Aircraft set for minute-by-minute tracking

Yahoo – AFP, Marc Brabant, 31 Jan 2015

All commercial flights worldwide could soon send out an automated signal every
 minute in times of distress to help rescuers find downed aircraft more easily
(AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Montreal (AFP) - All commercial flights worldwide could soon send out an automated signal every minute in times of distress to help rescuers find downed aircraft more easily.

The new measures are in response to last year's disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what remains one of history's great aviation mysteries.

The aircraft, with 239 people on board, has never been found, nearly a year on.

The new tracking rules, prepared by an industry working group, would be phased in by the end of this year, said the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency.

The initiative will now be presented to delegates from all 191 ICAO member states at a meeting in Montreal from Monday to Thursday, and "a final proposal" will be submitted to the ICAO Council within six months for ratification.

The measure has unanimous support among ICAO member states, a source said Friday, meaning it is virtually assured to be brought in.

Currently, radar can track a plane, however coverage fades when aircraft are out at sea or the plane is flying below a certain altitude.

Under the new rules, airlines will be required to track their aircraft using a system that gives their location at 15-minute intervals.

If an "abnormal event" is detected, including a change in direction or deviation from a flight path, the signal rate hastens to every minute.

Airlines would be responsible for sharing the data with authorities in cases of emergencies.

"It's the start of tracking (flights) every minute in emergency situations that is the most effective in the short term," the source said.

Following a distress signal, search and rescue teams would be able to zero in on an aircraft within six nautical miles (11 kilometers) of its last known position.

The ICAO will also ask airlines to equip their aircraft with ejectable black boxes. These would float and be more easily retrievable in case of a crash over water.

They will be mandatory on new aircraft built after 2021, the source told AFP.

The ejectable black boxes would be in addition to existing commercial flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders that continually record flight information.

Soekarno-Hatta airport radar troubled for 40 minutes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 08/29/2010 3:55 PM

Radar system at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten, went into faulty for 40 minutes at around 9 a.m. on Sunday. The trouble caused a little disturbance to several flights on landing position, kompas.com reported.

“We are still investigating the cause of error,” said airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II corporate secretary Hari Cahyono.

The operator managed to switch radar system into manual during the troublesome, resulting no delay so far, added Hari.

Blackout Plunges Indonesian International Airport Into Chaos

Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari & Ulma Haryanto | August 07, 2010

Jakarta. Indonesia’s air transportation industry suffered a fresh embarrassment onFriday morning after a power outage of less than two seconds at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport created hours of chaos and delayed 62 flights.

A massive queue at Soekarno-Hatta on Friday.
The outage delayed 62 flights and cast doubts on
the nation’s aviation sector. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Tri Sumoko, director of Angkasa Pura II, which manages airports in the western part of the nation, said the power outage at 4 a.m. lasted only 1.7 seconds, but some flight management systems took hours to recover.

“The power was only down for 1.7 seconds, and then the main generator took over andprovided power for mandatory systems, like navigation and runway lights,” Trisaid. “However, the check-in system and the computerized X-ray system are not part of the mandatory facilities and it took a while for them to recover.”

The incident raises questions over Indonesia’s capacity to truly compete under Asean’s eagerly awaited agreement to impose an open-skies policy in 2015, which would liberalize regional passenger and cargo air transportation.

Tri explained that part of the problem was the airport was designed before mass computerization. “At that time, check-ins were still done manually. So nobody thought about making them a mandatory facility for the back-up generator,” hesaid.

By the time the airport’s computer systems had all returned to normal at 8 a.m., 62 flights had been delayed and thousands of passengers were left stranded and increasingly angry. Flights from Polonia airport in Medan and Ngurah Rai in Bali also had to be delayed until late afternoon because of the outage.

DahlanIskan, director of state electricity utility PLN, said the blackout was not caused by a disruption in its electricity supply. “The power outage was caused by a technical problem in the airport’s electrical circuitry,” he said.

Tengku Burhanuddin, secretary general of the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association, said airlines were paying for the delays. “The losses could add up to many thousands of dollars,” he added.

Candra Widyarjana, a passenger booked on a Lion Air flight to Yogyakarta at 6:15 a.m.,said he missed three flights. “I missed my original flight because the check-in queue was so long,” he said. “Nobody knew about rescheduled flight times. Nobody knew where I should go to fly to Yogyakarta.”

Tri denied that the airport operator had failed to provide passengers with enough information, but acknowledged that officials there were ill-prepared for such situations.

“We will immediately audit our system and map out which components need to be improved, ”he said. Other airports under the company’s management would also soon undergo the same process, he added. Improvements would take time, but “it is better than doing nothing at all.”

Asked whether passengers should be prepared for similar incidents in the future, he answered, “hopefully not.”

In December, Soekarno-Hatta’s power went out for 20 minutes, causing similar delays, but the resulting chaos was not as bad as Friday’s. Tri said the airport had not been as busy in December, and systems had been able to recover faster on that occasion.

