The Urban and Regional Planning Study Program (PWK) of the Faculty of Engineering UI together with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and Bappenas held a talk show with the theme “Urban Resilience: Managing Disaster Risks of High-Density Urban Areas” on Monday (24/10). The theme presented at this Talkshow refers to the 2020-2044 Disaster Management Master Plan (RIPB) which has the vision to make Indonesia a disaster-resilient country for sustainable development. Disaster resilience means that Indonesia can withstand, absorb, adapt and recover from the effects of disasters and climate change in a timely, effective and efficient manner.
This talk show was held in a hybrid manner via YouTube streaming of the UI Faculty of Engineering and offline at the FTUI Salemba Campus. In its implementation, PWK FTUI presented six speakers, namely Veronica Bell, Sudirman Said, M.B.A., Colin Fernandes, Dr. Phil. Hendricus Andy Simarmata, Diah Lenggogeni, M.Sc., and Ahmad Gamal Ph.D. It is hoped that the presence of six speakers with different areas of expertise will provide new perceptions for students, practitioners, and the wider community regarding urban planning that is sustainable and resilient to disasters.
The event was opened by Dr.-Ing Ova Candra Dewi ST., M.Sc., Head of the FTUI PWK Study Program. In his remarks, he conveyed briefly the 7 years since the formation of PWK FTUI. In addition, Dr. Ova also expressed his hope for PWK FTUI in the following years to be able to continue to collaborate to create a better future.
The speaker in the first session, Sudirman Said, M.B.A. as Secretary General of PMI delivered material regarding PMI’s authority in dealing with disasters in Indonesia. “Until now, PMI has one national center and its branches are spread across 34 provinces totaling 478. In disaster risk management, PMI divides the response into 3. The first is that we will deal with emergency matters first, then the next steps focus on recovery, and the last is to carry out reconstruction of the damage that has occurred.”
Veronica Bell was present as the second speaker representing the Australian Red Cross. In her presentation, Veronica conveyed how the Australian Red Cross developed a tough strategy for dealing with urban disasters. The strategy is divided into 4 priorities, namely understanding disaster risk, making calculated decisions based on government resilience in dealing with disaster risk, investing in things that can reduce disaster risk, and understanding the responsibilities and roles of each sector and community.
In addition to the Australian Red Cross, the American Red Cross representative, Colin Fernandes, was also present as the speaker in the third session. In line with Veronica, Colin also presented material on strategy when dealing with urban disasters but in the American Red Cross version. In conclusion, five things concern the American Red Cross, namely the importance of a city to develop inclusion and diversity, realizing that a city can be a destination for people affected by disasters, the importance of understanding systems and planning, and prioritizing society rather than profit.
Then the session continued with the fourth speaker, Diah Lenggogeni, M.Sc. as a representative from Bappenas. In the fourth session, Diah explained the government’s policies on disaster-resilient cities. “There are 5 missions carried out in the national urban policy. The first is to realize balanced, prosperous, and just national urban planning. The second mission is to promote livable, inclusive, and cultured cities. Then the third mission is to encourage the city to progress and prosper. The fourth mission is to promote a green and resilient city. Finally, the fifth mission is to realize transparent, accountable, intelligent, and integrated city governance,” said Diah in her presentation.
Ahmad Gamal Ph.D., Director of Innovation and Science Techno Park at the Universitas Indonesia, became the fifth speaker in the talk show by presenting material on disaster-resilient urban and community planning in Indonesia. Currently, scholarships on the topic of disaster are still dominated by the theme of disaster risk reduction, which has been raised by many researchers from Japan. While the theme of disaster preparedness or mitigation was raised by many researchers from China with a smaller number than the theme of reducing risk. Based on these data, Gamal concluded that Indonesian researchers would have more opportunities for disaster mitigation themes and could collaborate with Japan on disaster risk reduction themes.
The last session of the talk show was closed by Dr. Phil. Hendricus Andy Simarmata a representative from the Association of Planners (IAP) as the sixth speaker. Andy explained the topic of how IAP does disaster-resilient city mapping. IAP measures the level of vitality in various regions in Indonesia using the Indonesia Most Livable City Index (MLCI). By using MLCI, community needs can then be identified which can be used as the basis for future development plans. In addition, the MLCI can also be used as a reference regarding which sectors need to be prioritized for improvement through survey variables.
***
Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia