Indonesia's Rescue Agency Faces Budget Cuts Amid Rising Disasters

Indonesia's government has decided to reduce the budget for its main rescue agency, Basarnas. This decision comes even though the country faces more and more disasters. The cuts were approved by a parliamentary panel. They reduced the budget by 69. 38 billion rupiah, or about 4. 5%. This money will be used for other programs, like free meals and defense. Indonesia is in a very active area for natural disasters. It sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire. This means it often has earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In January alone, floods and landslides killed at least 34 people. Many others are still missing. Last year, a cyclone caused floods and landslides. These disasters killed 1, 200 people and displaced over one million.The Finance Ministry proposed the budget cuts. The parliamentary panel approved them. The head of Basarnas, Mohammad Syafii, accepted the decision. But he said the agency needs more improvements. He suggested creating local offices in all regions. Currently, there are only 38 offices for 514 regions. The committee knows that natural disasters are a big problem. They also know that Basarnas needs more funds. But they still went ahead with the cuts. They said Basarnas' work is good, but their capacity will be limited without enough money.