and disaster services, disaster-related innovations, as well as disaster consulting and advocacy in Indonesia.
