W Sumatra Allocates Rp3.36 Bln For Disaster Preparedness Program

Padang, W Sumatra, March 14 (Antara) - The West Sumatra provincial government has agreed to allocate Rp3.36 billion in fund to carry out a disaster preparedness and response program this year. The fund is taken from the budget allocations for the West Sumatra Provincial Disaster Mitigation Board (BPBD) in the 2013 provincial budget, West Sumatra Governor Irwan Prayitno said here on Wednesday. He said the program will be carried out through eight different activities involving a number of relevant agencies, he said. The program is inseparable from the geographical condition of West Sumatra dubbed the `supermarket of disasters` due to the many types of natural disasters that threaten the province, he said. In addition, West Sumatra is also at risk of human-induced disasters, such as social conflict, endemic disease outbreak and technological failure, he said. The threat of natural disasters is among others because the geographical location of West Sumatra is close to the meeting point of Indo-Australia and Euro-Asia plates off the western part of Mentawai Islands in the Indian Ocean and is in the so-called Semangko fault line stretching from South Solok to Pasaman, he said. According to the Indonesian Earthquake Regulation (SNI-1726 2002), West Sumatra is among the Indonesian provinces which have the highest peak ground acceleration (PGA). A magnitude 6.3 earthquake devastated West Sumatra on March 6, 2007, killing at least 66 people and destroying some 35 thousand homes in 10 municipalities and districts. Another powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale rocked the province on September 30, 2009, leaving 1,195 people dead and destroying 249 thousand homes.