Eko Roesni, secretary general of aviation watchdog People for Indonesia Air Transportation, said the blackouts raised questions over the airport’s quality as an international hub.

“How can it become an international hub open 24/7 if blackouts like this still happen? ”he said.

The Ministry of Transportation plans to make Soekarno-Hatta and the main airports in Surabaya, Medan, Bali and Makassar international hubs prior to the Aseanopen-skies policy change in 2015.

Eko said the government must thoroughly re-evaluate airports in Indonesia, including Soekarno-Hatta.

They must “stay up to date with the latest technology,” he said, adding that even short blackouts can ruin the image of the country’s aviation industry.

On Monday, the International Air Transport Association urged the government to invest more resources into aviation.

Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the IATA, said Indonesia lagged well behind its neighbors in aviation, and ridiculed the 25-year-old Soekarno-Hatta airport as far past its prime.

“Soekarno-Hattawas a wonderful airport but if you see it now it could be a nice resort or a golf club. The only thing that’s missing is a swimming pool,” he said.”

Additionalreporting by Made Arya Kencana, Aidi Yursal, Amir Tejo & Antara

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12 extra flights for Jakarta-Padang route

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 10/01/2009 9:23 PM

The Transportation Ministry has issued 12 flight permits for five airlines to fly from Jakarta to Padang and back, an official said Thursday.

Ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan told tempointeraktif.com the additional flights were needed to accommodate the greatly increased demand for tickets to Padang, after the city was hit by a massive earthquake Wednesday.

Bambang added Batavia Air had added three flights to Padang, Lion Air three flights, Sriwijaya Air one flight, Riau Airlines one flight and Garuda Indonesia four flights.

"For those who need to fly to Padang, or from Padang to Jakarta, you can contact us at our information centers at Padang's Minangkabau Airport, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, or Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport,” Bambang said.

“You don't need to come to our office. Just go to the airport and call us to reserve your seat.

"This is emergency situation so everything will be dealt with faster," he added.

Manokwari airport closed after quakes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 01/04/2009 10:39 AM  

Authorities in Rendani Airport, Manokwari, West Papua has stopped activities in the airport following series of powerful earthquakes that hit the city earlier on Sunday, Kompas.com reported. 

The authorities and airlines operating in the airport agreed to stop every activity on security and safety concerns. 

An Express Air airlines flight heading for Manokwari from Jayapura, Papua, was forced to fly back following the decision. 

A series of powerful earthquakes hit at dawn, cutting power lines, badly damaging buildings and  killing at least three people in the area. 

A 7.6-magnitude quake struck at 4:43 a.m. local time about 135 kilometers from Manokwari at a depth of 35 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Agency said. The Meteorological and Geophysics Agency recorded that the quake was followed by eight others, with decreasing shocks. 

Manokwari Police chief Adj. Snr. Comr. Pit Wahyudi said that the police were working to evacuate two people buried under debris of Mutiara Hotel. Two hotels collapsed and hundreds of houses damaged after the quake, he said. 

A number of city residents has been evacuated to the local military command headquarters. There are approximately 70,000 people living in Manokwari. (dre)

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Tsunami early warning system to be tested

Denpasar, (ANTARA News) - The government will test a Tsunami early warning system on November 11, 2008 covering all of Indonesia at 4 pm West Indonesia Standard Time. Bali has six tsunami early sirens to be tested. 

"We urge everybody on November 11 not to panic when the siren goes of, its only a drill," spokesman for the Denpasar Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) Sutrisno said here Wednesday. 

He also said that the sirens will be set off for one minute.The Bali six early warning systems cover Nusa Dua, Seminyak, Kuta, Kedonganan, Tanjung Benoa and Sanur.

Cigarette producing town still underwater

Suherdjoko and Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Gresik

Thousands of workers in the cigarette producing town of Kudus were still away from work on Friday due to massive flooding in the area.

Some 90,000 workers are employed at various cigarette companies here, mostly at the largest company, PT Djarum Kudus. Some 60 percent of them were told to stay home, public relations officer Yudo Prihandono said.

Around 18,000 residents have evacuated to higher ground since the embankment of the Wulan River spilled over and flooded homes. As of Friday, construction workers and residents were still trying to repair the embankment.

The local bus terminal was flooded as well.

Business people operating in the flooded areas of Central and East Java reported a drop in sales and production of up to 50 percent because of disrupted distribution after parts of the 600-kilometer-long Bengawan Solo River flooded over two weeks ago.

"We're still producing but we can't send anything while roads are underwater," said Haryanto Halim, who owns the instant beverage Marimas. "Besides, people are just buying basic needs."

Production costs were also going up, he said Friday in Semarang, where floods are expected each rainy season.

The Central Java capital houses the industrial areas of Kaligawe and Bugangan, employing some 5,000 workers.

"On the surface the Kaligawe area is not flooded because management has been raising their buildings," said Didik Sukmono, head of the province association of industrial sites.

"But the surrounding roads are still inundated," he said. "The Semarang administration seems to be handling floods only partially."

