58 Personnel From The Mataram Social Service Disaster Preparedness, Around The River To 9 Km Along

Photo via Antara

The Social Service (Dinsos) of Mataram City has spread dozens of disaster alert cadets (tagana) and social task forces to monitor potential disasters at a number of vulnerable points, especially along the coast and rivers crossing Mataram City.

"We have 58 personnel of tagana and social task force who are alert and patrolling at disaster-prone points as prepared to face the impact of hydrometeorological disasters during the peak of the rainy season," said Head of the Mataram City Social Service (Dinsos), Sudirman, in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province, Sunday 23 October.

According to him, the tagana personnel and the social task force have been divided to take turns on duty. Some of them served around 9 kilometers along the coast of Mataram City, traveling to monitor the condition of the three rivers that crossed Mataram City.

The three rivers that cross Mataram City are Jangkuk, Ancar, and Kreyok rivers. Monitoring is carried out by traveling patrols using vehicles that have been prepared.

"Our members work and coordinate through the WhatsApp application, and they are required to report their monitoring results every 20 minutes," he said.

According to him, the reporting time can be shortened to every 15 minutes, 10 minutes, even every 5 minutes depending on the conditions on the ground.

"If conditions in the field are considered urgent, for example there is a potential tidal wave or tidal flood, reports can be accelerated so that we can quickly coordinate for handling," he said.

In addition, his party is also actively coordinating with the village head and sub-district head, especially those with coastal areas and riverbanks.

"Alhamdulillah, as a result of our monitoring, there is no potential that is considered an emergency and everything is still normal. The river water is rising, but it doesn't reach residential areas and once the rain subsides, the water has receded," he said.

While alluding to the readiness of logistical assistance, Sudirman said, so far the Social Service has made preparations for disaster management for basic needs.

"We have prepared food packages in the form of rice, oil,PS, mineral water, mats, tarpaulins, and other basic needs. So if there is a disaster, we just need to distribute food packages," he said.

As for disaster equipment, he continued, checks have also been carried out to ensure that the equipment owned is ready to use.

Some of the disaster equipment owned by the Social Service included public kitchen cars, clean water tanks with a capacity of 5,000 liters, rubber boats, and two four-wheeled vehicles.

"Alhamdulillah, after we checked all the disaster equipment we were all ready to use. Including the rubber boats that we parked at Banjar Beach," he said.