International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has appointed to publish Indonesia’s Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS) as ISO 22327. The system developed by Universitas Gadjah Mada and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) have been selected as the international reference for landslide disaster mitigation. Presentation of the ISO certificate was done in the plenary room of ISO Sydney office, Australia, on Friday 13/6).
The success to earn the ISO 22327 was credited to the LEWS UGM team with members Prof. Teuku Faisal Fathani, Prof. Dwikorita Karnawati, and Dr. Wahyu Wilopo. To journalists, Prof. Teuku Faisal Fathani, Ph.D., said they welcomed the accomplishment of LEWS as a landslide standard internationally. This was the fruit of their long hard work that had developed the early detection tools.
Faisal said from Australia that since 2006, UGM had developed simple landslide monitoring tools in cooperation with the BNPB and Rural Affairs Ministry. “This system has gone well that it has now now been installed in 30 provinces and abroad.”
Head of BNPB, Willem Rampangilei, said this achievement was a contribution from Indonesia in sharing knowledge and experience to the world to save the society from landslide threats.
“Let’s create a world safe from disasters for the next generation,” said Willem in a release sent on the same day.
He said this was not just focused on a single tool, but an interconnected system that served as an effective early warning system. In his opinion, the community was the very important part of the system, because they were the one that was involved.
“Communities have to be a part of the system and have to know how it works,” he said.
For the BNPB, this moment could be the time for realising the embodiment of Indonesia as a world disaster laboratory. Disaster industry may grow and make contribution to protect the society from disaster impacts that,instead, the disasters may impact positively on economic sustainable development.
Reportedly, the LEWS has been tested in over 150 locations in Indonesia. Over 40 million people in 274 regencies/municipalities in Indonesia are exposed to landslide dangers. Landslides are the most fatal disaster facing the country.