He said production was down by 50 percent since the floods began last month.

Authorities in several inundated areas on Friday were still repairing railways while residents still lacked electricity.

In Bojonegoro, the East Java town hardest hit by the overflowing of the Bengawan Solo, the Jakarta-Surabaya train route has yet to resume operation because of repair work on a total of 300 meters of railway in four separate locations.

Antara news agency quoted chief technician Aminullah as saying the management of the state-run railway company had ordered repair work to be completed by Saturday.

Also in Bojonegoro, the local manager of the state-run electricity company Isbiyanto said almost 30,000 homes in the town and in neighboring Tuban and Lamongan still had their supply cut off.

"We deliberately turned off supply," he said, adding that 112 relay stations were still underwater.

Floods in the furthest areas passed by the Bengawan Solo, Lamongan and Gresik, subsided Friday but authorities said they still faced difficulty in distributing aid to displaced residents.

The chief information officer of Gresik, Mizwar Syukur, said officials were still urging residents to be on the alert although water levels in the shrimp and fish ponds had decreased by up to 15 centimeters.

"We're also expecting many more displaced residents because people are still resisting evacuation and watching over their assets at home," he said.

A disastrous year for national transportation

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The first day of 2007 was marked by a jetliner going missing, in what some later saw as a sign of things to come: It was the first in what was to be a long line of accidents.

The disappearance of the Boeing 737-400 aircraft operated by Adam Air tragically left 102 victims listed as "missing" for weeks, before the government confirmed that they had died after crashing into the Majene Sea off West Sulawesi.

Another deadly accident took place on March 7 when a Boeing 737-400 operated by flag carrier Garuda Indonesia failed to make a proper landing in Yogyakarta. The pilot ignored 15 alerts and the pleas of his co-pilot that he was coming in too fast.

On the ground, several survivors lamented that rescuers had difficulty reaching the victims during the emergency.

Both accidents made media headlines and caused an uproar abroad, especially in Australia, five of whose citizens were among the 21 killed in the Garuda crash.

All eyes turned to the Transportation Ministry. Many charged the ministry had been slow to enact crucial safety procedures.

In the midst of the controversy, then-transportation minister Hatta Radjasa was replaced by Jusman Syafii Djamal, former president director of the ailing state aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI).

Hatta, with the help of his party, moved up the political ladder to become State Secretary.

Under Jusman, the ministry has made several moves in an apparent effort to gain control over the situation.

Over the years, air traffic in Indonesia has increased thanks to the liberalization of the air transportation sector. This has resulted in a burgeoning number of low-cost carriers.

The rise in competition has ultimately lowered safety standards, as airlines face pressure to cut operational costs to gain market share and eke out a profit.

The transportation ministry at one point ordered all airlines not to use airplanes more than 20 years old so as to reduce risks.

Many observers, however, believe the problem is related to airplane maintenance, not age.

After hastily conducting a safety audit, the ministry announced on March 22 that not one of Indonesia's 54 registered airlines was fully compliant with safety regulations.

Not even Garuda made it into the top safety category, falling instead into category II, signifying that it was partly compliant with standards.

Thirteen other passenger airlines were placed in category II and seven rated as category III, or non-compliant with safety regulations.

Of the 34 commuter, charter and cargo airlines, 20 made it into category II while the rest fell into category III.

The rating announcement was greeted with an uproar from both the public and the airlines. Most of the airlines, however, took actions to improve safety. Some even hired foreign consultants.

These improvements were noted when the transportation ministry announced the results of its second audit on June 25.

While only Garuda made it into category I, there were 19 passenger airlines in category II. One company, Jatayu, had its airline operator certificate revoked.

Among the commuter, cargo and charter airlines, 23 made it into category II, 11 were put in category III and three airlines had their certificates revoked.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also called for improvements, establishing an ad hoc team of experts in January called the National Team for the Evaluation of Transportation Safety and Security (EKKT). They were tasked with investigating high-profile transportation mishaps.

The team, led by former Air Force chief of staff Air Marshal (ret) Chappy Hakim, found that many safety procedures had been neglected.

Among other moves, EKKT recommended that the air transport industry and government put "the right people in the right place", renovate airports, enforce sanctions, and make the National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) into a more independent body reporting directly to the President.

EKKT pointed out that other transportation industries were also neglecting safety.

"There is no agreed-on perception of safety standards among users," EKKT spokesman Oetarjo Diran said.

Poor safety records came back to haunt the industry on July 6 when the European Union imposed a blanket ban on Indonesian airlines, prohibiting them from entering the airspace of the 27-country bloc.

At the time, none of the airlines were serving European routes, although Garuda was planning to resume flights to Amsterdam.

The ban came as a nasty shock to the government, and a somewhat unusual one, since it prohibited not only passenger airlines but cargo, charter and commuter flights.

The EU appeared to be seeking reassurance that there was no collusion between operators and regulators, especially in issuing airworthiness certificates.

Several carriers have allegedly been cutting corners on maintenance, for instance by patching worn airplane tires instead of replacing them and by using inferior spare parts.

