Friday, July 30, 2010
UN Acknowledges RI's Pledge to Make Schools, Hospitals Safe
Source: ANTARA News
Jakarta - The United Nations has acknowledged Indonesia`s commitment to increasing the safety of 3,156 schools and 105 hospitals, according to an official report.
The program is as part of the country`s engagement to the One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals Campaign launched globally in Manila last April 2010, according to a press statement of the UNISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) Thursday.
"Hospitals and schools are critical infrastructures that are particularly at risk when disasters strike. Through the one Million Safe Schools and hospital initiative, we want to make sure that the school and hospital safety moves up the political agenda to become a priority for every country. No child must die because schools or hospitals are not safe when disaster happens,? said Margareta Wahlstrom, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Hazard-prone Indonesia experienced several earthquakes in the past decade in Bengkulu (2000), Aceh (2004), Nias (2005), Yogyakarta (2006), Bengkulu (2007), West Java (2009) and Padang, West Sumatera (2009) amid other hazards such as volcanic eruptions, floods and drought, which killed more than 160,000 people and destroyed a great number of hospitals and schools.
The most recent Sumatra Earthquake, which struck Padang on September 2009, damaged a total of 270,000 buildings including more than 3500 classrooms and 85 hospitals and health facilities.
Top officials from three ministries ? Coordinating Ministry for People`s Welfare; Health; and National Education ? alongside the Head of the National Agency for Disaster Management launched the national campaign on safe schools and hospitals, under the joint organization of the National Agency for Disaster Management and the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Minister of Health pledged 100 safe hospitals. She promised, as well, to instruct local departments of health at provincial and district level to aim at developing programmes to establish safe hospital and other health facilities, for which they must allocate funding. Both private and public hospitals would be urged to take measures to ensure disaster preparedness.
The Vice Minister for National Education pledged to ensure that thousands of schools would comply with school safety standards, adding he would urge the education departments at district and province level to participate in the campaign.
The National Agency for Disaster Management also pledge so socialize and promote safe school and hospital awareness in schools and hospitals, starting with a meeting involving five districts in Sumatera.
More than 200 participants from government institutions, NGOs and INGOs and representatives of schools and hospitals made pledges online at the campaign website (http://www.safe-schools-hospitals.net/) and committed to attend various activities to increase the resilience of schools and hospitals throughout Indonesia.
The launch in Jakarta was organized by Perkumpulan Skala and supported by the Indonesian Red Cross, Perkumpulan Kerlip, UNESCO Office Jakarta, Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction, Plan International, and UNILEVER Indonesia.
At least 27 organizations (government institutions, UN Agencies, NGOs, INGOs, Donor Agencies, and Private Sectors) will support various activities relating to the campaign until July 2011.
