French Red Cross helps Bali stay safe
The French Red Cross is hoping to help Bali with a disaster relief post, a German company plan to set up a radio-wave tsunami warning system. Things are looking up for Bali. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.
French Red Cross pledges disaster mitigation post for Bali
DENPASAR, Bali (Antara): The French red cross is planning to help set up a fully-equipped emergency post in Bali to provide people with services to cope with natural disaster on the island resort, an official said.
“The French ambassador has already followed up the plan. Hopefully, the post will materialize this year,” the Bali administration’s spokesman MP Sihombing said in a discussion on disaster management in Sanur resort area on Saturday.
The discussion was jointly organized by the BBC Radio-Indonesian section and the local Global FM radio.
Besides France, Sihombing said, a German company had also been eager to assist Bali in using radio waves to anticipate tsunami tidal waves.
“The radio waves will automatically send signs of tsunami early warning from the local meteorology and geophysics agency,” he said.
The Bali administration has already set up six tsunami early warning systems in a number of popular beaches.
Meanwhile, member of the regional representative council Ida Ayu Agung Mas said the House of Representatives was in the middle of drafting law on natural disaster.
The draft law proposed formation of an independent team to tackle a state of emergency following a calamity, she said adding that the team would cooperate with a mitigation body to handle financial problems arising from humanitarian operations.
Head of the BBC Radio-Indonesian section Menuk Suwondo said similar discussions would also be held in Jakarta and Semarang, capital of Central Java, in the days to come.
One other thing they could do is update the lifesaving facilities / proceedures on Kuta Beach. I’d like to see proper lifegaurd towers, equipped with telescopes / binoculars, and a boat parked 500 meters offshore checking for swimmers in trouble. So many school groups come to Kuta Beach, so many young kids with families. The currents are strong, and if someone get dragged under a wave, you don’t have half an hour to save them.