Under the ban, European travel agents are issuing warnings about Indonesian flights. Several discussions in Brussels have failed to budge the EU from its position. There has been, however, no report of a significant drop in European travelers to Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia planned to impose a similar ban. However, Jakarta managed to persuade the country to send its auditors to directly check Indonesian airlines.

Currently only Garuda flies to the kingdom.

The Saudi government finally relented on Aug. 2. That was an important decision for Garuda, which flies roughly half of Indonesia's 200,000 haj pilgrims there annually. The other half are carried by Saudi Arabian Airlines.

On Oct. 1, the transportation ministry announced three more airlines to have reached category I in addition to Garuda: Mandala Airlines and charter airlines Air Fast and Premier Airlines.

Another blow to the Indonesian air transport sector came late this year, when fire ravaged the domestic arrival terminal of the Polonia International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra on Dec. 1.

It was the second fire there in two years.

Despite its international status, the airport lacked prevention and fire equipment which would have enabled the blaze to be detected and extinguished much earlier.

Indonesia's water-borne transportation sector has also been plagued by tragedies.

The Senopati Nusantara ferry sank on the Java sea near Jepara, Central Java on December 30, 2006. More than 300 passengers died. Less than two months later the Levina ferry caught fire near Jakarta's Tanjung Priok seaport. The Feb. 22 disaster also claimed more than 300 lives. The Levina's death toll rose three days later when the burned-out hulk sank suddenly, killing two TV cameramen and two investigators researching the blaze.

The Levina crew was found to have neglected safety procedures during the voyage. Defective lifeboats are believed to have added significantly to the fatalities.

The lack of order within the ferry business even spills over onto land. The Merak-Bakauheni ferry ports in Banten and Lampung sometimes experience chaotic traffic congestion, especially during bad weather when the waves are high and the vessels cannot dock properly.

Although the situation is not particularly dangerous, a lack of sufficient facilities has created a bottleneck of trucks and passengers on the road.

Due to the surge in travelers around Idul Fitri, no trucks carrying non-basic goods may use the ferries for inter-island transport then.

Discipline is part of the problem. Many ferries do not depart on time and many trucks carry excessive loads.

The railway system operated by state-owned PT Kereta Api, which dates back to the Dutch colonial era, also suffered from numerous mishaps.

A Jan. 15 accident involving the Bengawan train on the Purwokerto-Banyumas border claimed five lives. Three people died on March 26 when the Mutiara Timur train hit a passing car in Margorejo, Surabaya.

Most of the country's rail disasters are collisions or derailments caused by employee negligence, aging railway lines and trains, and carelessness on the part of people crossing railway tracks.

Jusman has pledged to prioritize the safety and renovation of rail transport.

A new rail law opens the way for private companies to become train operators. It gives PT Kereta Api a grace period of two years to prepare itself for competition.

However, some observers doubt investors will be interested.

In 2008, the Transportation Ministry needs to apply and enforce the recommendations of the ad-hoc transportation team in order to lower the number of accidents. Even if the number of carriers and passengers increases, it does not mean that accident rates should rise.

The public has to be reassured that flying with local carriers or using other forms of local transportation is safe. Accidents will happen, but they should not be caused by ignorance or indifference.

Polonia airport to continue flying after fire

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The Polonia airport authority in Medan, North Sumatra, announced Sunday it would continue to serve passengers after a fire the previous day destroyed the domestic terminal.

The fire started about 8:45 p.m. and swept through the entire terminal. No deaths have been reported, but one firefighter sustained serious injuries while battling the blaze.

The decision to continue with services was made during a closed-door meeting led by North Sumatra Governor Rudolf Pardede early Sunday morning.

Rudolf said domestic flight departure services would be moved to the nearby Air Force base, Polonia airport's VIP room and the Medan office of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Acting head state-owned Angkasa Pura II, which manages Polonia airport, Poniran M. Abdi, said services for domestic flights had to be transferred from the gutted terminal to other sites.

"Under the current emergency conditions, we hope all passengers who already bought tickets can be accommodated even though there are lots of schedule changes," Poniran told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

There was confusion among passengers Sunday as they waited, often for hours, to be told their departure time and location.

Syaukani, a passenger from Aceh, said he had already been waiting for more than two hours in front of the Polonia VIP room, but still there was no assurance as to when he would fly.

"I'm tired and disappointed, but I can't do anything because this is an emergency situation. I hope the government will deal with it as soon as possible," he said.

Governor Rudolf said it would take more than three months to repair the damage to the domestic terminal.

At least 18 fire engines were deployed to the scene, but firefighters had trouble dealing with the blaze because a number of hydrants were not working.

Deputy head of the North Sumatra Police criminal division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Darmawan Sutawijaya, said that based on preliminary investigations the fire was believed to have been started by an exploding voltage regulator.

Several witnesses said they heard an explosion and saw a blaze in a corridor between the transit lounge and the Garuda Indonesia customer service room, on the second floor of the terminal.

