Depok (15/5) – A study by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) shows that the preparedness of communities and local governments in dealing with disasters in 33 districts/cities is still very low. People still don’t know where to evacuate and 63% of the evacuation process uses vehicles so that there is an extraordinary congestion when a disaster occurs. This is because the emergency response plan seems unprepared. Capturing this condition, as well as maintaining the spirit of the disaster preparedness day which fell on April 26, Reaction UI 2018 was present on Tuesday (15/5) at the Vocational Auditorium of the University of Indonesia, Depok. Reaction UI 2018 is a series of annual events organized by Vocational Communication students of the University of Indonesia. Carrying the theme “Earthquake Safety Tips”, Public Service Advertisement in the form of audio-visual is the type of competition chosen this year. The Reaction UI competition took place during the month of April and was attended by dozens of students. “We held an earthquake-themed event because we saw that throughout 2017 alone, 8,693 earthquakes were recorded to shake Indonesia. At least more than 200 earthquakes were counted above 5 on the Richter scale. Indonesia is an earthquake-prone country,” said UI Reaction Project Officer, Nurmeividiani. Meivi also said that the high enthusiasm of the competition participants showed that many young generations were concerned about community disaster preparedness. At the peak of the Reaction UI 2018 event, the Head of Public Relations of BNPB, Dra. Rita Rosita and the Head of the Public Relations Section of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Hary Tirto Djatmiko, were present. Hary explained in his short narrative at Reaction UI 2018 that Indonesia is a disaster ‘supermarket’. Earthquakes and tsunamis are very vulnerable to attack Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke. Therefore, awareness and direct involvement in the community need to be intensified. “Actually, if there are frequent small earthquakes, it means that there is stability, what should be watched out for is when small earthquakes are rare,” added Hary. In addition to BMKG and BNPB, the Head of the Disaster Research and Response Centre, Prof. Fatma Lestari, PhD and CEO of Makna Creative, Keenan Pearce were also present. Keenan explained the Ted Talk about creative content in relation to disaster preparedness in Indonesia. “If we want to convey a message to the public, it must be in a creative way. Sometimes we only have ideas, but the real thing that is important is the execution of the creative idea,” said Keenan. This is in line with the goal of Reaction UI, which is to increase public awareness, especially millennials , regarding how to deal with disasters, especially earthquakes. Not only increasing awareness, Reaction UI is also a forum for students to channel creative and educational ideas packaged in Community Service Advertisements. The winner of this competition went to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, who created a song in the earthquake rescue video. Followed by the second winner of Reaction UI who came from Semarang and carried a concept that combines entertainment and education. “The Reaction 2018 event involves a golden triangle in it, namely from the academic side and then from the private sector side represented by PT.
Mesitechmitra Purnabangsa was then attended by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). It is hoped that all of these sustainable aspects can establish cooperation and synergy for the long term,” said Dra.
