As a country, Indonesia is vulnerable to disasters. Whether it was caused by nature such as earthquakes and tsunamis, non-nature factors such as epidemics, and human factors such as social conflicts.
Whatever the cause is, disasters could lead to the loss of human life, properties, and psychological effects on its victims.
In other words, disaster is a threat to security. A good security plan needs to consider potential disasters that could happen and affect the area/object that is being protected.
Things such as socialization regarding sources of danger, space management and management of the living environment could be done to mitigate, or even eliminate the potential of the occurrence of a disaster.
Furthermore, activities such as disaster risk and indication monitoring and a well-planned infrastructure development could be done to mitigate the effect caused by a disaster.
Though the reality is that disasters could still occur, especially if the cause is something that one couldn’t control. In Indonesia, when a disaster occurs, an emergency status will be set by the National Disaster Management Agency or BNPB (Indonesian: Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana).
In such a situation, a disaster emergency response needed to be done. Not only by the government agencies such as the BNPB, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Indonesian National Police (Polri), etc, but also by non-government agencies/organizations such as Private Security Companies (BUJP).
So, what does a disaster emergency response mean and how does Nawakara’s Emergency Response Team role in this situation?
Disaster Emergency Response
Disclaimer: As per writing this article, there is no official English translation of the regulations that will be referred to in this article. All translations were provided by the writer of this article.
In Law Number 24 of 2007 on Disaster Management, a disaster emergency response is a series of activities to be immediately done at time of disaster.
Disaster emergency response itself is one of three stages of disaster management, between the pre-disaster stage and the post-disaster stage.
A more specific explanation of activities that needed to be done in the disaster emergency response was written in article 48 of the law, that are:
With a lot of sectors that need to be considered and a lot of organizations (both from the government and the NGOs), what role does Nawakara’s Emergency Response Team play in this situation?
SAR Operation
As a team that’s tasked to handle emergencies, our Emergency Response Team has a strong tie with Basarnas.
So, information regarding the role of Basarnas in the disaster emergency response stage will be explained first to give a more comprehensive understanding of the role of our Emergency Response Team.
In the disaster emergency response stage, Basarnas is mainly tasked and responsible for search and rescue activities.
This is referred to in the Regulation of the Head of the National Disaster Management Agency Number Perka 14 of 2010 on Disaster Emergency Response Command Post Establishment Guide.
In general, there are five stages in SAR operations that are done by Basarnas. These stages are:
These five stages are explained more specifically in the context of disaster emergency response. Where the stage and activities within it could be different depending on the kind of the disaster.
But the general guidance of the stages and activities within it in disaster emergency response is explained in the Regulation of the Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency Number: PK. 05 of 2012 on SAR Operation Implementation Guidance
In the regulation, explanation of each stage in disaster emergency response stage is explained:
Awareness stage
The awareness stage is the stage in the SAR system to have information on an occurring disaster or the potential of a disaster to occur.
Several activities that need to be done in this stage is to gather and record information regarding the kinds of disaster, location that the disaster happens/could happen, the number of populations in the location.
Initial action stage
This stage is done to prepare SAR elements and gather more detailed information on the occurring disaster.
In this stage, several activities that need to be done are coordination between the SAR Office Head and the appointed Incident Commander (IC) or the local Regional Disaster Management Agency/Regional Government that reported the coordination outcome to the Head of Basarnas.
Planning stage
In this stage, the preparation of an effective and efficient SAR operation is done. Several activities in this stage include disaster site evaluation, the impact of previous disaster occurrence, and disaster impact mapping.
Operation stage
In the operation stage, SAR facilities have been mobilized to the disaster location, engaging in search, rescue, and giving first aid to disaster victims and evacuating victims to safer places.
Conclusion stage
The conclusion stage is where SAR teams have been returned to their own agencies/organizations. Several activities to be done in the conclusion stage are evaluating the SAR operation and making its report.
The Role of Nawakara’s Emergency Response Team
The five stages of SAR operation are an integrated framework. From the awareness, initial, planning, operation, to the conclusion stage, Basarnas need to have fast coordination and be responsive to every stakeholder for the five stages to work effectively and efficiently.
As an integrated private security business entity (BUJP) with a plan-prevent-protect framework, Nawakara could play an active role in supporting SAR operations for our client in our work area across Indonesia.
With 34 personnel certified by Basarnas, not only does Nawakara’s Emergency Response Team engage in supporting disaster emergency response SAR operations, but we are also trained to handle different kinds of evacuation processes that include, but not limited to, flood evacuation, fire evacuation, forest and mountain evacuation, and riot evacuation.
For more information about Nawakara’s Emergency Response Team, feel free to read this article or directly contact us through this link.
