Australia will spend $67 million over the next five years to establish a joint disaster coordination centre in Indonesia. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono made the announcement on the sidelines of the APEC leaders forum in Peru this morning. The aim of the centre is to improve the capacity of the region to plan for disasters and aid recovery. The cooperation is intended to build wider and more effective disaster management through joint training and building better civil-military teamwork. The cooperation will begin from April 2009. Natural disasters affect Indonesia including floods, droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and forest fires. Indonesia has over 130 active volcanoes, which makes it the most volcanically active country in the world. It has experienced some of history's largest volcano disasters including Tambora (1815), Krakatau (1883), Kelut (1586, 1919), and Galunggung (1822). Indonesia currently has 15 volcanoes on level 2 alert, and one on level 3 alert (on a scale of 1 to maximum 4).
Volcanoes of Indonesia...
About John Seach
- John Seach
- John Seach is a scientist and the world's leading volcano adventurer. Over the past 24 years John has traveled to the world's most exciting volcanoes, and witnessed eruptions during trips to more than 200 volcanoes. John's work has been featured on award winning television programmes. John is the founder of "Volcano Live", the world's first volcano news and volcano travel website.