Basarnas Says Need To Expand SAR Units To Maximize Emergency Management In Central Kalimantan River

Illustration of handling emergency conditions by Basarnas officers. (Doctor Basarnas Sulsel)

PALANGKA RAYA - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said the handling of emergency conditions in the waters of Central Kalimantan Province was not optimal.

Head of Basarnas Marshal National Armed Forces (TNI) Henri Alfiandi said the solution to the problem was to increase the number of SAR units in rivers in the local area.

"Our future strategy is like that, it is enough to have a crew of three to six people per river channel, so that personnel are ready to take immediate action," he said in Palangka Raya, Wednesday, April 13.

He said from the evaluation carried out, it seems that the level of occurrence in the waters in Central Kalimantan is quite frequent. "These incidents are also dominated by rivers rather than the sea," he said.

"Most of the incidents occurred in the waters, few in the sea but mostly in rivers, such as falling from ships, drowning, missing fishing people, and others," he continued.

During his visit to Central Kalimantan, Henri also checked the supporting infrastructure for SAR activities owned by the Palangka Raya Search and Rescue Office (KPP). This aims to determine the needs in the field.

From these checks, he hopes that in the future the SAR and SAR supporting infrastructure in the waters can be further improved, so that every search and rescue activity can be carried out even better.

"Through our arrival here, we can better plan and allocate appropriate SAR equipment as needed," he explained.

He further conveyed that seeing the number of personnel at the Palangka Raya KPP compared to the area of Central Kalimantan, of course it is still not ideal. However, to overcome this, the Palangka Raya KPP is instructed to optimize the development of SAR potential in the regions.

He meant SAR potential, namely community groups or volunteers who were fostered and given training, so that at any time they could help support search and rescue activities in the field.

Henri also advised the KPP personnel in Central Kalimantan, especially the younger generation, to continue to spur their abilities so that they can provide the best service to the community.

Previously, the Palangka Raya KPP said that currently it has around 75 personnel spread across the Palangka Raya KPP, East Kotawaringin Sampit Regional Post and West Kotawaringin Pangkalan Bun Region, as well as resque boats in Sampit.