As Surabaya experiences few natural disasters, Dr. Ina Aniati developed a plan to raise citizens’ awareness of the phenomena.

1. The City

Lying on the northeast coast of the island of Java, Surabaya is Indonesia’s second largest city and a major sea port.  With a history stretching back more than a thousand years, the city has always been a major center of Indonesian, or east Javanese, life. Its port is protected by the island of Madura, lying just a few miles to the north across the Madura Strait. Unlike much of Indonesia that is subject to volcanoes and earthquakes, Surabaya has scarcely known a natural disaster. The low, flat plain on which it lies does provide some problems of drainage, with some flooding during the rainy season; but real natural disasters of the type that hit other AUICK Associate Cities are not known here. Even the yearly flooding seldom requires the evacuation of affected citizens.

Surabaya’s 62 primary and maternal and child health care systems have grown increasingly since independence 61 years ago. It now has 53 Public Health Centers supporting 67 sub-health centers that can bring good care within close reach of the citizens. At the local community level there are over 2700 Integrated Health Posts with trained staff and community volunteers. These are concerned with training in public and personal health and are points of referral to the upper levels of the system. The current five year focus of the Ministry of Health is the reducing of neonatal, infant and maternal mortality rates through a Child Survival, Growth and Development Strategy and a Making Pregnancy Safer (MPS) strategy. This is increasing the number of deliveries managed by trained health personnel, providing better management of pregnancy complications and continuing the effective family planning work to reduce unwanted pregnancies. All of this development has given the city a relatively high level of reproductive health. Preparedness to overcome disasters has improved, with the training of doctors, nurses and community health workers on emergency management.

There is, however, a lack of awareness of the characteristics and effects of a natural disaster, and how to deal with situations that arise in the event of such phenomena. The city does not have an adequate information system to let the public know how to prepare for and deal with an emerging disaster, and early warning systems are required to predict the types of disaster that can be foreseen. Equipment is also necessary to provide assistance and welfare to the public in the event of a disaster, especially that which is necessary to provide maternal and child health care.

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2. The Propoesed Action Plan

The action plan developed by Dr. Aniati aims to build public awareness of the possible effects and actions to be taken in the occurrence of natural disasters. After consultations within the City Health Office, a Task Force for Disaster Management will disseminate information and guidance to local health care workers, family welfare organizations and the public through seminars and media campaigns. Local and sub-district maps informing citizens of danger zones in the event of disasters will also be drawn up, and the participation of companies to help the dissemination process will be sought.

Surabaya citizens receive disaster health care training

Surabaya Action Plan Time Frame: October 2007 – December 2008