Day 6 of Summer Eco-DDR continues, despite weekend, but the course comprises of full-days weekend-included planned activities that will be on-going consecutively for the next 2 weeks, which means that Saturday and Sunday too will have activities planned for us by the committee. If weekdays we would have classes and theoretical practices, weekend means going out, trip, sightseeing, fresh air, outdoor, travelling.. you name it. At least it isn’t going to be a boring day for me, and a trip of endless sightseeing to places that I have never been is just perfect.
After a nice refreshing wake up in the morning, I prepared myself and joined up with the rest of the participants. After taking our breakfast, we ride up the bus, and heading towards our destination while enjoying the views and sceneries along the way. The views were enjoying as my eyes stared and mesmerized with by it, to the point where I didn’t realize that we’re nearing our first destination already.
E-Pujiono learning house (Rumah Kajian E-Pujiono) or Pujiono Centre (abbreviated as PUCEN) was our first stop in the morning. The traditional looked house has a unique design and was built as a commemoration to his beloved wife whom died from cancer, in the same manner and concept as how the Taj Mahal was built. The centre focuses on issues and debates on disaster resilience, humanitarian response, emergency management and the social work profession’s dimension of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. Dr Pujiono himself greeted us, and gave us short talk about DDR management. In short, he mentioned about ways to prevent casualties is through controlled and thorough prevention plan that helps to mitigate the risk in case of disaster. As Indonesia is well known to be a supermarket of disaster, the people have to think ahead on tackling the effect of disasters. Disaster-diminishable assets should be kept properly, and when building one, people need to know if they’re building it right, and build it at the right place.
After the talk, we went for a tour around the area, and were divided into few groups for small activity inside a traditional house called Joglo. We were given several topics related to DDR management which were Problem, Research, Knowledge, Transfer, Adoption and Diffusion. Our group took Problem as our topic, and had a thorough but funny discussion on it. After that we went back to PUCEN again to hear our next talk by Frans Toegimin, a well-known individual with vast knowledges about disaster management in Yogyakarta. His talk focused on the non-government organization (NGO) or CSO (Civil Society Organization) as he abbreviated it in DDR management. He explained each role of every stages of NGO/CSO in disaster management. Every level of organizations, from national level down to village level plays their own role. A well-coordinated plan for each level helps to clear what each level should do when disaster arises, to ensure that casualty is reduced to as minimum as possible. Each of us was given a goodie-bag which contains snacks and souvenirs for us to enjoy while listening to the talk. Of course for me it wasn’t enough to warrant my craving satisfaction, but luckily at the end of Frans Toegimin talk, it was already our lunch break.
Our lunch break for today was specially made by the village’s women. The deliciousness of their dishes and cooking explained well enough their long years experiences in making delicious food. J I thought my tummy was big enough to try each and every one of it, but I was beaten out by the tastes of just few foods. That alone should speak the volume of its mouth-watering tastiness.
For the evening session, we headed to PUSDALOPS (Pusat Pengendalian Operasi or Emergency Operation Centre), and I took the opportunity to take a quick nap along the way, as I felt tired and dizziness after that delicious lunch break. In short, PUSDALOPS is an organization responsible as disaster information manager, and coordinator between the disaster handling organizations that are responsible for disaster handling. We were taken into their meeting room, and were given talks about the place, its purpose and its mission. We were given a short tour around the place and among the places we went to, the crisis room was what caught my interest. It showed how crisis is handled and managed within the room. I felt like the room looked cool and nice, and somewhat catchy. Everyone else’s eyes too were mesmerized by the room. Other places include the storage, garages and other facilities within PUSDALOPS. They had many gadgets and vehicles stored and prepared for emergency uses during disaster.
After the trip to PUSDALOPS, we finally ended our trip for today, and headed back to our hotel. Along the way, jam started to pack in, and blocking our ways in every direction. Regardless, we still reached our hotel in about an hour. We were given a brief for tomorrow’s activities, before everyone went back to their room. The trip wasn’t as long as the previous Thursday trip, but nevertheless it was a great trip still.
I feel like today’s trip was worth it. Although the places we went to were all about DDR management, but both gave me a totally different reaction. If I were to compare between PUCEN and PUSDALOPS, it’s like east meeting west. A traditional place meeting high-tech savvy place. All in all, I got the opportunity to see these two in close, and the personnel themselves. It was truly exciting and fun day for me, and I couldn’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow.
Thanks for reading, and have a nice day ?