Darmawan said six forensic officers from the National Police in Jakarta were in Medan and helping to determine the cause of the fire.

He said there was a problem with a voltage regulator at the airport three months ago, but did not provide details.

Officials estimate Saturday's fire caused billions of rupiah worth of damage.

Global, regional warming to blame for Jakarta floods

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Jakarta's regular floods can be partially blamed on global and regional warming, a scientist has said.

"This will get worse in the years to come. It has been estimated that by 2050, 25 percent of Jakarta will be inundated," said Armi Susandi, a climate change expert at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on Wednesday.

He added that poor city planning, bad zoning systems and a lack of infrastructure were contributing to the problem.

Armi has studied flooding in Jakarta since 2005. He received his Ph.D on climate change in 2004 from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

He said regional climate change such as has take place in Jakarta has the potential to increase local temperatures, "inviting" more rain.

"The city's severe pollution has created regional warming. This warming has moved the rain from Bogor in the south to Jakarta in the north," he said.

"We have managed to record and identify the pattern of the shifting rain -- how the rain keeps moving to Jakarta. The increase in the city's rainfall rate could reach up to 5 percent per year," he said.

Global warming has also increased the sea level north of Jakarta by 0.57 centimeters per year. The increasing sea level and the lack of a buffer zone due to the decreasing size of the mangrove forest that once covered the area would certainly aggravate the erosion of the beach and floods in the coastal areas of the city, he said.

He added that the fact that the city's land has sunk by 0.85 centimeters per year due to the pressure imposed by concrete buildings and skyscrappers as well as the massive exploitation of underground water springs hasn't helped the city in dealing with the worsening floods.

Armi said that currently 40 percent of the city already lies below sea level.

The government, he said, should construct a buffer zone in the coastal areas to prevent the sea's waves from entering the city. The buffer could be made of mangroves or a six-meter-tall concrete wall.

"When dealing with climate change-related problems, our country has a very low adaptation capacity. In fact, all we have to do is decide whether we will plant mangroves or construct a wall. Otherwise, we need to relocate the residents who live along the coastal areas," he said.

"In January 2008, the floods, I believe, will be worse than the ones we had in 2007 provided that the rainfall rate doesn't change," he said.

City to fix flood system in response to tides, rains

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration says it will improve Jakarta's flood management system to tackle floods caused by rain, high tides and global warming.

"We will soon upgrade the existing flood management system making it suitable for our present environmental conditions," Governor Fauzi Bowo said Wednesday.

Fauzi said the administration had built embankments to deal with high tides but said they were only a short-term solution, as Jakarta's flood management system needed to be able to respond to global warming.

He said the administration would improve the dam system, which pumps water in the city out to sea or into canals throughout Jakarta.

"The Netherlands, for example, which has a lot of land beneath sea level, uses pumps to expel water back to sea which come on automatically if the sea level changes ... We haven't applied such a system yet," Fauzi said, as quoted by Antara.

A 2.2-meter-high tide submerged Pluit and Penjaringan subdistricts Monday, disrupting traffic and forcing residents to flee their homes in North Jakarta's coastal areas.

Fauzi said the city administration, through the Public Works Agency, would renovate several embankments in areas affected by the tides.

Previously, head of the Public Works Agency's water and coastal resources management unit, I Gde Nyoman Soewandhi, said the floods in North Jakarta were caused by the damaged Pluit and Muara Baru embankments which could not hold the high tide back.

Nyoman said Monday some 20 meters of the Pluit embankment was damaged due to the high tide. The Public Works Agency repaired the embankment using river stones reinforced with iron and sand sacks, but on Tuesday said other parts of the embankment had also burst.

According to Nyoman, the damage was related to the age of the construction -- almost 20 years.

In 2007, the administration allocated money from the budget to renovate and raise the Muara Angke embankment by 30 centimeters.

"We can't delay the construction. We must raise Pluit and Muara Baru embankments by next year, otherwise city dwellers living nearby will be in danger," he said.

The Central Jakarta administration is currently restoring river embankments to anticipate floods at the peak of the rainy season in December.

"The work is part of Fauzi Bowo's first-100-days agenda," Mayor Muhayat said.

The river embankments being restored are near Jl. Teuku Umar, Jl. Diponegoro (opposite Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital), Jl. Cikini Raya, Jl. RP Suroso and Jl. Cempaka Putih Indah, to name a few.

Some 10 areas prone to floods in the municipality are Matraman Dalam, Kali Pasir Kwitang, Kebon Kacang, Pejompongan, Jati Pinggir, Karang Anyarm, Mangga Dua, Gunung Sahari, Serdang and Cempaka Putih.

Muhayat also said his administration was currently preparing rubber dinghies, boats and life jackets to respond to floods. (tif)

School bus drivers get emergency training

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A minibus carrying several children was trapped between vehicles after a multi-car crash on Wednesday, but the bus driver was able to break a window and lead the children to safety.

