REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia is a country to learn from with regard to disaster mitigation for many others in the Asia Pacific region, said Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho here Thursday.

"Many countries use Indonesia to research, learn and investigate. Some of these are The Philippines and Myanmar. After being exposed to a disaster, they just realized the meaning of disaster management," he said.

Indonesia became a reference point for many countries because of its quick response, supported with regulations and institutions for disaster management with impressive functions in coordination and command, according to him.

Many countries in the Asia Pacific region have only disaster management agencies with level two support while Indonesia has a ministry-level institution, he said.

"That's why we are leading in disaster mitigation, and everything started from the same event - the 2004 Tsunami," Sutopo said.

Even Myanmar has built a disaster mitigation agency like BNPB and adopted a Disaster Act where 75 percent of its contents are similar to the Indonesian Act No. 24 of 2007 on disaster relief, he said.

Some of the activities learned by the countries are disaster management and monitoring with the socialization method with regard to citizens, he said.

"The last time, there were 13 countries in the South Pacific region that sent their staff and experts here to learn about disaster management," said Sutopo.

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