REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) recounted his experience when trying to evacuate the Indonesian citizens in Japan when the tsunami occurred in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. He was in Japan when the tsunami came and he saw how the Japanese government resolved the nuclear problem due to the disaster.

At that time, he said, there were about 600 Indonesian citizens in Japan. The disaster cut off the communication line among the societies.  JK take an initiative to ask the Indonesian Embassy in Japan to deliver a bus with speakers above. And then, he played Indonesian national songs, so Indonesian citizens can be gathered. “We played Indonesian songs, dangdut songs, and so forth, so that 600 citizens gathered in only a day. Instead we look for the people, the people look for Indonesia at that time," said JK while attending the event of World Tsunami Awareness at Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta, Thursday (12/15).

JK said it was a simple way to do. JK emphasized that training and education to the community is very important. Therefore, the death toll in a disaster can be reduced. "We need awareness, knowledge, and culture, not to avoid the tsunami but to reduce the death toll caused by the tsunami. The earthquake tsunami does not kill people, but the collapsed buildings and other things do," said JK.

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