There were no casualties in the "accident" in Cilandak, South Jakarta, as it was only part of a bus emergency drill conducted by the Blue Bird Group to train its drivers to deal with such situations.

At least 27 drivers and chaperones were involved in the drill, which was meant to improve passenger safety, according to the group's president director, Purnomo Prawiro.

"There's a lot of bus safety measures, such as breaking bus windows using a hammer and putting out a blaze using a fire extinguisher," he said during the event, which was organized in cooperation with the Jakarta International School.

"All of our drivers (who work) at this school are able to perform bus safety measures because they're responsible for the lives of small children," Purnomo said.

Drivers were drilled in a number of bus safety measures, including exiting a bus through the emergency roof, escaping from a trapped bus by breaking a window, performing first aid and using a fire extinguisher to put out a fire on the vehicle.

"Without the drill, perhaps the bus drivers wouldn't know they have to use a sharp object to break the bus window," Purnomo said.

The head of Jakarta International School, David Cramer, said these kinds of drills gave the school confidence the drivers were well trained and the children safe.

"As far as I know, there haven't been any accidents so far in this school," he said.

A bus driver, Sapto Riawan, said the drill was useful not only for work.

"I was in a public bus when a passenger fainted. Some passengers thought he had died, however I decided to perform first aid.

"I was glad when he regained consciousness. Some people thought I was a doctor," he said. (adt)

World cities join hands to overcome disasters

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As a city that seems to have more than its fair share of disasters, Jakarta has joined an international association of cities that will work together to mitigate their effects in the future.

In the last few years, Indonesia has seen floods, earthquakes and bomb blasts in both urban and rural areas. A disaster in a densely populated city requires a different reaction to one in a remote village.

"Each city is unique. However, major cities around the world share a lot of similarities. They face more or less the same problems," Mikiko Yoshimura, the director for International Joint Projects at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, told The Jakarta Post recently.

She said Jakarta had more in common with Bangkok than with a neighboring Indonesian city.

"Most capitals share problems like water, transportation, health and environment," Yoshimura said.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2000 led the foundation of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21). So far, 11 cities are members: Bangkok, Delhi, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Yangon.

"The objective of this network is to share knowledge and experiences concerning common practical problems. We don't touch political problems," Yoshimura said.

So far the ANMC21 has established 12 joint projects ranging from the development of a small passenger jet for traveling throughout the region to the Asian Performing Art Festival.

"The most popular are the Network for Crisis Management and the Countermeasures to Combat Infectious Diseases in Asia," said Yoshimura.

During the last week of October, Jakarta played host to the 5th Conference of the Network for Crisis Management. This year's annual conference focused on managing and mitigating disasters like fires, earthquakes and floods.

The city presentations showed the different problems faced by each city: Kuala Lumpur spoke about the possible explosion of a nearby oil plant, while Seoul focused on the potential for a similar accident at a nuclear plant.

Yoshimura believed that a conference providing a forum to share experiences was useful even for a more developed city like Tokyo.

"We learned a lot from Taipei about dealing with SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). We draw inspiration to combat our own threat of infectious diseases. HIV/AIDS, for example, is a threat in Tokyo," she said.

Therefore, she said, she believed such crisis management conferences would be useful for other cities as well, including Jakarta.

"I heard Jakarta has a crisis center for floods now? I won't claim that it is because of ANMC21. But some Jakarta officials visited our crisis center in Tokyo. Surely they got some ideas for developing their center," Yoshimura said.

Separately, the chairman of the Earthquake and Megacities Initiative (EMI), Fouad Bendimerad, said that he believed cooperation between cities was important in reducing risk.

EMI's staff have visited Jakarta City Hall several times to help develop a framework for their Disaster Reduction Management Plan. The plan covers the overall strategy, approach and action for long term disaster risk reduction in Jakarta.

City to host crisis management conference

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Rapid urbanization in Asia has resulted in the region's large cities being more prone to crises resulting from both natural and man-made disasters.

In response to this situation, The Asian Network of Major Cities (ANMC21) in 2003 held the first of what would become annual Asian Crisis Management Meetings.

This year's meeting, to be hosted by the Jakarta administration from Oct. 24 to 25, has been themed "Damage Mitigation and Maintenance of Major Cities' Primary Services in a Disaster".

Representatives from Bangkok, Delhi, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Yangon are scheduled to attend the meeting.

The first day of the conference will include presentations from several of the city's agencies concerning public order, public infrastructure and fire-fighting, as well as presentations from ANMC21 representatives.

Delegates will visit the city's crisis center at the City Hall, the Meteorology and Geophisics Agency (BMG) and the Fire Department Training Center on the second day of the conference.

At past conferences, issues such as urban disasters and terrorism were focal points.

The network's fourth conference held in Singapore last year focused on "new threats" such as terrorism, while delegates at the network's third conference in Seoul predominately discussed fires.

The most common disasters to strike Asia in recent years have been earthquakes, floods and fires.

In developing cities, the impact of disasters is often exacerbated by a lack of urban planning and facilities.

