Esai Beasiswa Pascasarjana UNHAN: Disaster Management for National Defence

By: Novia Faradila, 2014

Flash floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, smog, and other disasters occur in various regions in Indonesia in recent months. People not only sustain material loss, but also suffer prolonged trauma and the loss of hundreds of lives of the people of Indonesia affected by the disaster. Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Nasional (National Disaster Management Agency) in its report informs, from January to February 2014 alone there were 424 occurrences of disasters in various regions in Indonesia. Victims lost and died more than 254 people, as many as 1,447 people injured, and 1,587,219 people suffer and displaced, not to mention the damage as much as 27,790 residential units. Until recently, disasters hit Indonesia very often.

Indonesia geographically is an archipelago that lies at the confluence of three major tectonic plates of the world: the Eurasian Plate, Indo-Australian Plate, and the Pacific Plate. In the southern and eastern parts of Indonesia, lies a volcanic belt that extends from the island of Sumatra-Java-Nusa Tenggara-Sulawesi, that side of the mountains and the old volcanic plains are mostly dominated by swamps. The condition and potential hazard such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and landslides. The data shows that Indonesia is one country that has a high level of seismicity in the world, more than 10 times the level of seismicity in the United States.

Disaster management is an important factor in the planning and arrangements to prepare before disaster happens and resolve the aftermath. Disaster management is a dynamic process, which was developed from the classical management functions include planning, organizing, sharing of tasks, control, and surveillance. The process also involves a wide range of organizations that must work together to strengthen the prevention, mitigation, preparedness, emergency response, and disaster recovery. Lack of knowledge about disaster management gives a lot of learning in identifying potential disaster in the environment.

Disaster management course is a way to explore the science of disaster management. The presence of these disciplines gives color to the world of education, that education is not just all about addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, but also knowledge about the environment and disaster is very beneficial to the welfare and safety of people in a region.

Particularly in Indonesia, disaster management is very necessary to develop because as mentioned earlier, Indonesia is a disaster-prone country. It required knowledge and qualified human resources in managing the disaster. Disaster becomes a serious nuisance to the people of Indonesia, causing extensive losses whether in terms of material, economic, or environmental and often exceed the community’s ability to cope. Thus, the deeper understanding of the disaster, the more you will be able to respond better. Alert and response based on the recognition and understanding of what will happen could be able to minimize the risk of disasters that hit Indonesia.

This country has a lot of cultural diversity in him it. There are hundreds of ethnicity, language, region, and also a wide range of traditional customs spread over thousands of islands. Very regrettable if the wealth of Indonesia destroyed just because people are not able to be independent in the face of disaster that can befall on them at any time. This is where the role of the scholars in the field of disaster management is needed by the community. They spearhead communities to manage disaster at every phase, both an early phase response, recovery and rehabilitation, as well as in community preparedness phase. They also became the “right hand” of society and become “healers” to people who are being affected.

In terms of the job market, graduates of disaster management certainly has a great job market in government and private institutions are directly or indirectly related to disaster management. However, more than that disaster management is a study not only “stand” as a science. Disaster management is a discipline that “noble” in the humanitarian field. This program is able to educate the nation’s people what to do, including disaster management capabilities in the areas of communication, coordination, and advocacy of human resources and other resources in an effective, efficient, and humane nation for the sake of durability.

Disaster management is needed by the Indonesian people and even nations around the world. Having knowledge about disaster management make the Indonesian people, especially, to be a nation that is strong and tough to survive in the face of disaster, now and later.[]

Esai ini saya tulis sebagai syarat pendaftaran di Universitas Pertahanan Indonesia. Alhamdulillah saya telah melewati tahap verifikasi administrasi. Hehe.. Well, semoga esai ini bermanfaat dan menginspirasi!