BPBD Cianjur Issues Alert Warning For Tourists

The Office of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Cianjur Regency, West Java. (ANTARA/Ahmad Fikri).

The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Cianjur Regency, West Java, issued a warning for tourists who want to vacation in a number of areas in Cianjur to remain careful and alert when crossing natural disaster-prone routes. Asep Sukma Wijaya, Head of BPBD Cianjur, said that ahead of the long Christmas and New Year holidays, his party placed dozens of officers and hundreds of volunteers to carry out surveillance and monitoring at tourist attractions in Cianjur. "We have mapped a number of disaster-prone tourism objects from the north to the south of Cianjur, including tourist routes prone to landslides such as the Ciwidey-Naringgul, Cibeber-Sukanagara, Puncak-Cipanas route, so that ahead of the long holiday officers will be placed," he said in Cianjur, Antara, Monday, December 11. Asep explained, since the last month his party has alerted all volunteers in each sub-district to carry out surveillance and monitoring, including in a number of tourist attractions, especially beaches and waterfalls, which are mostly found in Cianjur. "We continue to increase anticipatory efforts, including coordinating with the TNI/Polri in each sub-district, as a quick response effort when a disaster occurs, officers and volunteers will ask tourists to be careful and alert when traveling and crossing vulnerable routes," he said. Head of the Indonesian Red Cross Headquarters (PMI) Cianjur, Fajar Aciana, said that after holding a disaster preparedness meeting a few days ago, his party immediately formed a special team consisting of a number of volunteers to carry out quick handling when a disaster occurred. In fact, his party has alerted dozens of volunteers in each sub-district to assist village and sub-district officials, to carry out surveillance, monitoring and reporting of situations in each region, especially when it rains heavily every day. "We form a special team consisting of 25 volunteers who apply pickets every day at the headquarters, to carry out quick handling when a disaster occurs, including coordinating with BPBD, TNI/Polri and village and sub-district officials," he said.

Until now, he added, PMI Cianjur still routinely provides humanitarian services when a disaster occurs, including placing a number of volunteers in tourist attractions, especially ahead of the long Christmas and New Year holidays at the joint post. "We also alerted two ambulances during the long Christmas and New Year holidays, to carry out health services or when an accident occurs," he said.