"We expect to learn a lot from the experiences of other cities," the head of Indonesia's Inter-city Cooperation Bureau Aisa Tobing said.

Jakarta's recent efforts to manage and prevent crisis situations have been seen as substandard by many, with floods continuing to hit the city year after year.

Aging fire departments and trucks have contributed to the city's poor record in fire prevention and management in recent years.

Last week the city's fire department told new Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo that more personal and fire trucks were required.

The governor promised to look into greater funding for the department.

Last year there were more than 900 fires in the city, the majority of which started in densely populated areas according to data from the city's fire department.

Between January and September this year some 680 fires had already been reported in the city.

Indonesia to boost military role in disaster relief

Google / AFP

JAKARTA (AFP) — In a land hit by one natural disaster after another, Indonesia's armed forces must shift their focus from the battlefield to emergency and relief efforts, its defence minister said Wednesday.

In an interview with AFP, Juwono Sudarsono said most of Indonesia's defence spending in the next decade would go on improving its transport capability to better respond to emergencies.

There are certainly plenty of those.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods and fires are a virtually daily feature of life in this vast archipelago nation, which sits on the so-called Pacific "ring of fire" where continental plates meet.

The deadliest recent event was the December 2004 tsunami spawned by a quake which swept the Indian Ocean, killing 168,000 people in the northern point of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Sudarsono said he foresaw that in the next 10 to 15 years, the role of the defence forces would be particularly important in terms of delivering relief and aid to stricken areas.

"Looking ahead, for 10 years ahead in this ring of fire, and with tectonic plates underneath us, the bulk of our defence spending would be on transport capability for emergency responses," he said.

That would include air and land transport as well as a sealift capability, he added in the interview, conducted entirely in English in his office.

By man-made disasters, he said, he meant conflicts that were "endemic" in outer islands such as the Moluccas and other troublespots.

"The bulk of our budget for the period for 2005-2010 is, in fact, more for transport and airlift capacity, and sealift," Sudarsono said.

He said the military were quickest to respond to disaster, with airplanes and helicopters commandeered by the government for initial search and rescue efforts as well as providing aid supplies.

"As exemplified by the post-tsunami relief efforts, the army, the navy and the air force were first on the scene with transport ships, helicopters," he said.

Sudarsono was educated in Britain and the United States and has served in different administrations back to the regime of former dictator Suharto.

Now 65, he says the armed forces -- 316,000 personnel across the army, navy and air force -- are run on a modest annual budget of 3.2 billion dollars.

Its delivery capacity suffered greatly under a military embargo imposed by Washington after a bloody 1991 massacre in Indonesia-occupied East Timor.

The embargo has been lifted, but 15 of its fleet of 21 Hercules transport airplanes remain out of operation.

"We are focusing on the Hercules because we have about 21 planes and about three quarters of them are grounded because of the lack of spares," Sudarsono said, adding that the air force was prioritizing their refitting.

Traditionally reliant on the West -- notably the United States -- for its military equipment, Indonesia has since a decade ago sought to diversify its sources, Sudarsono said.

The Indonesian and Russian presidents inked a billion-dollar arms deal in September under which Jakarta is buying helicopters, tanks and submarines.

It came a month after Indonesia had signed another deal worth 354 million dollars to buy six Sukhoi-30 fighter jets from Moscow.

Sudarsono said he would also be visiting China in early November to sign a defence cooperation agreement that could include a joint production programme, again focusing on transport.

He said the military shopping spree was not aimed at boosting Indonesia's strike capability.

"We would just like to maintain what we call technological parity with the fighters that are existing in the region, be it Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand," adding that in terms of quantity, the Indonesian air force had "just the bare minimum."

"That is all that we can afford," he said. "I am running one of the best underpaid defence forces in Southeast Asia."

Nippon Life to build computer centre for real-time redundancy

Tokyo (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Nippon Life Insurance Co. plans to build a new redundant computer centre in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, to allow for rapid recovery of operations in case of fire or other disasters.

The new facility, at an estimated cost of 40-50 billion yen (US$347-434 million), will duplicate the functions of the current centre in Sakai, also in Osaka Prefecture, and operate in synch with it at all times.

The redundancy will allow the firm to test newly developed systems under real conditions, helping to prevent errors such as nonpayment of insurance claims. The system is expected to come into full operation in fiscal year 2011.

Disaster training for medical officers

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA (Antara): The Ministry of Health said it has established an international training consortium on disaster risk reduction (ITC-DRR) this month to better handle disaster response management.

The ministry's spokesperson Lily Sulistyowati said the consortium, which involves universities, hospitals, and health institutions, will provide training for disaster relief workers.

Disaster relief efforts have been in progress for some time, with ongoing emergency management training for 1,149 medical officers posted across nine regional crisis centers, she said.

"The training program began in 2006, and involves officers from Medan, Palembang, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Bali, Banjarmasin, Makassar and Manado," the spokesperson said Friday.

Training areas include disaster management, radio communication, emergency treatment, medicine and logistics management, rapid health assessment, advanced cardio life support, as well as advanced trauma life support.

