16 October 2020

Bali has been trusted to host several global events for years, and we are so delighted to find out that the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) meeting is to be held in Nusa Dua-Bali in 2022. The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, has confirmed and delegated his cabinets to prepare everything for this big event, yesterday 16 October 2022 at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java during a limited virtual meeting.

GPDRR is a biennial event established by the United Nations (UN), through United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to review the progress of various knowledge, developments, and the latest trends in the international disaster management. Indonesia is considered the perfect place to host the event as the country is situated between three tectonic plates and also sits on the Circum-Pacific Belt known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Mr Widodo also explained that the meeting would be attended by more than 5000 participants from 193 countries. “It will be a huge event and will be attended by approximately 5,000-7,000 participants. Therefore, it must be well prepared,”. He also advised that all related parties must seize this rare opportunity to promote Indonesia tourism, especially the island of gods. 

After the meeting, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy expressed his hope that the Covid-19 pandemic should be completely ended by the time GPDRR is held. He also agrees with the president’s directions to benefit this special momentum restoring the economic conditions on the tourism sector. “Following the direction of the president, we will use this momentum as well as possible for our national interests, including to promote good practices that Indonesia has done so far when it comes to deal with disaster problems. Both natural and non-natural disasters” added Effendy. 

Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Lt. Gen. Doni Monardo, pointed out four disasters-prone that threaten Indonesia, geology-volcanology, wet and dry hydrometeorology, and non-natural disasters such as the Coronavirus pandemic. Doni also mentioned he would coordinate with the UN (United Nations) during GPDRR in 2022, especially regarding case studies of disaster management in countries that have been successfully handling the Covid-19 outbreak.

Indonesian authority is preparing the budget for this five-days global event from 23 to 28 May 2022, which is about US $ 5.9 million (Rp. 87.6 billion). The United Nations have proposed this number through the United Nations for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), specifically for the preparation of the United Nations teams, other costs will be discussed further. 

Indonesia’s participation in this forum is considered crucial, as the country was included in the list of 35 countries in the world with the highest disaster risks by The World Bank. On 2019 there were varies 2,564 natural disasters, ranging from flood, earthquakes, and landslide, which caused 3,300 people died, more than 1,400 went missing, and 21,000 were injured.