The scene after the earthquake in Cianjur town, Indonesia's West Java province, on November 21 (Photo: AFP/VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on February 16 asked the National Search and Rescue Agency or Basarnas to add more advanced technologies to quicken the search and rescue of disaster victims.
The leader highly appreciated Basarnas for effectively completing its tasks as a national agency in charge of search and rescue.
However, natural disasters are extremely harsh, causing heavy losses for people and, therefore, Basarnas needs to improve its capacity by deploying advanced technical equipment.
According to the president, countries like Japan and the US have already possessed numerous advanced technology such as rescue drones to evacuate victims, snake robots that can locate victims, and diver robots that can find victims 1,000 meters below the surface.
He urged Basarnas to add more safety gear to protect SAR personnel, such as an "Iron Man" jet suit that will protect the team personnel in search and rescue efforts 3,600 meters above the surface.
He then urged Basarnas to propose a budget plan for technology adoption as soon as possible.
The president also pushed Basarnas to also intensify people’s education regarding first aid when disasters strike./.
