As The Center For The Directorate General Of Higher Education39s HKBN Commemoration, UNP Holds Disaster Workshop And Simulation

Padang – Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP) was chosen as the center of the commemoration of the National Disaster Preparedness Day (HKBN) held by the Directorate General (Dirjen) of Higher Education (Dikti) Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemdikbud Ristek) on Friday (26/4/2024).

In order to commemorate HKBN, UNP together with the Director General of Higher Education held a National Disaster Day Workshop in 2024 in the Senate Session Room, UNP Rectorate which was held offline and online through Zoom Meeting and Live Youtube UNP TV and Director General of Higher Education.

At the event that invited the Rectors of State, Private and Islamic Universities in West Sumatra and their students, UNP Rector, Prof. Ganefri, Ph.D said that the commemoration of HKBN is our momentum to increase preparedness in anticipating disasters that cannot be predicted and considering West Sumatra is included in the red zone prone to disasters.

“West Sumatra is one of the areas included in the red zone and prone to disasters, such as recently cold lava from the eruption of Marapi where the eruption is still ongoing, previously it has claimed the lives of our students and Padang State Polytechnic students,” he explained.

“There is no single technology that can predict when the disaster will come, so it is necessary for us to continue to be vigilant about the arrival of disasters,” he added.

Meanwhile, Plt. Secretary of the Directorate General of Higher Education (Dirjen Dikti) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Prof. Tjitjik Sri Tjahjandarie, Ph.D online via Zoom Meeting revealed that this activity was carried out simultaneously in all work units of Kemdikbud and other Ministries.

“Especially for the Director General of Higher Education, we center it at Padang State University, because Padang is the only area in Indonesia that already has a Tsunami Safe Zone and considering West Sumatra is one of the disaster-prone areas,” she explained.

He also expressed his gratitude to UNP for being pleased to host the national disaster preparedness event which was held simultaneously. “Thank you Mr. Rector, the stakeholders, BNPB, the community, leaders of state and private universities, Islamic universities. Hopefully with this activity we can be more aware of disasters.”

The workshop at the event was filled by speakers from the SPAB Secretariat of Kemdikbud Ristek, Asep Koswara, M.Si and Prof. Rusnaldi Putra, S.T, M.T, Ph.D, Eng and the workshop was guided by moderator Zikri Alhadi, S.IP, M.A..

In the middle of the Workshop event, an earthquake self-rescue simulation was also held simultaneously nationwide at 10:00 WIB. The Workshop participants escaped out of the room after hearing the siren sounding a sign of disaster.

It is known that the election of April 26 as HKBN was motivated by the enactment of Law No.24 of 2007 concerning Disaster Management on April 26, 2017.

HKBN was initiated by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) with the aim of increasing awareness and vigilance of all levels of society in order to become disaster resilient Indonesia.

Usually, the commemoration of HKBN which has been going on since 2017 is held a series of routine activities such as self-evacuation exercises, disaster simulations, early warning siren tests, shelter tests, workshops and others. (Utr / UNP Public Relations)