Medical officers need specialized skills in disaster relief management, including categorizing patients, setting priorities and how best to deliver medical assistance.

Lily also said disaster response management, especially health services, facilities and equipment, needs improvement because disasters are often followed by various health problems.

Regional government leaders should not joint evacuation, Yudhoyono says

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered regional government leaders not to leave their tasks behind and join evacuation when a national disaster hit their areas.

"Leaders must have the sense of willing to sacrifice for their people in handling a natural disaster though it is something difficult to face," the president said when observing the center of Bengkulu Natural Disaster Mitigation Task Force (Satkolak PBA) here on Monday.

President Yudhoyono, who was accompanied by Chief Minister for People`s Welfare Aburizal Bakri, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari and Indonesian Defense Forces Commander Djoko Suyanto, symbolically handed over relief aid to Bengkulu Governor Agusrin Maryono Najamudin.

He said that he could not accept if regional leaders were also `evacuated` when there were emergency situations such as the ones befalling the provinces of Bengkulu, West Sumatra and other regions.

The president said the disaster impacts would be difficult to be managed well and maximally if the leaders left their tasks behind.

"I will not blame them if they evacuate because there are aftershocks or tsunami but they can still issue instructions from their evacuation places so that the people would not lose control," he said.

A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 rocked Indonesia`s Bengkulu province at 6.10 p.m. on Wednesday, claiming the lives of 14 people and injuring 23 others.

The president said that in an emergency situation a leader must be ready to stay awake all the time if needed. "If a leader does not carry out his or her tasks well it could be ascertained that the job would not be settled effectively," he added.

On the occasion, the president also asked regional governments not to provide misleading information from irrelevant agencies aside from, for example, the Geophysics and Meteorology Agency.

He also made the same appeal to the media publications, electronic or print, advising them they quote news from official sources.

President to spend night in quake-hit place

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here Monday he would spend the night in a quake-affected place in Sumatra so as to show local community leaders what they should among other things do when there was a natural disaster in their jurisdiction.

Speaking during a visit to Bengkulu`s Provincial Natural Disaster Handling Center (Satkorlak), the president said he wanted to spend the night in a quake-hit place in order to make sure that government decisions, instructions and policy on mitigation of the disaster were right.

The president, who had just listened to a report on the impact of last Wednesday`s powerful earthquake from Bengkulu Governor Agusrin Maryono Najamudin, said he would sleep in a disaster-hit spot to set an example to district heads (who were responsible for disaster mitigation efforts in the field) on how they could make sure that their measures to deal with an emergency were right and effective.

"I will bave no tolerance for any regional chief who fails to do his or her job in an an emergency situation," Yudhoyono said.

The president said, a leader who avoided taking a risk, was not a good leader. Therefore, he called on district chiefs across the country to prepare themselves and, if necessary, take risks to help residents when there was a disaster.

Yudhoyono said when earthquakes hit Nabire in Papua, Nias and other areas, he did the same thing.

"I slept in a makeshift tent in Nabire while the area was being rocked by aftershocks," the head of state said.

On the occasion, the president also expressed his condolences to the families of earthquake victims in Bengkulu, and his gratitude to all the parties involved in emergency response efforts.

After his visit to Bengkulu`s Satkorlak, the President and his entourage boarded helicopters to visit quake-hit locations and victims in Muko Muko district and later proceeded to West Sumatra.

More than 15,000 buildings damaged in Indonesian quake

Ketahun, Indonesia (ANTARA News) - More than 15,000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged by a series of massive earthquakes striking Indonesia's Sumatra, authorities said Saturday as the death toll rose to 17.

An initial 8.4-magnitude quake struck at dusk off Sumatra's west coast on Wednesday and was followed by a series of major aftershocks, jolting the coastal provinces of Bengkulu and West Sumatra most severely.

In Bengkulu, nearly 2,000 houses were totally flattened and nearly 4,000 others badly damaged, said Bowo Santoso from the governor's disaster rescue centre. About 90 local hospitals and clinics were also damaged, he added.

In West Sumatra, more than 9,700 houses collapsed or were too badly damaged to be inhabitable, said Suryadi from the disaster rescue centre there. More than 100 mosques and about 20 school buildings were also damaged, he said.

Meanwhile Hercules transport planes were to try to drop aid on several islands in the Mentawai group off Sumatra which were badly hit by the quake and a small tsunami, said an official in the city of Padang.

Frans Karel, an official on Pagai Utara island, said no aid had yet been received and many frightened villagers were still sheltering in the hills.

"We haven't yet received aid. All the kiosks have collapsed and their food stocks are wet," he told AFP by telephone.

"Almost 75 percent of houses on the coastline along a 10-kilometre (eight miles) stretch are badly damaged and collapsed."

Rescue workers were still scouring rubble to hunt for victims feared to be trapped under collapsed houses, Rustam Pakaya from the health ministry's crisis centre told ElShinta radio.

The death toll was now at 17, and 88 people were injured, he said.